Charlie Dumas - the form of Prep History's Huge Record Breaker of the mid-1950's!!

One of the amazing prep careers in California a half a century ago was that of 1950's High Jumper Charlie Dumas (Centennial, Compton) - Again, we came across a coaching article on his preparation and career up to his 1955 graduation that this page links to. The National Prep Record in the High Jump back in those days was 6-07 1/8 (for some reason they did it in eighth of an inch increments back in those days) by Gil LaCava (Beverly Hills HS) from way back in 1938. During a stunning senior year of 1955 Dumas was the California State Champ at 6-09 3/8, in a meet at Los Angeles, then leaped 6-10 1/4 in the Southern Pacific AAU Meet on June 10th of that year to add an amazing amount to what had been cleared by any prep high jumper in US History. Coached at Centennial by legendary Bill Gill, who passed away in recent years, Dumas was the first seven-footer in world history a year after his prep graduation in 1956 and won the gold medal in the Melborne Olympic Games that year. Unfortunately he recently passed away after a long career as an educator in the Los Angeles area.

Link to Article on Charlie Dumas' High Jumping in 1955