Villa Park:
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cially made 16' i" and Villa Park became the second high school ever to have two sixteen-foot pole vaulters at the same time (the first was Warren High of Downey, California, with Paul Wilson and Bob Steinhoff in 1965). Tim and Keith each cleared sixteen feet on two other occasions, with Keith reaching the top prep mark of the year at the Mt. San Antonio College Relays with his 16'3~". This meet was televised and the two enjoyed considerable exposure as they were interviewed on television. . The s~ason was climaxed in early June m San Otego as Keith was California state high school champion at 15'6", with Vahlstrom runner-up, clearing the same height. Interestingly Keith came near not qualifying for the state meet. Catastrophe struck at the Century League Finals in May as Keith experienced what pole vaulters fear most in competition. He "bombed out", ~ailed to clear a height. He needed to place m the top three to continue in C.I.F., Southern Section, competition, leading to the state meet. Only when another vaulter relinquished his qualifying spot did Schimmel get to enter C.I.F. Imagine improving your best mark three feet in your high school career, but ending up not holding the school record. O_ne might wonder about the feelings of ~1m Vahlstrom, after being in the spothght for several years, suddenly finding himself surpassed by his own teammate. The answer to this question must include some personal background of the two. The success that these two athletes enjoyed was not accidental. It was a culmination of six years of dedication, study and intelligent training, plus a strong desire to excel. Both were students of the pole vault, and both realized that the help they got from each other was truly instrumental in their improvement. Their coach will tell you that, in addition to being exceptional athletes, both were regarded as outstanding young men in their personal lives. Derogatory remarks about others were never heard from either of them. While there was a strong natural rivalry between them, they nevertheless were each proud of the successes enjoyed by the other. Coach Bob McKie was often asked during and after the 1975 season why Keith Schimmel suddenly surpassed Tim Vahlstrom. One must simply look at the developmental pattern of the two to see that Vahlstrom matured a little earlier and his improvement was gradual and steady from junior high school through high school. Schimmel matured slightly later, then experienced a big breakthrough, improving two feet between his junior and senior years. Many colleges and universities indicated an interest, naturally, in these two. Both received athletic scholarships, Tim to the University of Texas, El Paso, and PREP I APRIL-MAY 1977
Keith to San Jose State. Vahlstrom enjoyed another season of improvement in 1976, clearing 17'0 3/.i" and competed with the U.S. junior A.A.U. team in summer meets in Russia, Poland and West Germany. In retrospect now, one cannot help but feel that there must have been some pre-ordained reason for Schimmel's sea~ son of glory in 1975. For you see, on June 24, 1976, Keith died of lymphomic cancer at 18 years of age. Jim Sidler entered Villa Park High School in 1975 as an excellent pole vault prospect in the same mold as Schimmel and Vahlstrom. Although he attended a different junior high school (Peralta), his progress was similar. Because he is such a fine all-around track athlete (hurdles, high jump, triple jump, sprints), Jim competed in other events in the seventh grade, but cleared 8'6" on one of his few attempts at the pole vault. Concentrating more on that event, he quickly improved to 10'6" in the eighth grade and II '9" in the ninth grade. Jim entered high school with his mind made up to limit himself to just the pole vault. The combination of his obvious talent and the opportunity to train with two sixteen-foot vaulters had its predictable results, and Sidler improved to 13'6" in his sophomore year. Keith and Tim not only helped Jim with his vaulting, but influenced his attitude and maturity, particularly with regard to a short-fused temper, which had a tendency to interfere with his progress. During the winter previous to the 1976 season, Jim cleared 14'0" several times in all-comers meets and gave an indication of things to come in his junior year when he vaulted 14'6\12'' in his opening meet in February. Then, in a three-week period in late March, it all came together. He sailed 15'1", 15'4\4" and 15'8" in successive ¡ meets. After missing several meets due to an injury, Jim was able to get-over 15'0" two more times, but the lack of practice due to the injury clearly affected his progress the remainder of the season, as he failed to qualify for the state meet in C. I. F. competition. There¡ is no doubt that Jim's work is cut out for him in the 1977 season, but he does hold the junior class record at Villa Park High, having gone a foot higher as a junior than did Schimmel and Vahlstrom. When an athlete has the ability, he must have incentive to stimulate him to reach his potential. He finds great incentive in the fact that one of his closest friends took a keen interest in his progress. In April and May of 1976, Keith Schimmel spent his last active weeks tutoring Jim in the finer points of vaulting, in hopes that Jim would be able to break that Villa Park school record. Coach McKie is in his 13th year of coaching at Villa Park High School in Orange. It has been his fifteenth year in the high school coaching field, while 28 years of his life have been spent teaching and coaching youngsters. The success he has had with his students at the vault pit e speaks for itself.