The following is a letter that Dale Keyser sent to Millie Kring, the widow of
long-time Allan Hancock Community College coach Ray Kring. Kring was ranked
#9 on the world pole vault list in 1953. Dale Keyser has given me permission
to use it.
It tells the story of how these two young men learned to pole vault in
Stockton, CA and even vaulted with bamboo poles on Guadacanal and Guam during
WWII.
February 21, 2001
Dear Millie,
Bob McGuire called yesterday to give me the sad news of Ray's passing.
There are many who share your grief and I am one of them. Ray was a very big
part of my whole life and I would like to relate some of the history of our
relationship which I suspect Ray had not shared with you. It is a story that
needs to be told and I would like to tell it to you now.
Stockton High School was the only high school in the fairly small town of
Stockton when I was a freshman there in 1941. Hap Evans was my gym teacher
and he was also the track coach. Playing the usual field games common to gym
classes in those days was not of any interest to me. What did tweek my
interest was the big pile of wood shavings at one end of the field and some
guys with bamboo poles who were lofting themselves skyward, trying to wiggle
over a crossbar placed a little higher than their heads.
Hap Evans saw the sparkle in my eye ( he also saw my long skinny frame
and muscular arms) so he asked me if I would like to play around with the
bamboo pole instead of playing the field games with the class.) After a few
days of playing around, I was going higher than the other guys so Hap said
he'd like me to come out after school and meet Ray Kring. He explained Ray
was very good at the vault and was going much higher than the boys who were
just playing around in the class. He said Ray was also good at teaching
others how to do things and he wanted me to meet Ray.
The afternoon of that day late in September 1941 was the day my life
changed. Hap introduced me to Ray at the pole vault pit. We hit it off right
away as I loved his enthusiasm and respected his great patience with me.
Everyday saw me on the field after school working out with my mentor.
Week-ends no longer were to be shared at home with parents and family,
instead, every Saturday and Sunday would see me and Ray climbing through the
gym window (a window carefully left ajar by Hap) to get our poles, crossbars,
and gym suits. After an hour of jumping we'd put everything back and take a
howlingly cold shower!
Warm sunny days prevailed most of October and November and the sessions
went on. New heights were being reached on a regular basis and Ray seemed
pleased with his protege's progress. After only eight weeks, his skinny
freshman was clearing ten feet. Sunday December 7, 1941 was a bit cool and
misty but the vaulting went on regardless. It went on that is until a newsboy
on a bicycle pedaled down California Street next to the pole vault pit. He
was shouting something about Japanese bombers and a place called Pearl
Harbor. His newspapers had headlines with the biggest type I had ever seen.
My Dad was a captain in the army and I knew I better get home right away.
This day changed a lot of people's lives forever and my Dad was ordered to
join General Eisenhower in England and my Mom, four brothers and a sister
were planning on going to the east coast. I was not happy about leaving
California and wanted to stay in Stockton.
Hap Evans knew Ray and I had a good relationship and that Ray was doing
quite well on his own as an orphan. I often visited Ray at his little
apartment and marveled at all the pictures of pole vaulters on his walls. We
bicycled all over Stockton and I would accompany him on some of his telegram
deliveries. I especially enjoyed his singing telegrams even though he maybe
didn't. He said he didn't really mind them that much although he admitted to
not being a great singer. He liked the bigger tips that these brought so he
poured it on.
One time Ray wanted to take me out to College of Pacific to do some
vaulting after school with COP's vaulter, Lew Ford. Ray seemed to know every
vaulter within a thousand miles. He got his pole and I got mine and we tried
holding them like a lance as we each rode our bikes but it didn't work too
good. Next we tied them together and he held the one end and I had the other
while he led up front on his bike and I brought up the rear on my bike. So,
like a big city hook and ladder fire engine, we set off through Stockton and
sailed down Pacific Avenue. Things got mighty exciting when we came to our
first big intersection and got stuck. A car tried driving between Ray on the
front bike and me in the rear since he must not have seen the poles between
us.
We were going past my house which was close to the college when I
suggested that Ray stop by for a minute to help me kill two chickens that I
was supposed to make ready for my mother. I told Ray if he would hold their
legs and head with outstretched neck, I would whack their heads off with my
axe. Ray said; "nothin' doin" as he could not stand the sight of blood and
was not going to kill any chickens.
Hap approached my parents with a proposal for me to stay in Stockton and
room with Ray. This arrangement sounded pretty good to me and Ray but my
parents vetoed it. As it turned out, Ray went into the Marines which would
have left me alone. Since I was very young and immature, I am sure now that
my parents were right. Ray wrote to me from Guadalcanal and told me proudly
how he had set the Guadalcanal pole vault record. He cut down some bamboo and
made a dirt landing area in the jungle. With a green bamboo pole he did some
jumping all by himself, and since there were no other vaulters on the whole
island, Ray claimed the record. Eventually, I got into the Navy and got to
Guam Island in the Mariannas. I, of course, had to cut down some bamboo and
did some jumping in the jungles there. Now I lay claim to the pole vault
record for Guam and Ray has the record for Guadalcanal. I wonder if these
records still stand?
After the war, I got married to Grace in 1947 and decided to leave the
east coast and return to Stockton. A friend was driving to Stockton and
wanted someone to share the ride and expenses so I signed up. One of the
first things I did was to visit Hap Evans at Stockton High. We had a great
visit and he mentioned Ray was working at a theater in San Francisco so off I
went. Ray and I stayed together several days in his small apartment and went
over to Kezar Stadium where he had set up a vaulting pit. I don't recall how
high I went that day in street clothes but Ray was impressed and urged me to
talk to a fellow named Boyd Thompson at College of Pacific. As a matter of
fact, we stopped at the first pay phone we went by and Ray called Boyd. Upon
my return to Stockton, I went to the C.O.P. campus and met Boyd.
Well, you know Boyd, so you can understand there was little time wasted
in getting me signed up for classes at Stockton Junior College. Boyd took me
around to the registrar and everywhere else and got things really going fast.
When Grace came out he got her a job in the gym office. My days with the
Stockton J.C. track team were just great and I got the silver medal that year
in the Nationals. The following year, Ray returned for his last year at
Pacific so we were together again on the runway and it helped me a lot. I got
another silver in the Nationals but a gold in the California Relays in
Modesto. Ray had suggested we get some practice in on the Modesto pit before
the Relays so we took off after school in his little car with the poles
lashed to the side. It paid off.
Ray and I were partners in anatomy class and had a great time dissecting
specimens, especially the cat. Ray had helped me so much through the years
with his expertise that I felt really great when he asked me to aid him in
anatomy. This was more my field and it warmed me very much to provide some
assistance and to study together. After Ray left Pacific, I was all alone as
we had no other vaulters. My interests began to wander into other events
including the high jump and gymnastics. I was kind of like a ship without a
rudder and just drifted along the next two years.
My junior and senior years at Pacific did not see any great
accomplishment in the pole vault and I began to loose interest. During the
summer of my junior year (1950) I was going to be in Maryland to visit
Grace's parents. Ray told me the National AAU meet was going to be there and
I should enter the Junior division of pole vault. This I did and took the
gold. Next day I entered the ten-event American All-Around and took the gold
there too. I often wished that Ray could have stayed on and maybe been an
assistant at Pacific as I think it would have benefited me as well as
Pacific. We both needed a good shot of the Ray Kring enthusiasm. He would
have been the perfect choice to replace Coach Jackson
After you two left Pacific, we saw little of each other. I believe we
visited once at your place in Placerville and Ray showed me around and talked
of all the exciting things he was doing. I was very impressed and so was
Harvey McGee who I later got to know better when he came to Sonora. Harvey
and I often talked and he always asked me about Ray. Unfortunately, for one
reason or another, we have had so much distance between us that it is
difficult to believe how close we were at one time.
Bob McGuire has told me a good bit about your wonderful family and I
only wish that we could have known them personally. Grace and I recall how
you caught up with us and our four children rather quickly. It is still nice
to look back on all of the good days and to feel the warmth of accomplishment
for finishing college and raising a family as you and we did. When a loved
one leaves it is very painful. We lost one of our sons recently and the pain
and grief is beyond description. It is at times like this that friends are so
important to help one through. Grace and I want you to know we share your
grief and want to share with you the warmth of our hearts. Ray was a great
person to both of us as it was he who did so much to make the life that we
have had together possible.
We love you, Millie
Dale Keiser
Keith Conning
735 Brookside Drive
Vacaville, CA 95688-3509
FAX: 707-778-7667
E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
WEB: http://hometown.aol.com/conning/myhomepage/index.html
