Here are two reports detailing the supposed 7-foot jump by Les Steers on February 27, 1941.
1st, from the Portland Oregonian
headline
Steers Jumps Over 7 Feet
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Eugene, Feb. 27 (A
--Les Steers, University of Oregon sophomore, cleared a standard set at 7 feet 1/2 inch in an exhibition hugh jump between the halves of the Oregon-Oregon State college basketball game thursday night.
Distance of the middle of the bar frm the floor was not measured, and observers estimated there migth have been a sag of an inch. The leap, which wll not enter official record books, bettered the world indoor high jump mark of 6 feet 9 1/4 inches.
2nd, from the Register-Guard
headline
Steers Makes 7-Foot Jump
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"That will be all for tonight, Les," Colonel Bill Hayward told his ace high-humper between the halves of the Oregon-OSC basketball game at McArthur court thursday night.
Steers, former Palo Alto, Cal., high school sensation, has just rolled over the black-and-white striped cross bar, soaring almost a foot over his head.
Seven-feet, one-half inch.
Had the performance been at Maidson Square Garden, the Bost Gardens or Brooklyn armory, goodness knows what the height might have been--what the advantage of spiked shoes, regulation takeoff and jumping pit.
A seven-foot high jump has been classed along with a nine-seconds hundred--impossible. But Steers did it Thursday night, and with apparent ease. There might have been a sag of a half or three-quarters of an inch, but it still eclipsed the accepted world record of 6-9 1/4.
But it was only an exhibition.
-30-
End of stories. End of story. End of mysterly.
1st, from the Portland Oregonian
headline
Steers Jumps Over 7 Feet
copy
Eugene, Feb. 27 (A

Distance of the middle of the bar frm the floor was not measured, and observers estimated there migth have been a sag of an inch. The leap, which wll not enter official record books, bettered the world indoor high jump mark of 6 feet 9 1/4 inches.
2nd, from the Register-Guard
headline
Steers Makes 7-Foot Jump
copy
"That will be all for tonight, Les," Colonel Bill Hayward told his ace high-humper between the halves of the Oregon-OSC basketball game at McArthur court thursday night.
Steers, former Palo Alto, Cal., high school sensation, has just rolled over the black-and-white striped cross bar, soaring almost a foot over his head.
Seven-feet, one-half inch.
Had the performance been at Maidson Square Garden, the Bost Gardens or Brooklyn armory, goodness knows what the height might have been--what the advantage of spiked shoes, regulation takeoff and jumping pit.
A seven-foot high jump has been classed along with a nine-seconds hundred--impossible. But Steers did it Thursday night, and with apparent ease. There might have been a sag of a half or three-quarters of an inch, but it still eclipsed the accepted world record of 6-9 1/4.
But it was only an exhibition.
-30-
End of stories. End of story. End of mysterly.
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