Bill Hayward & Les Steers

Lester Steers (June 16, 1917 – January 23, 2003) was an American track and field high jumper. In 1941 he broke the world record for the high-jump three times. His last record stood for 12 years.

Steers attended Palo Alto High School, winning the CIF California State Meet three years in a row from 1935-1937 and San Mateo Junior College before attending the University of Oregon in 1941, competing for the ‘Ducks’ in the year of his greatest triumphs.

Steers was a great all-round athlete who competed at the javelin, shot put and high-hurdles for his college athletics team as well as the high jump giving him the aspiration of competing as a decathlete.

It was, however, as a high-jumper that he achieved his greatest success. He was NCAA champion in 1941, 3 time AAU national champion (1939–1941), and a gold medalist at the World University Games in 1939 where he also won silver in the javelin and bronze in the pentathlon). As a jumper, Steers used the ‘Belly Roll’, a variation of the “Western Roll.”

Steers remained in Oregon reportedly working as a salesman. He died in 2003, a resident of Richland, Washington.

Steers achieved the following world records during his athletics career:
· 2.10 m (6′ 10 3/4″) in Seattle on 26 April 1941;
· 2.105 m (6′ 10 7/8″) in Los Angeles on 24 May 1941;
· 2.11 m (6′ 11″) in Los Angeles on 17 June 1941.
Note: only the third was ratified by the sports’ governing body, the IAAF.
Steers is also reported to have cleared 7 feet 1/2 inch in an exhibition jump in Eugene on 27 February 1941.

In 1974, Steers was inducted into the USA Track and Field Hall of Fame.
In 1992, Steers was inducted into the University of Oregon Hall of Fame.