Field Day in Plainfield

In Helsinki last summer, a big (6 ft. 3 in., 210 lbs.) Negro high-school boy from Plainfield, N.J. trudged wearily into a locker room in the Olympic stadium. Worn down by the two-day competition in the Olympics' most demanding test, Decathlon Man Milton Campbell gave World Champion Bob Mathias a congratulatory backslap, then flopped on a cot. Little stirred by his own feat in becoming Olympic runner-up, Milt moaned: "I'd rather die than go through that again."

By last week, however, with newly married Bob Mathias retired from the decathlon scene, Milt, now 19, was decidedly alive and going through that again. His home town of Plainfield (pop. 42,366) was decked out for two big events, the Fourth of July and the National Amateur Athletic Union decathlon, which Plainfield had bid for and got in honor of Milt Campbell.

Wildly cheered on by some 6,000 fellow townsmen, including his parents and sister, versatile Milt alternately sped and powerhoused his graceful bulk through the decathlon's exacting tests. He sprinted the fastest 100-meter dash of his life (10.5), and also took first in the 400-meter run, high jump and shot-put. Going into the second day with a big 717-point lead, Milt won the 110-meter high hurdles by nearly a second in 14.3, later loped heavy-footed through the 1,500-meter run to pick up a final 134 points.

Plainfield was plain delighted. All told, Milt had racked up 7,235 points in history's fourth best decathlon performance. Though holding a fistful of bids to attend more than 50 U.S. colleges, U.S. Decathlon Champion Campbell is looking far beyond college and the 1956 Olympics. He well knows that the rigorous decathlon is mostly a young man's game. With no appetite for professional athletics, Milt wants to become an industrial public-relations man.

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