LeRoy Perry Samse (September 13, 1883 – May 1, 1956) was an American

athlete An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...

who competed mainly in the

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 ...

. Samse represented the United States in the

1904 Summer Olympics The 1904 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the III Olympiad and also known as St. Louis 1904) were an international multi-sport event held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, from 1 July to 23 November 1904. Many events were conducted ...

held in

St Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

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in the pole vault where he won the silver medal. Samse attended

Kokomo High School Kokomo High School (merged with Haworth High School in 1984) is a four-year public high school in Kokomo, Indiana, USA. The school is the only high school in the Kokomo School Corporation. History The earliest Kokomo High School found in rec ...

from 1899 to 1902, before enrolling at

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

where he was reportedly introduced to the pole vault by coach James H. Horne.Kokomo's First World Record-Breaking Athlete Honored at Indiana University, ''Kokomo Tribune'', November 3, 1953 Samse was acknowledged for having set a world record in the pole vault at a Western Intercollegiate Conference meet in Evanston, Illinois on June 2, 1906. His vault of 12' 4 7/8" beat the mark of 12' 3" set three days earlier in New York by

Alfred Carlton Gilbert Alfred Carlton Gilbert (February 15, 1884 – January 24, 1961) was an American inventor, athlete, magician, toy maker and businessman. As the founder of A. C. Gilbert Company, Gilbert was known for inventing the Erector Set and American Fly ...

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

. After graduating Samse traveled with a triple bar horizontal act, followed by an aerial act that played county fairs. In 1920 he was hired as Physical Education director in the Los Angeles school system. He retired in 1946. In 2009, Indiana University put on the first ever LeRoy Samse Invitational, an informal meeting where vaulters are required to jump on non-bending poles similar to Samse's. The inaugural meet was won by Vera Neuenswander on the women's side (9 feet), and Jeff Coover on the men's side (12 feet). The meet record is still considered to be Samse's personal record of 12' 4 7/8".

References

External links

Leroy Samse at databaseOlympics.com
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Samse, LeRoy 1883 births 1956 deaths American male pole vaulters Olympic silver medalists for the United States in track and field Athletes (track and field) at the 1904 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1904 Summer Olympics 20th-century American sportsmen