In June 1956 — two years after the first sub-4-minute mile — an arguably greater barrier fell in track and field: the first 7-foot high jump. Charlie Dumas cleared 2.15 meters (7-0 1/2) at the U.S. Olympic Trials at the tender age of 19. The performance sent shockwaves through the sports world. Dumas cemented his legend with a gold medal at the Melbourne Olympics. His death at age 66 in 2004 inspired many to reflect on greatness. Glen Conley hasn’t been so lucky.

This is how I reported the first masters 7-footer:
Seven-Foot Barrier Falls to New Yorker
It was supposed to be a Stones or a Barrineau — or certainly another former Olympian. But the first masters athlete to jump 7 feet turns out to be a relative unknown from Newburgh, New York. Glen Conley’s historic 2.15m jump breaks Jim Barrineau’s old record of 6-11 (2.11) from 1995, and is equated by age-graded tables to almost 7-11 1/2 (2.43) in open competition!
Here’s how the stunning news reached the webmaster on August 2, 1997:
TROY, N.Y. (AP) Glen Conley was worried about being too “juiced” on Saturday. It worked. He set an unofficial masters world record in the high jump during the Empire State Games.
Conley, a physical education instructor at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, cleared 7-0 5/8 inches.
“I was just screaming, ‘Praise the Lord!’ said Conley, 40, who lives in Newburgh. I came out of high school jumping six foot and no one paid any attention to me. I’ve been thinking about this since I was 35.”
Results are online at the Empire State Games site. It turns out that Conley jumped in the open meet — not against in the well-attended masters section. Conley is not a complete rookie to masters meets, it turns out. He also competed at the Boston masters nationals in March.
Back to the narrative:
Conley’s mark stirred disbelief in some circles. National Masters News didn’t report the jump for months. But in late 1997, USATF Masters voted his 2.15 as the Masters Track and Field Performance of the Year.
End of story? Sadly not.
World Masters Athletics — then called the World Association of Veteran Athletes — chose not to recognize the mark. WAVA’s records czar, Pete Mundle, did not submit the mark for ratification. But Mundle took the mark seriously, listing it in his unofficial annual compilation of single-age records, the modest booklet known as Masters Age Records.
Beginning in 2000, Mundle began listing Conley’s mark in Masters Age Records. But not as the age-40 record.
Mundle listed Conley as age 38.
The citation appears as follows:
38   7’0 1/2   2.15   Glen Conley(NY)   8-2-97
When I first saw this, I mistakenly assumed that Conley had jumped 7 feet at both 38 and age 40. I didn’t notice the date of the jump.
But someone else did, and several months ago — in November 2004 — I received e-mail from Peter Matthews of Britain. Matthews is a world-renowned track expert and statistician, and he informed me that someone had wrote him that Mundle listed Conley’s birth year as 1959, not 1957.
Very odd — and very distressing.
This meant one of two things. Either Pete Mundle was mistaken, a black mark on his decades of careful recordkeeping. Or Conley was lying about his age.
I immediately e-mailed Conley, a volleyball coach at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. (and whose Web site boasts of Conley’s world masters high jump record.) He wrote back and, the next day, faxed me a copy of his birth certificate. The DOB listed was 1/9/1957 — making him nearly 40 years, 7 months at the time of his Empire Games jump.
But just to make extra certain that the DOB was legit, I wrote to Muskingum, Ohio, and the records department at the Ohio Department of Health. For $22, I got the confirmation I needed.
According to the certificate I received in early December 2004, Glen Russell Conley was born to Robert and Betty Conley at Good Samaritan Hospital in Zanesville, Ohio, on January 9, 1957.
But the mystery remained: How did Mundle get it so wrong?
I e-mailed Mundle several times during my inquiries.
He finally replied on December 23, 2004:
“Ken, I have conley’s birth certificate, It did have the date 1/9/59 but
not in the date of birth column (that was the date he changed his name
which was included on the certificate). His correct date of birth is
1/9/57. But that was not why the mark was never approved. Glen set this
high school meet up in advance for the purpose of clearing 7 feet. He
said he would send me the record application form after the meet but he
never sent it. I found out later that the officials at the high jump did
not sign the form since there were irregularities for his try at 7 feet.
I thought I told you and others about this at the time. So no masters
athlete has officially jumped 7 feet or higher. Dwight Stones attempted
this also but could not get over 7.”
Mundle’s note was mystifying in the extreme.
Mundle claims:
1. Conley changed his name.
2. Conley’s mark came at an ad hoc high school meet.
3. Officials balked at signing the records form.
Given the fact that the Empire States Games was an open meet with a long history of serious competition, and well-officiated, Mundle’s remarks are nothing short of bizarre. Change of name? Incredible.
And I don’t recall Mundle telling me this eight years ago.
Upon learning of this new twist on an old tale, Conley wrote me:
“How did Pete Mundle get a birth certificate of mine? He has never requested one from me. You have a copy of my birth certificate and the date is obviously 1957. I’ve never changed my name, what is he talking about? I’ve never “set up” a meet to specifically break a record.
“I competed in a sanctioned meet, the Empire State Games. This was witnessed by many, covered by many papers and even a T.V. station in the Albany area. I did speak with Pete Mundle once about the meet and I told him that it was the New York Empire State Games Meet. Please contact the Empire State Games to verify all of this information. I also jumped 2.15 at the age of 42; this was done at a meet at West Point, a collegiate meet in which open competitors were allowed to compete. If you wish to confirm this please contact Jerry Quiller, the Head Track Coach at West Point, (845) 938-2425.
“Nobody has questioned that I cleared the mark and in fact USA Track and Field gave me a plaque for the greatest single performance by a Master’s Athlete that year.
“There were no irregularities at the meet or in the high jump competition. His information is inaccurate. Is he implying that I am lying or that I am perpetrating a hoax upon the track and field world? It appears he is implying that I am not Dwight Stones and therefore cannot have done something that Dwight did not do. I have nothing to hide and will welcome a full investigation into the matter.”
For further reaction, I also wrote to Col. James Barrineau, chief of Army Force Management for the National Guard Bureau in Washington, the 1976 Olympian whose M40 record Conley shattered that August day in 1997.
Barrineau, whose M40 best is 2.11 (6-11), wrote me:
“As far as Glen Conley is concerned I was wondering when the age issue would come up since it has been a while since a 1959 birthyear appeared in NMN. I was pretty sure he was a 1957 birthyear, however. The question becomes why a record application was not submitted? I remember it took me over a year to get a sub-masters record submitted because I had to track down the meet officials and the guy that ran the high jump for signatures. I don’t know if there is a statute of limitations on this, but it would seem that 7½ years is a long time. He probably did jump 2.15, but who knows if a steel tape was used to verify and if the measuring officials were certified, etc, etc. As you know, it is incumbent on all masters athletes to ensure those things are looked after when doing a record attempt in case the meet officials are not paying attention. So in summary, age is not the issue, but submission of the proper documentation certifying the record.”
For the record, I wrote to USATF Masters records chair Sandy Pashkin for comment. She never replied.
In 1994 — nearly 40 years after Roger Bannister’s legendary sub-4 at the Iffley Road track — another European miler, 41-year-old Eamonn Coghlan, ran the first masters sub-4 mile at an indoor meet in Boston. His mark of 3:58.13 is recognized as the M40 world indoor record by WMA.
In 1997 — just over 40 years after Dumas’ barrier-busting 2.15 — Glen Conley also scaled 7 feet. WMA and USATF continue to ignore the mark.
Why?