Benn Fields

Benn Fields
Medal record
Athletics
Representing  United States
Pan American Games
1979 San Juan High jump
Spartakiad
1979 Moscow High jump

Benjamin "Benn" Fields (born December 17, 1954) is an American former high jumper. In 1979 Fields won silver medals at the Pan American Games and the Soviet Spartakiad. He won his specialty at the 1980 U.S. Olympic Trials, but missed out on Olympic participation due to the American boycott.

Early career

Fields attended Washingtonville High School in Washingtonville, New York, where he set school records in both high jump and triple jump.[1][2] Originally, he jumped as Ben Fields; he adopted the spelling "Benn" later in his career to make his name more distinctive.[3] In 1972, his senior year at Washingtonville, Fields suffered from a bruised back but recovered fast enough to enter the New York State high school championship meet as one of the favorites in the high jump; he won the state title with a jump of 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m).[4][5][6]

After graduating from Washingtonville Fields entered the State University of New York at New Paltz, setting a SUNY Athletic Conference record as a freshman in 1973 and sharing third place at that year's NCAA College Division championships.[7][8][9] SUNY New Paltz dropped its track and field program after that year, with Fields moving to Seton Hall University as a result.[10] While at Seton Hall, he won the 1975 Penn Relays high jump with a jump of 7 ft  1 1⁄2 in (2.17 m) and placed fourth at that year's NCAA Division I Championships; he also won the 1975 IC4A high jump title as Seton Hall claimed the team championship.[11][12][13] In 1976, his final year at Seton Hall, Fields placed eighth at the NCAA championships and seventh at the national (AAU) championships.[12][14] At that summer's U.S. Olympic Trials Fields no-heighted in the final, failing to qualify for the American team.[15]

Later career

Fields continued high jumping after graduating from Seton Hall, dedicating himself to qualifying for the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, Soviet Union.[3] In 1977 he placed fourth at the AAU championships with a jump of 7 ft 3 in (2.21 m) and was ranked #7 in the United States by Track & Field News for his first national top 10 ranking.[16][17] At the 1978 AAU meet Fields cleared 7 ft  4 1⁄4 in (2.24 m) to place shared second, losing only to former world record holder Dwight Stones and tying with former world indoor record holder Franklin Jacobs.[16][18] He set his personal best, 2.30 m (7 ft  6 1⁄2 in), in Valparaíso on November 1, 1978;[3][14] Track & Field News ranked him third in the United States and sixth in the world that year.[19]

Fields won his only national championship title at the 1979 AAU indoor championships, jumping a meeting record 7 ft  4 3⁄4 in (2.25 m) and edging out Jacobs and James Frazier on fewer misses;[20][21] Stones, the previous year's champion, had been declared a professional and thus wasn't eligible to jump.[22] At the outdoor championships Jacobs in turn won from Fields on countback as both cleared 7 ft 5 in (2.26 m); Jacobs, who had had a mediocre outdoor season until then, only narrowly missed at 7 ft 7 in.[23] That summer Fields represented the United States at the Pan American Games in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and then the Soviet Spartakiad in Moscow; he won silver medals in both meets. At the Pan American Games he only cleared 2.19 m (7 ft  2 1⁄4 in), but still placed second behind Jacobs; at the Spartakiad, which as a dress rehearsal for the following year's Summer Olympics was inviting non-Soviet athletes for the first time, he jumped 2.24 m (7 ft  4 1⁄4 in) and lost to the Soviet Union's Aleksandr Grigoryev on more misses.[24][25][26] Fields's best jump in 1979 was 2.27 m (7 ft  5 1⁄2 in), which he jumped in Bratislava on June 7; he defeated world record holder Vladimir Yashchenko in that competition.[3][14]

Fields remained in good shape in 1980 and was disappointed with the American decision to boycott the Olympics in Moscow.[3][27] He skipped that year's national championships, but eventually decided to compete at the Olympic Trials (which were held separately); in windy conditions, he won the Trials with a jump of 7 ft 5 in (2.26 m), but due to the boycott he and the other qualifiers didn't get to compete at the Olympics.[27][28] Track & Field News ranked him a career-best fifth in the world that year, and first in the United States; it was his only national #1 ranking.[17][19]

Although Fields was never world-ranked again after 1980, he continued his jumping career; he was the top United States jumper at the 1982 U.S: outdoor championships, yet only placed second behind Milton Ottey, a Canadian.[16] 1982 marked the last time Fields was ranked in the national top ten;[17] he attempted to qualify for the Olympics again at the 1984 Trials, but no-heighted in the qualification round.[29]

Recognition

Fields qualified for the 1980 U.S. Olympic team but was unable to compete due to the boycott. He did however receive one of 461 Congressional Gold Medals created especially for the spurned athletes.[30]

Fields was inducted in the Seton Hall Pirates Hall of Fame in 1982 and in the New Paltz Hawks Hall of Fame in 2005.[10][31]

References

  1. ↑ "Ben Field Sets High Jump Mark". The Evening News. April 15, 1972. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Vikings breeze in track; hurdles marks to Roosa". Times Herald-Record. April 21, 1971. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Litsky, Frank (June 29, 2008). "28 Years Later, Pain of Boycott Still Stings". The New York Times. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  4. ↑ "Valley Central KOs Middies, 86-55". Times Herald-Record. April 26, 1972. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  5. ↑ Hansen, Lou (June 10, 1972). "State meet: A Fields' Day?". Times Herald-Record. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  6. ↑ "NYSPHSAA boys outdoor track championships". New York State Sportswriters Association. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  7. ↑ "SU's Fields – A Future Great". Daily Freeman. May 13, 1973. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  8. ↑ Gill, Wesley F. ("Bo") (June 6, 1973). "Stray Boots". The Evening News. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  9. ↑ "Norfolk St. snares crown". Times-Standard. June 3, 1973. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  10. 1 2 "Hall of Fame Ceremony Set For Saturday". May 5, 2005. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  11. ↑ "Embree Fourth". The Harvard Crimson. April 28, 1975. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  12. 1 2 Hill, E. Garry. "A History of the NCAA Championships" (PDF). Track & Field News. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  13. ↑ "Seton Hall Wins Nation's Oldest Track Meet". Daily Herald. June 4, 1975. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  14. 1 2 3 "Ben Fields". Track and Field Statistics. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  15. ↑ Hymans, Richard. "The History of the United States Olympic Trials - Track & Field: 1976" (PDF). USA Track & Field; Track & Field News. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  16. 1 2 3 Mallon, Bill; Buchanan, Ian; Track & Field News. "A History Of The Results Of The National Track & Field Championships Of The USA From 1876 Through 2014". Track & Field News. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  17. 1 2 3 "U.S. Rankings – Men's High Jump" (PDF). Track & Field News. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  18. ↑ "Stones picks up 5th AAU title with record jump". Greenwood Index-Journal. June 10, 1978. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  19. 1 2 "World Rankings – Men's High Jump" (PDF). Track & Field News. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  20. ↑ "USA Indoor Track & Field Champions: Men's High Jump". USA Track & Field. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  21. ↑ "High School Girl Sets Hurdle Mark". Pharos-Tribune. February 25, 1979. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  22. ↑ "Jacobs favored in AAU national indoor meet". Kokomo Tribune. February 23, 1979. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  23. ↑ "Hurdles Flash to Solid Times In AAU Nationals". Santa Cruz Sentinel. June 17, 1979. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  24. ↑ "Pan American Games". Athletics Weekly. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  25. ↑ "Coleman's legs steal the gold". Eugene Register-Guard. July 30, 1979. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  26. ↑ Siukonen, Markku; et al. (1980). Urheilutieto 5 (in Finnish). Oy Scandia Kirjat Ab. pp. 310–317. ISBN 951-9466-20-7.
  27. 1 2 Cawood, Neil (June 30, 1980). "Fields quits Europe, and he's glad he did". Eugene Register-Guard. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  28. ↑ Hymans, Richard. "The History of the United States Olympic Trials - Track & Field: 1980" (PDF). USA Track & Field; Track & Field News. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  29. ↑ "Stones Gains Final, Criticizes Officials". New York Times. June 24, 1984. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  30. ↑ Caroccioli, Tom; Caroccioli, Jerry. Boycott: Stolen Dreams of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. Highland Park, IL: New Chapter Press. pp. 243–253. ISBN 978-0942257403.
  31. ↑ "Seton Hall University Athletics Hall of Fame". Seton Hall Pirates Official Athletic Site. Archived from the original on March 19, 2015. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
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