Olson honored by Millrose Games
Former ACU pole vaulter inducted along with three others
NEW YORK -- Former ACU pole vaulter Billy Olson, an 11-time world-record holder in the pole vault and four-time Millrose Games champion, was inducted into the Millrose Games Hall of Fame during ceremonies Friday night at the outset of the 97th running of the Verizon Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden.
Olson was joined in the Hall of Fame class by five-time Millrose Games 800-meter champion Johnny Gray, four-time Millrose high jump champion Joni Huntley, four-time Millrose pole vault champion Billy Olson, and seven-time Millrose Wanamaker 1.5-mile winner Joie Ray.
The Verizon Millrose Games Hall of Fame was instituted in 1999 to recognize the greatest performers in Millrose Games history who have retired from elite competition. Past inductees include Eamonn Coghlan, Carl Lewis, Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Mary Decker Slaney.
Olson, a 1988 U.S. Olympian, was the first person to clear 19 feet indoors, and was the first American to vault 19 feet outdoors. During his stellar career, he won two U.S. Outdoor titles, three U.S. indoor championships, four straight Millrose Games titles (1983-86) and set 11 world indoor records. In 1986, he became the first Millrose Games 19-foot pole vaulter during a memorable competition with Russia's Sergey Bubka.
Olson set 11 world indoor records in the vault from 18-8.75 in 1982 to 19-5.5 in 1986. He cleared 19-5.5 at the Vitalis Indoor Invitational in the New Jersey Meadowlands, and that mark is still third on the U.S. indoor all-time best list, and 10th on the world indoor all-timebest list.
Olson, who finished 12th at the Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea, in 1988, won a bronze medal at the 1981 World Cup in Rome; and also represented the U.S. in the IAAF World Championships, World University Games, Pan American Games and USA-USSR dual meets.
During his collegiate career for the Wildcats, he won four Lone Star Conference titles and eight NAIA national championships (indoors and outdoors all four years) in the pole vault.
A 1993 inductee into the ACU Sports Hall of Fame and also a member of the Big Country Sports Hall of Fame, Olson was the first Texan to win the prestigious Southland Olympia award, and was the Mobil Grand Prix overall winner in 1982 and 1983.
