Top Man

To find the starting point for his approaches to the high jump, the lean, towering (6 ft. 5 1/4 in., 190 Ibs.) Negro carefully stepped off 23 foot-lengths to the left of the standard, turned left for 23 more, and marked the spot with tape. Then John Thomas, 18-year-old freshman at Boston University, made seven loping passes before choosing a take-off spot 16 in. out from the bar.

Up in the stands at the Knights of Columbus meet in Boston, fans peered for any lingering signs of Thomas' accident last year, when he caught his left take-off foot in an elevator and was put out of action a bare month after setting the world record of 7 ft. 1 1/4 in. But John Thomas looked as good as ever as he took off from his left, kicked high with his right foot, belly-rolled over the bar, and easily worked his way up to 7 ft. 1/2 in.

Then Thomas quietly asked the officials to put the bar at 7 ft. 2 1/4 in. He nearly made it. On his second try, he was lying on his back in the foam-rubber pit before the quivering bar followed him down. "My timing has to be straightened up," said John Thomas. But he had proved that he was still the world's finest high jumper.

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