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Show MONDAY, FEBRU.A.RY ,10, 1941 THE ffiON MOUNTAIN NEWS, ffiON MOUNTAIN, MIC Engen~s 267-Foot_Jump New American .-------- -- ,---- Record For Two Hours , __ Tol{le Betters Marli ln Coast Meet Iron Mountain basked gloriously, but briefly, in the spotlight of a new American ski-jumping distan ce r ecord here yesterday a ft ernoon. Alf Engen, siding's mighty man from Salt Lake City, leaped into the !hearts of an estimated crowd of 20,- 000 spectators when he hurtled off the Pine mountain slide in a brea t htaking 267-foot leap to sma sh the national record and wind up the eighth annual Kiwanis Ski club t ournament with a story-book finish . Two hours later the new American record became the former American record . Two thousand miles west, at Leavenworth, \Vash., TorgEr Tokle, t he Norwegian sensation , soared 273 feet off a 70-meter hill to eclipse E ngen's record-breaking l eap by six f eet. So today, after brief existence, Alf Engen's 267-foot leap has passed in- THE AWFUL TRUTH LEAVENWORTH, Wash ., F eb. 10--iP-Torger Tokle, of the Norway Ski club, New York, bettered the American amateur competitive ski-jumping record w~th a leap of 273 feet yesterday. His jump helped him win t he 13th annual Leavenworth skijumping tournament and came only a few hours after Alf Engen, of Salt Lake City, Utah, leaped 267 feet at Iron Mountain, Mich. CHAMPION AND EX-CHAMPION Both jumps bettered the former Torger Tolde Alf Engen N orth American record of 257 feet set at Iron Mountain in 1939 by Bob Roecker, of Duluth. to history as t he former American distance record. The Amer ican ski-jumping distance r ecord was broken twice yesterday. Alf E ngen , Salt Lake City national champion, broke the former record of 257 feet with a 267-foot flight here on the Pine mountain slide. Two h ours later , at Leavenwor th, Wash., Tokle shatter ed E ngen's record wtJh a 273-foot leap . Despite this disappointing note, yesterdays classic will go down in the books as one of t he biggest and most-thrilling winter sports events ever staged in the midwest. The meet was blessed with everything favorable-perfect weather, a star - l. studded field of riders, a record crowd and a record jump. 2· Bietib Places First 3· Though Engen lost out to Walter 3· Bietila, of M:adison for first place 4· in A division, h is climactic feat will 5· be carried In the memori es of the 6· t housands. He came t h rough with 7• !flying colors like the champion he is 8. and fulfilled the desire of every ski 9. a ddict on the scene. 10. Engen's spectacular leap was comparable in t hrills with baseball's 1. winning home run with two out in 2. the ninth inning, basketball's decid- 3. ing bucket in the final seconds and 4. football's 90-yard winning t ouch- 5. down run as t he gun is in the a ir. 6: Engen 's jump blew the safety valve 7. after the meet gradually was built 8. .to a thrilling climax. 9. Tournament Results -CLASS A-F eet Walter Bietila, Madison, Wis ...... . .......... .. 236 Alf Engen, Sun Valley, I daho • • • ••• • ••• • ••• • ••• 228 Geor ge :K:otlarek, Duluth , Minn . ••••• • ••• • • • • •• 234 Ted Zoberski, Land O'Lakes, Wis • • •• ••••••••••• 232 Roy Laramie, Iron Mou n tain •. .•• ••• •• • • ••••• • • 231 Eugene Wilson, Coleraine, Minn. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 232 Roy Bietila, I sh peming, Mich. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 192 Bob S torm, Duluth . ... .. . ............ ......... 213 Ellsworth Mitch ell, I shpeming •• • •••• • •• •• ••• •• 205 Fritz Pohlman, Beloit, Wis . • • • ••• • •••• • • ••••• •• 202 Bob Roecker, Duluth ...... .. ................. . 191 - CLASS B-J im Running, Beloit ••••••••• • • ••. . • ••••• • •• •• • 222 Bob Riley, Coleraine •. • • .. . • • • • ••• ••••• • •• •• • •• 222 John Zoberski, Ironwood, Mich . •• • •• • • • •••• • • •• 232 Vernon P owers, Eau Claire, Wis . •••• •• ••• • ••• • 223 Walter Nelson, Beloit ..... .. .. .... ...... . .. _ .... 224 Waino Mantyala, Ishpeming ••••••••• • • •••• • ••• 224 J ack Paquette, Iron Mountain •• • • • •• ••• •••••••• 225 Raymond Nelson, Beloit ..... . ................. 211 George Wright, Duluth ..... .. . ...... .. ........ 207 Bill Deze1ski, Coleraine • • • • . . • • . • • • • • • .. • • • • .. • 205 -CLASS C- 1. Ralph Bietila, Ishpeming .. . .. . .. . ........... .. 221 Aft e·r the 'first of the two official 10. rides had 1been completed in all four classes, the best effort was credited to George Kotlarek , of Duluth , who leaped ,234 fee t, mediocre for A riders when B entrants were c arrying nearly as far. And as the second round reached the end of the B list, 240 feet by Bob Riley, 2. Nyal Thompson, ' Iron Mountain • •• ••••• • ••• • • •• 191 3. Rober t He in, Ironwood . . . . . .. . ... ........... .. 183 4. Milton Locker y, New London, Wis . .. ........... 179 5. Fred P aquette, Iron Mountain ......... .... .... · 167 6. Jack Zambrovitz, Ironwood . .. .. .. . ....... .. .. . 175 7. Gale Eymer, Iron Mountain • • •• • • • • • •• •• • • • ••• • 173 of Coleraine, was the top leap. Engen cleared but 228 feet in his fi rst 1. ~~ a As the A riders opened th eir sec- 3. ond .round, the crowd became 1 - - - SENIOR CLASS-Ernie J acobson, Chicago .... .... ......... .. . ... 171 vValter Brattlund, Iron Mount a in ............... 168 Oden Utegaard, Whitehall, Wis . ••••• • • • • • • • • •• 154 Feet Points 256 144.56 267 143.43 254 143.06 252 143.06 256 141.44 252 140.56 252 134.06 237 132.35 218 131.10 229 129.99 219 127.89 220 135.36 240 133.84 219 133.47 220 130.99 • 215 129.49 233 129.22 226 127.98 215 126.38 211 125.88 209 124.89 212 129.24 194 119.79 162 115.33 169 113.20 178 112.33 177 112.20 176 111.83 179 118.45 172 114.71 181 113.09 I I tense. I ne 11 rst SIX roared doWn the 1 chute without a ny startling results, [, the best jumps bein g made by Bob ' Roecker, of Dulu th, h older of the I 257-foot record, who leaped 219 feet. Roy Bietila, of Ishpeming, gave the 1 crowd h igh h opes wh en he sailed t 252 feet-five feet short of t he rec- r ord. Two r ides later, Kotlar ek, ! -landed on the 25'1-foot mark. Wal-l ter Bietila, the A winner, gave the ·crowd hean -failure with a beautifully- executed 256-footer-one foot - short of the record. Next down the chute was Ted Zoberski, the Ironwood dare-devil who jumped 273 feet in an unofficial a ttempt last year. Automobile 'horns tooted pleadingly to Zoberski as h e left the top--fa ns wanted t he record breaker. Zoberski's supreme effo r t fell short at the 252-foot mark. Eugene Wilson came direct- [ ly behind h im with an identical leap. Roy Laramie, Iron Mountain's 1-------~ ace rider, gave the fans another , tense moment as he hur tled one I foot short of the record-256 fee t. 1-------ofl Contes Through In Clutch The crowd grew uneasy. Two riders remained, Alf" Engen and Bob l--------11 £3torm, o,f . Dulu th. Storm, t h ough an able jumper, wa-s not regarded 1-------~ as a ranking record conten der . E n-gen was decidedly "on t he spot." Forty thousand eyes focused on the f---------41 32-year-old Norwegian ace as he paused momentarily before the - "payoff" ride of the meet. This ride would make or break the success of the tournament from t he spec- 1--------« tators' point of view. Engen sped down the icy chute and hurtled off the scaffold. Suspense hung over the scene as the champion flew through the air • -------1 f or· what seemed minu tes. The t r e-mendous ovation told t he story before it was officially announced. Eyes glued on that 257-foot mark knew the record had been broken. Engen came through like a t rue champion, passing Bob Roecker's m ark into history with a 267-foot leap. The fact that the new record was also about to pass into history was the most remote though t in the happy throng. Engen's 228-foot leap on the f ir st ride permitted Walter Bie tila to share the honors of the day wi th first place in class A. Bie tila's masterful form on his 256-foo t effort gave him a total of 144.56 p oints, to Engen's second-place total of 143.43. Ted Zoberski and Kotlarek finished in a deadlock for t h ir d, each with 143.06 points. Kotlarek's leaps shaded those of Zoberski, 234-254 to 232- 252. Laramie, the local star, gave his all in two creditable jumps of 231 and 256 to wind up , fourth among the _nation's_ __ b_est ju~pe.r_:s . . Walter Bietila was judged the ' most g raceful rider of 'the meet to win the WMAM radio station _trophy. Bill Running was n amed the most graceful in B class and Ralph Bie tila c!a1med the honors in ...... c. Engen was virtually mobbed by her o-worshippers after h is spectacular record-breaking ride. His cap was the coveted prize of one · souvenir h un ter . Others puiled a t tl his shirt and su cceeded in carrying : away pieces of clothing of the ;r greatest of all "knigh ts of the wood-en wings". He finally a u tographed - his way ou t of the_ mil!i n~ thr ong . • |
