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There has been a lot of friendly trash-talking lately between North Attleboro high jump has-beens. PJ Allessi has taken the unofficial lead in the “usetabgood” category, having submitted a jump of 5’10”. Latif “Ambulance Ride” Thomas was more noted for his 400M prowess but his recent 5’7 clearance isn’t bad. Then comes Jerry Espinosa who has “put his ego where his mouth is” and has proven that age is only a number. At the advanced age of 40 he jumped 5’10” in 2003. Then having bulked up for pentathlon this year he still cleared 5’7” to win the 40+ division at Brown University.

From l to r: Dwight Estey, Derek Ellis, Jerry Espinosa, Phil Allessi and Latif Thomas

Meanwhile distance addict Derek Ellis has chimed in with a 5’4” jump. Most of you might wonder why Derek is even included. Derek is actually the answer to the trivia question, “Who cleared 6’ for North Attleboro in his first-ever high jump competition?” It was 1993 and Derek decided to try the decathlon. Sure enough, with a minimum of practice he cleared 6’ in his only official meet. Lest you question the coach’s judgement in letting such a great talent go unnoticed, North doubled the second place teams’ score in the Hockomock League Championship that year and at that time 6’0” was rather pedestrian. We more needed him to run far and fast. Yet for a distance runner 6’ doesn’t seem too bad and we were pretty happy at the time (1993). But before he gets too comfortable he might want to look back over his shoulder at his previous coach.

I finally put on the shoes and after a long layoff still managed to clear 4’10”. My age (51) was showing as I decided to walk away without trying 5’0. High jumpers never walk away!! They always want one more! "Just once more coach - please!!" Though 4’10” isn’t usually a number to brag about, the 23 years between Derek and I (31 years since my PR) is part of my excuse for feeling good about the effort. The fact that every part of my body other than my lead foot hurts today is purely incidental.

There is only one real way to get to the bottom of this. There will be a jump-off! Jumpers may take their best life-time effort and then subtract ½ inch per year from the date of that performance. To equalize the competition the following must be assumed.

Phil Allessi – 6’10 in 1995 at age 18 should equal 6’5.5”
Latif Thomas at 6’0 in 1996 at age 18 should equal 5’8”
Jerry Espinosa at 6’6 at age 18 in 1981 should equal 5’6.5”
Derek Ellis at 6’0 at age 18 in 1993 should equal 5’6.5”
Dwight Estey at 6’6 at age 21 in 1973 should equal 5’2.5”

(note* - it would be too easy to use my age 18 jump like the others since I had only jumped 6'2" at the time and my converted jump would only require me to clear 4'9")

The only glitch in the formula is that some members maximized their highest performance by concentrating on the event while others may have failed to attain their true maximum due to other factors. Therefor we will give an extra half-inch to anyone who held the North Attleboro high jump school record and another half inch to anyone who was a league champion in the event. That gives a scant 1” bonus to someone who is trying to compare present performance to a "prime-time" performance.

The jumper clearing their predicted height by the greatest distance shall prevail. The only caveat is that if one of the competitors comes up with another factor that also considers the increased body weight some of us carry, I’d be happy to include it. After all, it could only help me!

The glove is thrown down. Any time – any place! Spectators are welcome at $10.00 a person, proceeds to offset medical co-pays.