Cornelius "Dutch" Warmerdam (born 1915 )dominated the sport of pole vaulting in the early 1940s. Using a bamboo pole, Warmerdam was the first person to vault over 15 feet, and he remained the only person able to do so until 1951. If World War II had not intervened, he would likely have been an Olympic champion.

Warmerdam, the third son of an immigrant from Holland, was called "Dutch" by his friends, and was known as a good-natured, modest boy and a good student. Because he skipped the third grade, he graduated from high school at age 16. He began vaulting when he was twelve years old, reaching 8 feet in that year, and increasing it to 9 feet by the time he was 13. By the time he was 16, his highest mark was 12'3, and his greatest vaulting achievement was a tie for third place in the 1932 California state high school meet.

With such an...