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Friday, April 20, 1973
University Daily Kansan
Kansan Staff Photo by PRIS BRANDSTED
KU High Jump Record Holder Soars Over Bar with Style of Perfection Barry Schur, Tuscon junior, even flopped before it was popular . . .
Mixing Concentration, Oscillation Turns Flop into Schur Sensation
By GERALD EWING Kansas Sports Writer
What actually is the "Fosbury Flop?" In track and field terminology, it is the newest form of high jumping, popularized by 1988 Olympic gold medal winner Dick Fostberg. The jumper approaches the bar, leaps and twists, sending his body over the bar backwards.
One of the chief practitioners and possibly the originator of the flop is University of Kansas high jumper Barry Schur. Schur, the defending Kansas Relays and Big Eight Outdoor high jump champion, said that he had been jumping flop style since 1968.
"Fosbury didn't come on the scene until 1967," he said. "I started jumping in the eighth grade with the scissor skill. I found it hard to work." He could go a lot higher, so I stuck with it."
The change of style has made Schur, a native of Tucson, Ariz. of the best high jumpers in the country. While attending Palo Verde High School in Tucson, he won the Arizona state high jump championship and was an All-America member; he was a sophomore in high school, he proved to himself and his coach that the flop style was not a fluke.
"When I was a sophomore, my coach wouldn't let me jump with the flop," he said. "I went 5-7 scissoring, but I showed him I could go higher using the flop. By the end of my sophomore year, I had gone 67! The flop. That made a believer out of him."
"IWAS recruited by KU to participate in the decathlon. That's what I did my freshman year. I broke the school record when I was a freshman, but gave it up to concentrate on the high jump. Ten events in two days is a little too much to ask," he said.
Schur is probably one of the best all-around athletes on the KU track team. In high school, at one time or another, he competed in the 120-yard high hurdles, 180-yard low hurdles, high jump, long jump, pole vault, discus, lavelin and shot put.
Schur's decision to concentrate on the high jump has definitely paid off. He won the long jump competition last year with a jump of 2.36m, Memorial Stadium and Kansas Relays record. Last last spring, he won the Big Ten jumps championship in Boulder. Colo., with a personal height of 7.35
Although his performances last year were impressive, his performances in this year's indoor meet were even more impressive. The high jump in Southern Illinois-Charleston and the Big Eight Field House. He took first in the Big Eight Indoor Championship March 2 and 3 in Kansas City, Mo. He placed second in the NCAA Indoor Championship March 9 and 10 in Detroit. In the SIU-KU and NCAA meets he went 7-1. In the Big Eight indoor he went 6-1.
usually high standards. In the Kansas-Alabama dual meet March 24 in Tuscaloosa, he finished second with a jump of 6-8. In the Kansas-UCLA-Tennessee triangular meet March 31 in Los Angeles, he should be qualified for the final competition. To qualify of the problem was competing in too many meets in a row and trying to go to school too.
SCHUR'S first two performances in outdoor meets have been well below his
"It's really a hassle to be on the track team and go to school at the same time," he said. "Every minute of the day is taken up with classes or workouts. Besides, during the season you're gone nearly every weekend."
SCHUR SAID that mental attitude played a very important part in high jump. "How psyched up I get usually depends on how big the meet is. It's extremely hard to get up for every meet. I usually start thinking about an upcoming meet right after the meet." The coach psyched up that I lose sleep over it, but the more nervous we get, the bettet I "be" said.
Schur's goals for the remainder of the outdoor season are to win by the Kansas
Relays, Drake Relays and the Big Eight and NCAA Outdoor championships.
"I took second at the NCAA Outdoor last year," he said. "Everybody who will be there this year, I beaten before. I'm sure I can beat them again."
His plans for the summer are as yet uncertain. He said he would like to compete in the World University Games in Moscow. He said if he does not make the team for the Olympics, he would probably try to go on one of the annual Amateur Athletic Union tours.
"I WENT on the AUAE summer tour last year and it's really a good deal. I qualified for it by winning the National AAU Championship last year. On the tour I won one game in each of them in another. In Italy, I set a national country record, which was really pleasing," he said.
Although the next Summer Olympic Games are three years off, Schur said that he would still be jumping them and would try to keep them alive if we have them, I'll try to be there," he said.
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