Ron Pavitt

In 1944, at the age of 17, Ron Pavitt won the AAA Southern Area junior high jump title, and two years later, while serving as a leading radio mechanic with the Royal Navy Air Command, he won the high jump and long jump titles at the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Championship. One time coached by Arthur Gold, the former chairman of the British Olympic Association, Pavitt competed at the 1948 London Olympics, but failed to reach the high jump final. He broke Howard Baker’s 28-year-old English native high jump record in 1949 with a leap of 1.98m. Representing England, Pavitt finished sixth at the 1950 British Empire Games, but did not qualify for the final at that year’s European Championships in Bruxelles. Having been runner-up in the AAAs high jump four times in five years, between 1946-50 (three times to Alan Paterson), Pavitt eventually won the title in 1951, and then retained it the following year, when he went to his second Olympics at Helsinki, and finished fifth, just 3cm off a medal. Pavitt worked for the famous Lyons food and catering company, and represented them at many London Business House athletics meetings.

Personal Best: HJ – 1.985 (1949).