John Pennel

Who was John Pennel?

John Thomas Pennel was an American pole vaulter, and four-time world record holder.

When Robert Gardner became the first man to clear 13 feet in 1912 many people thought the pole vault limit was close at hand. It was nothing of the sort, of course, but progress was painfully slow – about one inch per year on average. Sabin Carr was the first man over 14 feet in 1927 and the Californian Cornelius "Dutch" Warmerdam was the pioneer over 15 feet in 1940, using a bamboo pole. Twenty-two years elapsed before a man sailed over 16 feet in the shape of German-born American John Uelses. But with the help of technology in the form of fiberglass vaulting poles it wasn't long before seventeen feet was cleared by 23-year-old John Pennel.

A native of Memphis, Tennessee, Pennel started pole vaulting at his father's farm with an old television aerial. At Coral Gables High School, where he was a member of both the gymnastics and the athletics teams, he cleared 11 feet 3 inches at the age of 15. Improving steadily under the coaching of Ed Injachock he improved to 3.80 m in 1958 and in 1959 he ranked 8th among American schoolboys with 4.14 m.