Franklin Wesley "Bud" Held (born October 25, 1927) is an American athlete primarily notable for his performance throwing the

javelin A javelin is a light spear designed primarily to be thrown, historically as a ranged weapon. Today, the javelin is predominantly used for sporting purposes such as the javelin throw. The javelin is nearly always thrown by hand, unlike the sling ...

. He was born in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

College career

Held started as a

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a #bar, bar. Pole jumping was already practiced by the ...

er at Grossmont High School near

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, where he finished in a 3-way tie for 4th place at the 1946 CIF California State Meet. He switched to the javelin while a student at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, where he won the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

javelin championship in

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2025 * January 2 – Luis ...

, and

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 ...

. Held won the AAU USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships six times, 1949, 1951, 1953 to 55 and 1958. Held set six American records in the javelin, and in 1953 became the first American to hold the world javelin record with an effort of ; in so doing, Held became the first athlete ever to throw the javelin over . He set a second world record of in 1955, and his career best throw was in 1956.

International competition

Held was a member of the United States' 1952 Olympic team where he placed ninth after a shoulder injury, and missed making the 1956 Olympic team by an inch. He won a gold medal in the 1955 Pan American Games in 1955 with a throw of .

Master's competition

Held continues to compete in masters competitions. In 1970, Held set a United States national masters javelin record of . On October 4, 2008, at the Club West Masters Track meet in Santa Barbara, Held set the age 80+

World Record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

in the pole vault WMA Men's World Records adding to the M75 World Record he already holds. He is also ranked in the discus. He also coaches his live-in partner Nadine O'Connor, who holds the women's 65+ pole vault world record, among numerous other track and field records. WMA Women's World Records

Outside of competition

After his retirement from standard competition, Held became a sporting equipment businessman. He founded Ektelon, inventing the world's first aluminum

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

racquet and its related stringing equipment from his

garage, then subsequently the first aluminum

racquetball Racquetball is a racquet sport and a team sport played with a hollow rubber ball on an indoor or outdoor court. Joseph Sobek invented the modern sport of racquetball in 1950, adding a stringed racquet to paddleball in order to increase vel ...

racquet. Ektelon history He also invented a hollow javelin that was used into the 1960s, but his design was later outlawed due to safety concerns.

Honors

Held was inducted into the USA Track & Field Hall of Fame in 1987, the USATF Masters Hall of Fame in 2005http://www.usatf.org/HallOfFame/Masters/ USATF Masters Hall of Fame and is a member of the Stanford Athletic Hall of Fame.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Held, Bud 1927 births Living people 20th-century American inventors American male javelin throwers Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 1955 Pan American Games Olympic track and field athletes for the United States Athletes (track and field) at the 1952 Summer Olympics Stanford Cardinal men's track and field athletes American masters athletes American male pole vaulters World record holders in masters athletics World record setters in athletics (track and field) Track and field athletes from Los Angeles Medalists at the 1955 Pan American Games Grossmont High School alumni Track and field athletes from San Diego NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners 20th-century American sportsmen