Newton's Best Long Jumpers?

Earlier this year, NNHS historian Josh Seeherman spent time in the Boston Public Library researching old Massachusetts scholastic track and field results. Among other finds, he discovered results dating back to the 1930's for two athletes who might still be the top two long jumpers in Newton history: Stanley Johnson and Milton Green.

Stanley Johnson was the 1932 Class A Champion in the long jump for Newton
High (No Newton North and Newton South in those days!), and was part of the 1931 team that won the Class A Championship. Johnson went on to attend MIT, in part supported by a scholarship grant from the Newton Centre Rotary Club.

At MIT, Johnson jumped 24-2, which is STILL the MIT long jump record. This summer, the MIT athletics web site published a story on Johnson, who is alive and well at 94, and on the quest by current MIT athlete Stephen Morgan to break the 72-year-old school record.

72 Years in the Making

Milton Green was a teammate of Stanley Johnson's at Newton High, and went on to Harvard where he jumped 24-11 in 1936. Josh thinks this is probably the Newton native all-comers record. Can anyone think of another athlete who jumped farther?

I should mention that Green was primarily a hurdler, in fact one of the best

Milton Green, who had the world record in the indoor hurdles and was one of
the best hurdlers in the world while at Harvard. He earned a berth in the 1936 Olympic Trials but declined it as a protest of the Nazi regime (Green was Jewish).

According to Josh, Green was born in Lowell, but ran for Newton High, where in 1931, he won the 120 Yard Low Hurdles in the Class A Championships in a meet record 14.4.