Lee Stratford Barnes (July 16, 1906 – December 28, 1970) 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 ...

from

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

who competed in the men's

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 ...

. He was born in

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Salt ...

and died in

Oxnard, California Oxnard () is a city in Ventura County in the U.S. state of California, United States. On California's Central Coast (California), Central Coast, it is the most populous city in Ventura County and the List of largest California cities by populati ...

. Barnes attended the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

Los Angeles 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, ...

.USC OLYMPIANS: 1904-2008
USC Trojans Athletic Department, Accessed August 13, 2008. He competed in

Athletics at the 1924 Summer Olympics At the 1924 Summer Olympics held in Paris, 27 Sport of athletics, athletics events were contested, all for men only. The competitions were held from 6 to 13 July. There were no events in athletics for women at this edition of the Olympic Games ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and won

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

, beating fellow American pole vaulter Glenn Graham, who received

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

. Barnes has the honor of being the only known stunt double for silent film star

Buster Keaton Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. He is best known for his silent films during the 1920s, in which he performed physical comedy and inventive stunts. He frequently ...

during Keaton's independent years of film making. In Keaton's 1927 feature ''

College A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary sc ...

'', Barnes performed a pole vault through an open upper-story window.A Trojan Olympic Miscellany
, USC web site, accessed October 17, 2013 (The source erroneously credits Barnes with doubling during a running sequence.)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barnes, Lee 1906 births 1970 deaths Track and field athletes from Salt Lake City American male pole vaulters Athletes (track and field) at the 1924 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1928 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field World record setters in athletics (track and field) University of Southern California alumni USC Trojans men's track and field athletes Medalists at the 1924 Summer Olympics 20th-century American sportsmen