Livers’ Three Titles Made Triple Jump History

“Rhythm is the art form in the triple. There’s no other event like it. Those three bounces are a thing of beauty. The art form of the event and raising the consciousness of the spectators come first; winning comes second.”

Fans in attendance at the 1977 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Champaign, Illinois, were at a fevered pitch as the triple jump competition got underway. That’s because it was billed to be a colossal clash between three men who had shown the ability to rewrite the record book at a moment’s notice: Willie Banks of UCLA, Charlton Ehizuelen of hometown Illinois and Ron Livers of San Jose State.

Banks had set the collegiate record to 16.84m (55-3¼) earlier in the season and beat Livers in head-to-head competition three times in the previous month, which put him in a great position.

Ehizuelen owned the adoration of the local fans and also brandished record-breaking power at two previous editions of the NCAA Outdoor Championships. He established NCAA meet records in winning the 1974 triple jump (16.66m/54-8) and 1975 long jump (8.20m/26-11) and entered this year’s competition fresh off a runner-up finish in the long jump.

Livers was no slouch, having won the 1975 NCAA triple jump crown with a wind-aided 16.80m (55-1¾) – farthest in meet history under all conditions. The Spartan standout – who once famously owned the world’s greatest height-over-head differential in the high jump (He only stood 1.73m (5-7), but had cleared 2.24m (7-4¼) for a difference of 51 cm (21¼”)) – redshirted in 1976 and wanted to take back the throne.

The fireworks began in Round 2 when Ehizuelen spanned a near-meet record of 16.71m (54-10), which Livers promptly matched. Then in Round 3, Livers took the lead with a new meet record at 16.75m (54-11½) – but on the very next jump, Banks took over with a collegiate record and meet record of 16.85m (55-3½). Banks, bothered by a leg issue, passed his next two attempts, while Ehizuelen had a pair of fouls. In Round 5, Livers bounded a new CR of 16.86m (55-3¾) to squeeze back into the lead, which neither Banks nor Ehizuelen could match. Livers finished with a 16.77m (55-0¼), making him the first collegian with multiple 55-footers in the same meet.

“I was glad to get the record,” said Livers, a native of Norristown, Pennsylvania (near Philadelphia). “I’ve been chasing it a long time.”

Livers and Banks returned for another duel at the 1978 NCAA Outdoor Championships, held at Historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. Just a month earlier, Banks had taken back the CR at 17.05m (55-11¼) – but he wouldn’t leave the Beaver State with it still in his possession.

Not one to delay, Livers opened up with a 16.94m (55-7) effort in Round 1 to improve his meet record. Banks, who only mustered a 16.84m (55-3) mark in Round 5, sat idle as Livers showed a great deal of consistency with three more 55-footers, before unleashing a massive 17.15m (56-3¼) on his final attempt to snatch the collegiate record.

Livers, who did all of what he did at Hayward Field while nursing a sore back, became the first man to win three career triple jump titles in meet history. He is still one of just three men to accomplish that feat.

“Rhythm is the art form in the triple,” Livers told Neil Amdur of the New York Times. “There’s no other event like it. Those three bounces are a thing of beauty. The art form of the event and raising the consciousness of the spectators come first; winning comes second.”