Arnold Lee “Arny” Betton ranked seventh in the world in 1952. After he failed to qualify in the high jump finals, Betton told reporters “I just don’t know what happened to me. I’ve been jumping better than that all year.” Gold medalist Walt “Buddy” Davis and Silver medalist Ken Wiesner told Arny not to worry. As he was only a first-year student in college, Arny should do better in the 1956 Olympics.

After the 1952 Olympics, the United States AAU paid for Arny Betton to travel and compete in Turku, Finland, London, England, and Vienna, Austria, along with Thane Baker, the subject of Running in Borrowed Shoes. Arny signed Thane’s book about Vienna. The art underneath is from Ferd. G. Waldmüller, “Frische Veigerln, gnä Herr?“

“Men’s World High Jump Rankings by Athlete, 1947-2019,” Track and Field News, accessed April 23, 2020, https://trackandfieldnews.com/mens-world-rankings-by-athlete-2/mens-world-high-jump-rankings-by-athlete/. “High Jump,” Asa S. Bushnell, ed., United States 1952 Olympic Book, Quadrennial Report United States Olympic Committee: Games of the XVth Olympiad Helsinki, Finland July 19 to August 3, 1952, VI Olympic Winter Games Oslo, Norway February 14 to 25, 1952, 1^st Pan American Games Buenos Aires, Argentina February 25 to March 8, 1951, (New York: United States Olympic Association, 1953), 105. United Press, “Winner of High Jump in Olympics Says Knees Just Wouldn’t Hold Up,” Breckenridge (TX) American, July 21, 1952, https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth134338/m1/4/zoom/?resolution=1.7294853948225188&lat=6298.331651963221&lon=1121.6987791459023.