In Madison Square Garden

The Rev. Robert Richards took a clutch on his vaulting pole, charged down the stretch, and launched himself at a crossbar 15 ft. 1 in. high. Over he went and down, asprawl, into the pit on the other side.

Richards looked up at the crossbar. There it sat: the most beautiful stationary object he had ever seen in his life. After two years of missing by finger-flicks (TIME, Jan. 29), Parson Richards had become the second* man in history to vault 15 feet or more. He got up and did an unrestrained war dance.

Later he made a statement. Said Richards, an ordained (Church of the Brethren) minister who combines revival preaching with teaching at California's La Verne College: "I thank the good Lord for helping me out tonight."

Richards' jump, the No. 1 sport news in the U.S. last week, stole the show from the top-billed event at the Garden: Don Gehrmann and Fred Wilt in the Wanamaker Mile. Last year's disputed photo finish took ten months to settle. This time Gehrmann won from Wilt by six yards, in his best time ever: 4:07.5.

* The first: Cornelius Warmerdam, who did it 43 times. His best vault: 15 ft. 8 1/2 in.

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