SIU’s Roggy Dominated The Javelin In 1978

Bob Roggy of Southern Illinois wasted no time showing who was best in the javelin throw at the 1978 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene.

On his first effort of the qualifying round, Roggy (pronounced “Roh-ghee”) produced the meet’s farthest qualifier ever at 82.72m (271-5), then improved on that to 84.28m (276-6) with his second throw.

Even though Roggy seemed safely qualified to the final – only one other collegian had thrown as far all year – he took one last throw, a monstrous heave which sailed 89.30m (293-0) to shatter the meet record by more than 13 feet.

On an all-time basis, Roggy’s throw was second only among collegians to the 300-0 (91.44m) historic toss by Arizona State’s Mark Murrow early in the 1970 season (an American record Roggy would later break).  

Roggy’s effort was the first javelin MR to be set in preliminaries since 1935 when Charlie Gongloff of Pittsburgh threw 221-3 (67.44m). Back then, efforts in the trials carried over to the next day’s finals, but since 1965 everything starts fresh for field event finals in the NCAA championships.

In the final two days later Roggy took control in Round 1 with an 84.28m (276-6) throw that was good enough to win. He improved to 86.48m (283-9) in Round 2 for the eventual winning mark – also over the old MR and giving him victory by over 20 feet.

Roggy would later set three American records in 1982, the farthest at 95.80m (314-4) with the pre-1986 javelin. He died two days short of his 30th birthday in 1986 in an automobile accident. An annual track & field meet, now named the New Jersey International, has been held in his honor since 1987 at his high school alma mater of Holmdel, New Jersey, in Bob Roggy Stadium.