Travers Island, NY, June 2–3, 1928
The Stanford University track and field team hopped on the iron horse in California and let it take them to the East Coast, where the group won the team championship at the IC4A university championships and, a week later, participated in the New York Athletic Club's competitions on Travers Island.
Stanford University's Bob King cleared a personal best and the second-best mark in the world for the season in the high jump, 1.981 (6-6). He emerged as a serious contender for victory in Amsterdam. However, King's jumping style caused a stir. He landed in the sandpit headfirst, with his legs following behind. The confusion was not alleviated by the fact that American rulebooks only addressed the position one should maintain above the bar, not how to come down.
The hammer usually flew far at Travers Island. So it did at the New York Athletic Club's competitions. Frank Connor spun a world-leading result of 52.39 (171-10). The Yale University student, who would later become a farmer, also made his way through the American trials to the Amsterdam Olympics, where he finished sixth. The home games in Los Angeles four years later were a disappointment, as he did not register a result.
Leo Kibby hurled the javelin 63.70 (209-0). However, the correspondent, who reported on the competitions for a Finnish newspaper, stated that favorable winds carried the spear, meaning the throw was a so-called fluke. Kibby represented the scholarly javelin throwers. He studied history and political science at Stanford, earned a doctorate, and later worked as a professor and dean.
Fait Elkins toiled in the decathlon for an unofficial score of 7784.015 points. Only Paavo Yrjölä and Akilles Järvinen of Finland had accumulated more points in the world rankings for the season. In the all-time rankings, Elkins's result would have placed sixth if the ten-event grind at Travers Island had not been classified as an exhibition competition. An injury prevented the brave Iroquois Native American from traveling to the Amsterdam Olympics.
In the 440, the recent world record holder Emerson Spencer perhaps surprisingly lost to Joe Tierney, who was eliminated in the heats in the Amsterdam. The time of 48.8 was at least decent on the 338-meter track at Travers Island.
The 1927 US champion Weemie “Weems” Baskin hopped to victory in the 120-yard hurdles with a time of 14.8. He later qualified for the final round of the American Olympic trials but did not appear. He made his actual career as the head coach of a university track and field team, a position he held for 33 years.