Bagyula Boasted Incredible Pole Vault Prowess
Even after two meet records, Istvan Bagyula of George Mason wasn’t assured of victory in the pole vault at the 1991 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
That included the meet’s first 19-foot clearance.
Bagyula, the defending NCAA champion, was locked in a fantastic competition with Baylor’s Bill Payne* and Kansas’ Pat Manson: They were the only ones to continue after a meet-best nine had cleared 5.50m (18-0½).
All three sailed over 5.70m (18-8¼) to break the meet record of 5.65m (18-6½) that Manson co-held from two years earlier, though more history was in store.
With the bar set above 19-feet for the first time in meet history, Manson and Payne had the first cracks, but it was Bagyula who got the landmark achievement – officially at 5.80m (19-0¼).
Manson went out after missing two more times, but Payne – the collegiate record holder at 5.86m (19-2¾) just two weeks earlier – passed to a potential CR height of 5.90m (19-4¼), which neither he nor Bagyula could negotiate on this day, giving Bagyula the second of his three NCAA titles.
The biggest part of Bagyula’s season was just beginning. He had a sterling summer that saw him clear an all-dates collegiate best of 5.92m (19-5) a month later, before earning a silver medal at the World Championships for his native Hungary.
Bagyula came back to George Mason and swept the 1992 NCAA Indoor and Outdoor titles for a third time, accumulating six combined NCAA indoor/outdoor titles, still the most by a pole vaulter.
*Payne is the father of Demi Payne, who won a memorable pole vault crown at the 2015 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Demi was a finalist for The Bowerman that year.
The NCAA and collegiate track & field will mark a momentous milestone in the spring of 2021 -- the 100th anniversary of the NCAA Championships and with that, the NCAA Track & Field Championships. In June 1921, the University of Chicago hosted the first track & field championships in NCAA history.
This point can’t be emphasized enough: Not only was the event the first for NCAA track & field, but the first championships for any sport under the sponsorship of the NCAA.
To celebrate, over each of the next 365 days, the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) will celebrate moments, student-athletes, and coaches that have made a century’s worth of championships special. From humble beginnings to important historical milestones to the modern-day, collegiate track & field has evolved with the American society.
The 2021 edition of the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships begin with preliminary round action on May 27-29 in Jacksonville, Fla., and College Station, Texas. The championships final site and culmination of the celebration is slated for June 9-12, 2021 at the newly rebuilt Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
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