Donald George "Don" Bragg is a retired American athlete who competed mainly in the pole vault. He won a gold medal in this event at the 1960 Summer Olympics. Bragg grew up in Penns Grove, New Jersey, where he attended Penns Grove High School. Bragg was the last of the great pole vaulters to use an aluminum pole. From 1954 until 1960, he was always world ranked and capped a brilliant career in 1960 by setting a world record of 15' 9�" at the Olympic Trials and winning an Olympic gold medal with a vault of 15' 5". He set a world indoor record of 15' 9�" at Philadelphia in 1959 and, like Hall of Famer Cornelius Warmerdam, vaulted better indoors than outdoors. At 6' 3" and 197 pounds, Bragg was one of the largest vaulters in history. He had to stay on a 1,200 calories diet to stay at that weight. Any more and the aluminum alloy poles would crumple under the strain. The aluminum pole had another disadvantage: while taking it aboard a train in Philadelphia, Bragg hit an electrical line and nearly electrocuted himself. While at Villanova University, he won the NCAA pole vault championship in 1955 and was the IC4A champion, both indoors and outdoors, from 1955 to 1957. 

May 15th, 1935 in Penns Grove  /  Died:   Feb 16th, 2019 - dementia - aged 83