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Fourth Down. But the mighty Bones Dillard was also headed for a fall. Next day, in the 110-meter high-hurdles event, the world's record-holder came apart. Running in muggy 90° heat, Dillard hit the second, fourth and sixth hurdles, was jarred so far off his rhythm that he pulled up short and quit the race at the seventh. The winner: Northwestern's slim stylist, Bill Porter, bridegroom of a month, in 13.9 (slower by .3 than Dillard's best time). Dillard has beaten Porter eleven out of 14 times in the past two years. Said the great Jesse Owens, a judge in the trials and friend and adviser of Dillard: "I told him not to monkey around with those dashes."
Goal to Go. Seven Olympic records were bettered and an eighth equaled in the Evanston track-&-field trials. After losing the 100-meter dash to Ewell, Patton came back hard next day in the 200 meters to snap the tape a yard ahead of Barney, tying the 20.7 record. The University of Minnesota's Fortune Gordien won the discus with a 166 ft. 2 in. toss.
Perhaps the most talked-about performance of the tryouts was Malvin Whitfield's. The young Negro Army sergeant from Ohio State won both the 800-meter and 400-meter runs — the first to score a double in those events since Ted Meredith in 1912, and the only individual double victor to make the boat for London. Whitfield's time in the 800 was .8 of a second off the Olympic record, and his 400 time was .4 off. He won both grueling races within two hours and five minutes—with a semifinal heat thrown in for good measure.
In the Olympic swimming trials at Detroit's River Rouge Park, the mighty fared better. Philadelphia's barrel-chested Joe Verdeur made the boat by winning the 200-meter breaststroke in 2:36.3, or 6.2 seconds better than the Olympic record. The University of California's pretty, blonde Ann Curtis took the 100-meter free style for women in an easy 1:07.7, bettered the Olympic record in the 400-meter semifinals (by 1.4 seconds) and did it again next day (by 3.9 seconds) in the finals. Her winning time: 5:22.5. Most promising newcomers: Andover's 17-year-old Jimmy McLane, who swamped veteran Bill Smith in the 400-meter free style by almost three lengths, next day won the 1,500-meter free style by 50 yards; California's 17-year-old Zoe Ann Olsen, with a near-perfect 117.39 score in diving.