By Harry King

LITTLE ROCK — High jump historians and some geezers will know of Dick Fosbury. Some who flop in his name will ask, “Who?”

This week, it would be interesting to poll high jump competitors in the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field championships about the Fosbury Flop. Whether they know Fosbury or not, they all do it.

In the 1968 Olympics, at the age of 21, Fosbury won the gold medal and soon every jumper in the world flopped over the bar.

Dick Booth, coach of field events at Arkansas for years, was in his 20s at the time of Fosbury’s break-through, but his dad was a coach and he was more aware of track and field than most.

Like many of us, he first thought that some weird guy had come up with a strange way of jumping that worked for him. The other Olympic competitors employed a sideways style, using a straddle, or scissors, or roll to get over the bar.

Prior to Mexico City, experts harrumphed at Fosbury’s maneuver, pivoting 180 degrees and launching over the bar backwards.

When he broke the Olympic record, the same experts said he was brilliant and reasoned that his break-through was founded in his knowledge of physics and engineering.

Not so, Fosbury said. He said it was simply intuition, trying to figure out the best way to get over the bar. When he emerged as a contender for the Olympic team, people asked about the name of his unusual style.

“I hadn’t really thought about it, but I remembered a photo caption in my local paper which said, ‘Fosbury flops over the bar,’” he said. “I’d picked up on the alliteration of that and more or less kept it at the back of my mind until journalists got curious about it.”

The flop, Booth says, allowed a jumper to generate more momentum into the plant and propel. Early on in Fosbury’s career, most high jump pits were sawdust and landing on your back would knock the crunch out of you. Rubber pits facilitated flopping without bruising.

Booth says the high jump is a neat event, “kind of a ballet in the air,” what with the leap, arching the back and losing the arch.

The heights cleared are phenomenal. Essentially, men had to jump over former Razorback Steven Hill without disturbing his head band to qualify for the NCAA. Set in 1993, the world record is a smidgen over 8 feet.

Lots of houses have 8-foot ceilings.

Many jumpers approach the bar with 10 well-measured steps — six straight steps and four on a curve, like a fish hook.

Booth, who coached Hollis Conway when the Louisiana-Lafayette jumper cleared 7-10 1-2, has come around to eight steps. It’s two steps simpler and getting revved up, while good in the long jump, is not so good in the high jump.

“In the high jump, you can’t get crazy and do better,” he said. “You’re liable to get too close to the bar.”

Arkansas jumper Alain Bailey walks into the eight-step approach. Others rock back and forth, sort of like a golfer waggles before a shot. Some are looking for a feeling; some are showboating a bit.

Once Bailey is in gear, each step is supposed to be faster than the previous. Booth counts the rhythm from one to eight and his seven-eight are as fast as you can clap your hands.

The competitor who spends the least amount of time on the ground has the edge, although he can still mess up above the bar.

Booth does understand the ignorance about Fosbury better than most. While recruiting, he has asked a prospect if he would like to be the next Mike Conley and received a “Who?” in response.

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Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media’s Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com.