POINT OF FACT
? What are the Millrose Gaines?
•Sponsored by the Millrose Athletic Association of John Wanamaker, the Millrose Games is the biggest, most popular and certainly the most famous indoor track meet in the country. This year (Feb. 2) will mark the 55th annual running of the meet, which traditionally opens the indoor track season in New York's Madison Square Garden.
? The outstanding performer in the Millrose Games is voted the Rodman Wanamaker Award. Has any athlete received the award more than once since its inception in 1925?
•Yes, four men have won it two times, each in successive years. Middle-distance Runner Charles Hornbostel was the award winner in 1934 and 1935, with Miler Glenn Cunningham second in the voting both times. Hornbostel won the 1,000-yard run in 1934, and in 1935 not only repeated his 1,000 win but an hour or so later set an indoor world record for the 600-yard run. Miler Gil Dodds won the award in 1947 and 1948 (when he set an indoor world record). In 1950 and 1951 Pole Vaulter Bob Richards finished ahead of Miler Don Gehrmann in the award voting. Gehrmann, incidentally, was second in the voting four straight years (1949 through 1952). John Thomas high-jumped to new indoor records in both 1959 (7 feet) and 1960 (7 feet 1½ inches) to win the award.
? Has a woman track and field athlete ever won the Wanamaker Award?
•Only Stella Walsh, who won the women's 50-yard dash in 1930. She finished ahead of Monte Wells (new indoor record for the 60-yard high hurdles) in the voting.
? Ron Delany won the Wanamaker Mile four straight years (1956-59). Has any miler won the event more times?
•Don Gehrmann also won four consecutive Wanamaker Miles (1949-52). But the most mile victories were achieved by Glenn Cunningham. He won three straight years (1933-35), finished second in 1936 in a blanket finish and then won three more miles in a row (1937-39).
? Did Paavo Nurmi ever win the Wanamaker Mile?
•Nurmi competed only once in the Wanamaker Mile (1929). He was running, as he usually did, in the lead but racing only against the watch he held in his hand. Suddenly, on the last turn, Ray Conger caught him and sprinted past to win in 4:17.4. Nurmi finished a disappointing second.
? Al Lawrence, in 1961, equaled Greg Rice's long-standing Millrose Games record for the two-mile run (8:52.8 in 1942). How many other men have run the Millrose two-mile in less than nine minutes?
•Seven, and only three of them were winners. When Rice set his record, Gil Dodds was second in 8:53.7. In 1949 Gaston Reiff won the two-mile in 8:56.1, followed closely by Erik Ahlden (8:56.6) and Fred Wilt (8:57). Horace Ashenfelter, who won the Millrose two-mile five times, hit 8:54.6 in 1953 and 8:53.3 in 1954. Lewis Stieglitz won in 1959 in 8:55.1, with John Macy second in 8:56.4.
? E. E. Meyers won the Mil/rose pole vault in 1925 with a 12-foot 6-inch vault. Who was the first man to vault 14 feet at the Millrose Games? 14 feet 6 inches? 15 feet?
•Keith Brown vaulted exactly 14 feet in 1933; Earl Meadows hit 14 feet 6 inches in 1938, and Cornelius Warmerdam set an indoor record with his 15 foot 3/8-inch leap in 1942.
? Bob Richards is the top individual winner in the Games (11 straight pole vault wins). Who ranks second to him in victories?
•Harrison Dillard ran up a string of nine consecutive wins in the 60-yard high hurdles (1947-55).
ILLUSTRATION