Tarr Family Collects Father-Daughter NCAA Crowns

Sheila Tarr of UNLV was blown away by the reception she got at the 1984 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships, and it wasn’t just because she won the heptathlon.

It was mostly due to the meet being held in Eugene, the same site where 22 years earlier, her dad, Jerry Tarr, led Oregon to its first-ever team title with the meet’s only high/intermediate hurdles double victory by a male athlete. The Hayward Field faithful love their Ducks, especially heroes like Jerry.

“I had no idea my father was so popular,” Sheila told Jim Thomas of the San Pedro (Calif.) News-Pilot. “Everywhere I go, people come up to me and say, ‘I ran against your father’ or ‘I was on the hurdle crew when your father won an NCAA title.’ This whole week has been a wonderful experience for me.”

Jerry’s 1962 win in the 120-yard hurdles was not a surprise – He was the favorite after winning in 1961 – and his wind-aided 13.5 was the fastest in meet history under all conditions. After finishing he turned around and “seemed to be more excited to see Mel finish second than with his own victory,” according to Dick Leutzinger of the Eugene Register-Guard.

“Mel” was Mel Renfro, a track/football teammate who had also finished third in the long jump by just 1¼” (3 cm). Renfro, whose 14 team points were tied for third-most on a loaded Oregon squad that amassed a near-record 85 points, played 14 years for the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.

Jerry Tarr came back in the 440-yard hurdles, a new event for him. “That was easy,” he said after a 52.3 heat win – but legendary coach Bill Bowerman knew better, telling Jerry to adjust his steps from 17 to 15 between hurdles. Tarr responded in the final by running a meet-record 50.3 to win by 1.3 seconds – a margin that would not be surpassed in the event until 1988. “I ran them in 15 steps today – I counted them,” he said afterwards.

No other man has since matched Jerry’s double-hurdle double victory.

And while the heptathlon was a new event for 19-year-old Sheila Tarr, she took to it immediately. Sheila registered 5750 points in her debut in early March and no one else scored more than her during the regular season, sending her to the NCAA Championships as the national leader on an otherwise closely bunched start list.

After a strong first day effort put her up by 43 points in Eugene, Sheila extended that to 62 points by the close of the second day and won with a PR total of 5856 points. That made Sheila the first freshman winner in the event and completed the first father-daughter pair of NCAA champions in meet history.

Jerry watched and cheered Sheila from the stands. “It got to me, it really did,” Jerry told Dave Kayfes of the Eugene Register-Guard, who noted Jerry’s misty eyes. “It was emotional for me, real emotional.”

Sheila was born in dad’s hometown of Bakersfield, California, and the family moved to Las Vegas when Sheila was two-years old. “My father and I were not real close for several years,” she told the Associated Press, noting that her parents had divorced when she was 7. “But he’s been behind me all the way. We’re a lot closer now, and my father helps with my sprinting. As fast as he ran, he had to be doing something right.”

Sheila unfortunately died in 1998 at age 34 from a rare neurological disorder. Her legacy endures as the UNLV track & field facility is named the Myron Partridge Stadium and Sheila Tarr Smith Field (She was the first UNLV athlete to win an NCAA title in any sport). There is also an elementary school in Las Vegas named after her.