Bragg, Donald G. ("Tarzan")
Track and field
b. May 15, 1935, Penns Grove, NJ
Bragg's childhood ambition was to play Tarzan in the movies and he chose sports as a path toward that goal. As a student at Villanova University, the 6-foot-3, 215-pound Bragg won the NCAA pole vault championship in 1955 and was the IC4A champion, both indoors and outdoors, from 1955 through 1957. He tied for the 1956 AAU indoor championship.
After graduating in 1957, Bragg entered the Army and continued to compete. He again tied for the AAU indoor championship in 1958, then won the event from 1959 through 1961. He was also the AAU outdoor champion in 1959.
At the 1960 Olympic trials, Bragg set a world record of 15 feet, 9 1/4 inches. That's still the best vault ever for an athlete using a metal pole; soon afterward, most vaulters began using fiberglass poles.
Bragg went on to win the Olympic gold medal, startling the crowd in Rome when he gave his Tarzan yell from the victory podium.
Bragg retired from competition after the Olympics. He did play Tarzan in a low-budget film, but it was never released because of copyright problems. He later became athletic director at a small New Jersey college and the owner of a summer camp.
