On April 17 at the Kansas Relays, James White, a junior at Grandview High School, jumped over a bar set at 7 feet 3-1/4 inches. His competitors stood in awe. The jump bettered the second-place finisher by an astonishing 5 inches. The state record (7 feet 1-1/4 inches) also lay in ruins by the time White fell to earth. A few days later, at a meet at Winnetonka High School, White cleared 7 feet 5-3/4 inches, breaking a 25-year-old national high-school record. At age 17, White showed that he could compete at any level. His Winnetonka jump would have placed eighth at the 2008 Olympics. In 1976, the jump would have been worth gold.
