Cornelius ("Dutch") Warmerdam (June 22, 1915 – November 13, 2001) was a long time pole vault

Pole vault

Pole vaulting is a track and field event in which a person uses a long, flexible pole as an aid to leap over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the ancient Greeks, as well as the Cretans and Celts...

 world record holder and is considered to be among the all time greatest vaulters.

He was born in Long Beach, California

Long Beach, California

Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...

. Vaulting throughout his career with a bamboo

Bamboo

Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....

 pole, Warmerdam was the first vaulter to clear 15 feet (4.57 m), accomplishing that feat at UC Berkeley on April 13, 1940. However, that achievement was not ratified for a world record, and his later vault of 4.60 m on June 29, 1940 was the first ratified jump over 15 feet. During his career, Warmerdam vaulted 15 feet 43 times in competition, while no other vaulter cleared the mark a single time. Warmerdam surpassed the pole vault record seven times in a four year span, and three of those marks were ratified as world records. His highest outdoor vault was 15' 7-3/4" (4.77 m), achieved at the Modesto Relays

Modesto Relays

The Modesto Relays, now known as the California Invitational Relays is an annual elite track and field meet. It is held about the second weekend in May. For 67 years, the meet was held at Modesto Junior College in Modesto, California, a track notable for tight turns and long straightaways, ending...

 in 1942, a record which stood until 1957 when Bob Gutowski

Bob Gutowski

Robert Allen "Bob" Gutowski was an American athlete who competed mainly in the Pole Vault. He competed for the United States in the 1956 Summer Olympics held in Melbourne, Australia in the Pole Vault where he won the silver medal behind Bob Richards' second consecutive gold medal, after finishing...

 broke the mark using a metal pole. Warmerdam won the James E. Sullivan Award

James E. Sullivan Award

The James E. Sullivan Award, presented by the American Amateur Athletic Union , is awarded annually in April to "the outstanding amateur athlete in the United States". Often referred to as the Oscar of sports awards, it was first presented in 1930. The award is named for the AAU's founder and past...

 in 1942 but was never able to compete in the Olympics

Olympic Games

The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

 because the 1940 and 1944 games were cancelled due to World War II, and by 1948 he was coaching professionally and therefore ineligible. However he continued competing as an early practitioner of Masters athletics. He still is ranked in the world all time top ten list in the M60 Decathlon.

Warmerdam went on to coach track and field at Fresno State University until his retirement in 1980. Fresno State named its track stadium Warmerdam Field in his honor. Dutch is a member of several halls of fame, including the National Track and Field Hall of Fame

National Track and Field Hall of Fame

The National Track and Field Hall of Fame located within the Armory Foundation at 216 Fort Washington Avenue, between 168th and 169th Streets, in Washington Heights, in the New York City borough of Manhattan, is a museum operated by The Armory Foundation in conjunction with USA Track & Field...

 and the Millrose Games

Millrose Games

The Millrose Games is an annual indoor athletics meet held on the first Friday in February in New York City. They will be held at the Armory in Washington Heights in 2012, after having taken place in Madison Square Garden from 1914 to 2011...

 Hall of Fame.

Personal

Cornelius Warmerdam grew up in Hanford, CA, the son of Dutch emigrants Adrianus and Gertrude Warmerdam. Because of his ancestry he was more commonly known to both friends and, later, to the media as "Dutch". Warmerdam got his start in pole vaulting in his backyard using the limb of a peach

Peach

The peach tree is a deciduous tree growing to tall and 6 in. in diameter, belonging to the subfamily Prunoideae of the family Rosaceae. It bears an edible juicy fruit called a peach...

 tree and landing in a pit of piled up dirt. He was discovered by the local track coach and vaulted for Hanford High School

Hanford Joint Union High School District

The Hanford Joint Union High School District in Hanford consists of a total of 3,522 students from three comprehensive high schools - Hanford High School and Hanford West High School along with Earl F. Johnson Continuation School, and Hanford Adult School...

 until his graduation in 1932, after which he attended and vaulted for Fresno State University.

Warmerdam married Juanita Anderson on August 29, 1940, and they were married for 61 years until Dutch's death in Fresno, California

Fresno, California

Fresno is a city in central California, United States, the county seat of Fresno County. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 510,365, making it the fifth largest city in California, the largest inland city in California, and the 34th largest in the nation...

, from Alzheimer's in 2001. Juanita continued to live in Fresno until her death on Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day

Saint Valentine's Day, commonly shortened to Valentine's Day, is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions. The day is named after one or more early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine, and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496...

in 2006. They left behind five children (Mark, Greg, Gloria, David, and Barry) and twenty grandchildren.