Parents of Pole Vault Victim Push for Safety
March 4, 2002 -- Nine days ago, Kevin Dare, a sophomore pole-vaulter at Penn State University, was making yet another gravity-defying jump, when somehow, he fell short.
A champion vaulter, Dare was about to clear the bar in his attempt to vault 15 feet, 7 inches, when, instead he tumbled backward in mid-air, losing hold of the pole. His skull was crushed after he landed head first on a metal "vault box," the 8-inch deep area used to plant the pole. Dare was rushed to the hospital, but never regained consciousness.
The popular 19-year-old college sophomore's Feb. 23 death stunned his family and friends. Many of them, including his father, were present when the accident happened at the Big Ten men's track and field indoor championship in Minneapolis.
Family on a Mission
For Dare's family, the accident has revealed some disturbing evidence of the dangers of pole-vaulting. Now, his parents Ed and Terri Dare, and his brother, Eric, a football player at Penn State, are trying to caution athletes and the public about those hazards, and push for more safety in the sport.
"We're on a mission," said Terri Dare, Kevin's mother. After Kevin's death, the State College, Pa., family was struck by the outpouring of support they received from all over the country, but they were also astounded to learn that they were not alone, she said.
A vaulter was killed in a similar accident in the Iowa relays in 1993, and a 16-year-old Florida boy died on Feb. 15, just eight days before Kevin Dare, in yet another pole-vaulting accident. A 1998 University of North Carolina study found that 13 high schoolers died in pole-vaulting accidents between 1982 and 1997.
The family also learned that 81 percent of all vaulters suffer an injury in their careers.
Padding and Helmets Could Boost Safety
"All of the injuries are from bad landings," said Ed Dare, who is committed to pushing greater safeguards for pole-vaulters. To make the sport safer, pole-vaulting officials should look closer at several changes, including having the athletes wear helmets — a practice that many athletes and coaches oppose as being wimpy or uncool, he said.
Both the vault box that his son fell on and the uprights that hold the pole vaulting bar in place are made of solid steel, which is exposed.
Ed Dare suggests that placing padding around the box and the support poles, as well as thicker and larger landing pads could offset dangerous landings. Most of the mats used for pole vaulters are as thick as those used for the high jump, even though high jumpers only reach heights of about six feet, while pole vaulters reach heights of 18 feet.
It might also help to move the support poles further apart, since many jumpers end up hitting them in mid-air, Ed Dare said. He is also in favor of strict, national safety standards. ,Currently, the standards vary at different levels, such as high school and college, and they also differ from state to state.
The main barriers to such changes are money, and attitudes about the helmets being uncool, Ed Dare said.
But he points out that before helmets and facemasks became requirements for hockey, its players also used to look askance at them. Thicker mats would be expensive, especially given the fact that pole vaulting — like other track and field events — bring in little money, and tend to be underfunded. Penn State, though, has been supportive of changes to make the sport safer, the family said.