The Suburban Triple

To my knowledge, winning the Suburban Triple (winning three individual events in the Suburban Indoor or Outdoor) has been accomplished seven times during the years the Bay was in the Suburban Conference.

1936 Outdoor  Al Schilder  South Milwaukee:  Schilder won the 100 (10.2), 220 Hurdles (25.6) and Broad Jump (21-3) at Waukesha’s Haertel Field, leading the Red Rockets to its only Suburban track title.  He also won the 440 in 1934 and 1935.  At the 1936 Class A State Meet, Schilder won the Broad Jump and Low Hurdles and finished 3rd in the 100.  At the 1935 Class B State Meet, Schilder won the Broad Jump, 440 and ran a leg on the winning 880 Relay team while leading the Rockets to the Class B title.

1940 Outdoor  Morley Fraser  Wauwatosa:  Fraser won the 100 (10.2), 220 (22.5) and Broad Jump (21-7 1/2) at Haertel Field.  The previous week Fraser won the State Class A Broad Jump and 100.  He didn’t place in the 220, so he may have run on the Red Raiders’ 880 Relay team which finished 5th.

1950 Outdoor  Glen Wilson  Whitefish Bay:  Buzzie won both hurdles (15.0, 23.2) and the High Jump (5-10) at Hart Park.  He also won State Class B High Jump titles in 1948 and 1950.  Overall, he won eight Suburban track titles — five individual and three relays.  That’s an impressive total in general and certainly in the era before the Suburban Indoor.

1957 Outdoor  Jerry Casey  Greendale:  At Hart Park, Casey not only won the 180 Low Hurdles (19.4), 440 (50.6) and Broad Jump (22-10 1/4), but he broke the Suburban Conference record in all three events.  That’s probably the greatest ever individual performance in a Suburban Conference meet.  The Long Jump and 180 Hurdles records lasted until 1965 (both were broken by the great Paul Priebe of the Bay) and the 440 record lasted until 1972.  Casey won three State Class B titles and had a number of other top finishes for the Panthers.

1961 Indoor  Tom Dakin  Whitefish Bay:  Dakin won both hurdles (8.2, 7.7) and the High Jump (6-1 3/8) as a junior in the Suburban Indoor at the Waukesha Fieldhouse.  And all with Suburban Conference record marks.  Dakin won two State titles and finished in the top three at State five times.  Alas, Tom’s fancy cavorting wasn’t enough to allow the Bay to win the 1961 Indoor.

1964 Indoor  Art Sanders  Wauwatosa West: Sanders won the 65 High Hurdles (8.1), 65 Dash (6.9 tying the meet record) and the High Jump (6-1).  The high hurdles and dash is a strange combination.

1964 Outdoor  Art Sanders  Wauwatosa West:  Obviously, Sanders had a hell of a year in 1964.  He won both hurdles (14.9, 19.7) and the High Jump (6-2 conference record) at Hart Park.  Two weeks later at Monona Grove he almost won the Class A team title by himself.  He won both hurdles (14.2, 19.7) and finished second in the High Jump, good for 14 points in the 5-4-3-2-1 era.  The 14 points tied Waukesha for second, a point shy of Madison West.  Sanders’ jump of 6-4 broke the State Record, but another guy went 6-5.