Don Bragg was a world-class athlete and an Olympic gold medalist in the pole vault whose colorful personality and larger-than-life presence made him a star not only in the realm of athletics but also as a storyteller, humanitarian, author and actor in addition to many other of his life’s endeavors.
Bragg was the world record holder in the pole vault with a mark of 4.80 meters (15’9.25”) from July 2, 1960 until May 20, 1961. He set the record at the 1960 Olympic Trials in Stanford, Calif. and went on to win that year’s Olympic gold medal in Rome. It was one of two gold medals that Bragg won while representing the United States in international competition, as he was previously the pole vault champion at the 1959 Pan-American Games in Chicago.
During his prolific career in pole vaulting, even while being one of the last stars of the sport to compete with a metal pole, Bragg was a six-time AAU champion and the 1955 outdoor NCAA champion in addition to winning six IC4A titles and being a four-time champion at the Penn Relays. He is an inductee to the USATF National Track & Field Hall of Fame (1996), the Villanova Varsity Club Hall of Fame (1980) and the Penn Relays Wall of Fame (1998).
The life story of Don Bragg is one that encompasses far more than his athletic accomplishments on the world stage. Nicknamed “Tarzan” both for playing the role of the fictional character in a movie and for the Tarzan yell he was known to celebrate his pole vault victories with, Bragg appeared in national commercials and was a motivational speaker. He spoke in Rome in 2010 at a ceremony commemorating the 50
th anniversary of the 1960 Olympics and concluded his speech with the famous Tarzan yell.
A native of Penns Grove, N.J. and a star scholastic athlete at Penns Grove High School, Bragg gave plenty back to society locally and worldwide. He was a youth-recreation adviser for the New Jersey governor’s office and at one time was the athletic director at Stockton University in Galloway Township, N.J. Bragg also worked for the U.S. State Department as a goodwill ambassador and was known for climbing trees and swinging from vines during tours in Europe and Africa.
Perhaps the most significant enterprise of Bragg’s humanitarian work was Kamp Olympik, a summer-camp for inner-city kids which Bragg and his wife Theresa operated for 10 years in the Pine Barrens area of New Jersey. Hundreds of kids attended the camp to participate in outdoor activities and educational programs while being treated to guest appearances from many of the celebrities whom Bragg called a friend. Muhammad Ali, who Bragg befriended when both were gold medalists at the 1960 Olympics, was a frequent visitor.
Bragg lived a life that was destined for stardom. He was one of the largest of the world’s elite pole vaulters at 6-3 and 197 pounds, competed in the pre-fiberglass era and was a national star in the sport by the time he was 18 years old. Bragg’s entrance to the world stage came in 1954 when he cleared a height of 4.42 meters (14’6”). Just 18 at the time, he finished the year ranked sixth in the world.
Three years of Bragg’s competitive career came during his time at Villanova, where he was a part of the Wildcats only outdoor national championship team in 1957. Bragg was the NCAA champion in the pole vault in 1955 with a height of 4.60 meters (15’1”). He repeated as an All-American in 1957 when he finished as the runner-up at the NCAA Championships by clearing the bar at 4.62 meters (15’1 ¾”).
Bragg was also the IC4A champion in the pole vault three straight years both indoors and outdoors from 1955-57. Those titles came during years that pre-dated the indoor NCAA meet and in which the IC4A Championship was widely considered to be a national championship meet for collegiate athletes. Bragg is one of only two athletes in school history – Phil Reavis is the other – to win six career IC4A titles competing in field events.
While competing at Villanova, Bragg won at least a share of three straight Penn Relays titles from 1955-57. He returned to the Relays as a professional athlete representing the U.S. Army and won the Olympic Development pole vault in 1960. Bragg was part of the 1998 induction class to the Penn Relays Wall of Fame for the combination of his collegiate and professional accomplishments at the world’s oldest and largest track & field meet.
Like fellow pole vault Hall of Famer Cornelius Warmerdam, Bragg often competed better indoors than outdoors. His indoor world record mark of 4.81 meters (15’9 ¼”) set in Philadelphia in 1959 was two centimeters better than Warmerdam’s previous record which had stood for 16 years. It also lasted as Bragg’s lifetime best mark, even when he set the outdoor world record during the 1960 Olympic Trials. He was the favorite entering the Olympics in Rome after his performance at the trials, and endured a competition that lasted for over seven hours to emerge with the gold medal. He cleared 4.70 meters (15’5”) to win the gold medal, while his height of 4.80 meters from the Olympic Trials remains the world’s best for a mark recorded while competing with a metal pole.
The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) was the national governing body for track & field during Bragg’s career. He won five straight indoor AAU titles from 1957-61, and during that stretch was also the national champion outdoors in 1959.
Bragg was born on May 15, 1935 in Penns Grove, N.J. and died on February 16, 2019 in California. His younger sister Diane learned to pole vault from her brother and recorded a mark of 2.59 meters in 1952, long before the discipline became a standard women’s event at top competitions. Diane’s mark stood as the unofficial world record for 17 years.
