The Time Thomas Hill’s Father Was Denied A Shocking World Record

An unknown but amazing story. What a shame.

We knew that former Duke basketball player Thomas Hill’s dad - Thomas Hill, Sr. - was a hurdler, but we didn’t realize how good he was.

Hill made the 1972 Olympic team and should have set a world record in 1970 but according to this article by Steve Cameron in the Couer d’Alene/Post Falls Press, he was pretty much screwed out of it.

The US was still using yards for track events at that time but the conversion between 120 yards and 110 meters is 109.78 meters.

However, the officials ruled that it was wind-aided - despite the fact that no one had turned on the device to check for windspeed.

Essentially, for whatever reason, they just decided it wouldn’t stand. If we understand correctly, and we may not, the wind had to be measured for the record to be valid.

The record of 13.2 stood until 1979 until Renaldo Nehemiah managed 13.16.

It’s a nice piece on Hill Sr. and worth your time.