Word: patton
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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Pampered Legs. At 23, Mel Patton looks fragile enough to be bowled over by the smell of locker-room sweat. But he has run the 100 yards faster than any man living or dead-in 9.3 seconds (an unofficial world's record). In the chow-line last week, a husky teammate yelled at him: ''Step aside and let us weight-men in. No fuss, now-you're the one man around here I can lick." Patton, grinning, yelled back: "Better be careful, Moose, I gained a pound last week...
...tall (6 ft.) and thin (146 Ibs.), like the hand of a stopwatch. His toothpick legs must be pampered; he ran seven races in two days last year and pulled a hamstring muscle. Although a chronic worrywart, Patton usually manages to control his worrying. In his crowded schedule there are special times for fretting, just as there are set times to go to classes at the University of Southern California and a set time to be home for dinner (he has a wife and two-year-old daughter). The proof of Patton's iron control under pressure...
When he runs, Patton's face becomes a study in desperation- teeth gritted, eyes squinted. He is the opposite of Charley Paddock, who was what trackmen call a "driver." Because of Paddock's high knee action and short back kick, people some times swore that "he ran sitting down." Patton, whose legs revolve' with a smooth wheel-like motion, is a "floater...
...ever run by Paddock (9.5). Then he squeezed out a mite more speed and equaled the world's record (9.4), first set by Frank Wykoff,‡ another old U.S.C. hero. Was it possible to pump more speed out of human legs? It was. At Fresno, Calif, this spring, Patton ran his unbelievable 9.3. His archrival, Lloyd La Beach, was only inches behind...
Third Down. For the 100-meter dash, the crowd's favorite event, Mel Patton ("the world's fastest human") wore a pair of brand-new spikes; his old shoes had gotten wet and fallen apart. Patton got off to a slow start, along with Dillard, who was hoping to qualify in two events (dash and hurdles). Ancient (30), competition-wise Barney Ewell, a Negro foundry-worker and a father, whom nobody had given much of a chance to win, made a flying start, pumped furiously with knees high for the first 60 yards, then relaxed...