From World Record Holder to Mentor: The Inspirational Story of Joe Dial
By Olivia Cannon
In track and field, legends are created through dedication, perseverance, and an overall love for the sport. For Jenks High School's head track and cross-country coach, Joe Dial, this journey began with a humble yet remarkable start a broken pole that led to breaking records.
“My brother was a state champion in rec style pole vault in 1969, and he broke his pole at practice, the coach gave me half of the pole because I was only five years old, and that's how I started with a broken-off pole,” said Dial. “I learned how to pole vault when I was five in the yard. When we moved to Texas, I didn't really do it there but when I came back in the fifth grade, I started from that point all the way through.”
Dial pole vaulting while in eighth grade.
Dial’s early start in pole vaulting helped him in high school. He was one of the top pole vaulters in high school history while he was at Marlow High School. Dial was the first high school pole vaulter to clear 18 feet, although the performance was outside competition. He was the state champion in the pole vault for all four of his high school years (1978-81). He was not only a great pole vaulter, he also set a Class 2A state record in the long jump with a leap of 23'05" in 1981. He was the Oklahoma Class 2A state long jump champion in 1980 and 1981.
“No one could outwork Joe. It just wasn't possible. There were probably some people who may have had as much or more athletic ability than Joe, but they didn't have the same passion, the same work ethic, the same desire to be great as Joe. He structured his life to be great in the pole vault. His whole life was built around pole vaulting” said Steve Patterson, Dial’s teammate and friend in Dial’s book Skys the Limit: The Joe Dail Story.
Dial while in college competing at the Ralph Higgs Invitational.
All of Dial’s hard work in high school paid off with a full ride scholarship to Oklahoma State University for pole vaulting. While at OSU, he broke the Big Eight Conference record at the 1985 championships after vaulting 19’01.5”, the Big Eight Conference was a National Collegiate Athletic Association. Dial was a six-time Big Eight Conference pole vault champion and a four-time NCAA champion. Dial was put into the OSU Hall of Fame in 2002. In 1985 Dial set a new American Pole vault record with a vault of 19-1 1⁄2 and held his record for nine years. In 1986 a year later proceeded to break the world record for pole vaulting. On February 1st, 1986 at the University of Missouri, Dial broke the indoor pole vaulting world record with a height of 19-4¾ breaking the previous record by half an inch.
"This is a dream come true, all my life I've wanted a world record. I knew I had a world record in me,” said Dial in his book.
Dial was an amazing pole vaulter and set many records, but one of his greatest achievements was getting third at the World Championships in Budapest in 1989 with a vault of 5.7 meters. His bronze medal got him put in the Pole Vaulting Hall of Fame in 2011. Throughout all of his success Dials plan all along had been to end up as a coach.
“I remember one time in high school they went around the room and asked what everyone wanted to do in their life when they grew up and I knew my whole life I wanted to be a coach, that was always what I wanted to do,” said Dial.
Dial has wanted to be a coach for as long as he can remember, but he didn't just want to be a coach, he wanted to be the best coach he could possibly be. He had been preparing to be a coach throughout his pole-vaulting career and learned his coaching skills from the best.
“I got to be around the best there was in the entire world, and it really helped since I knew I was going to be a coach,” said Dial. “I would talk to every best coach in the world about their best workout and then I would talk to the athletes about what they felt like their best workout was and so once I got into coaching, I had an outline of the best workouts in the world.”
Dial’s method paid off, receiving Mid-Con Coach of the year fourteen times while at his first coaching job at Oral Roberts University. Dail started coaching at ORU in the fall of 1993, and by February 1994 he was the head coach of the men's and women's track and cross-country program, he stayed with ORU until the end of the 2022 track season. In the nearly 30 years with the Golden Eagles, he coached 48 All-Americans.
June 14: Andretti Bain, from Oral Roberts, won the men's 400 meters at the NCAA Division 1 Track & Field Championships in Des Moines, Iowa, while being coached by Dial. Photo credits: David Peterson/NCAA Photos
One of Dial’s most accomplished athletes was Andretti Bain, Bain was ORU’s first-ever Olympic medalist in any sport. Bain helped lead the Bahamas to a silver medal in the Olympic men’s 4x400 meter relay in Beijing in the fall of 2008. The three-time All-American was the first-ever NCAA National Champion in any sport at ORU, as he placed first in the 400 meters at both the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships.
Dial coached some amazing athletes at ORU and led the college to many victories. In 2022, Dial switched to coaching high school track and cross country. Dial is currently the head coach for the Jenks High School boy's Track and cross-country team. The transition from coaching college to coaching high school has been a fun adventure for Dial.
“In college, I got to pick the athletes I wanted. I recruited them and they knew the expectations from the first day, and it’s a lot like a job for them because they're doing it for scholarships,” said Dial. “In high school, it’s just whoever you have and it's definitely different, but I enjoy the difference of it. In one way it's the same thing though, I want everyone to have fun.”
Dial's goal for everyone to have fun is reflected in his coaching style. Through Dials' many years of coaching experience, he has kept his main goal the same. Dial aims to coach in a way that makes being at the track not only fun but a welcoming and positive environment.
“I like to be more positive, I don't like to coach negatively, I can coach that way, but I don't like to coach that way. I like to be a more positive coach.” Said Dial.
Hendricks pole vaulting at Oklahoma high school track and field Meet of Champions on May 16, 2023, while under the coaching of Dial. Photo credits Bryan Terry/ The Oklahoman.
Dials coaching has had a great impact on his athletes. Amara Hendricks is a pole vaulter at Jenks High School, Hendrickson has been being coached by Dail for years. Last year, as a freshman, Hendricks took 1st at the OSSAA Regional meet, and 1st at the State meet. Hendricks also jumped 11 feet at the OCCTCA Meet of Champions
“Dial is a great coach he's always trying to improve his athletes on the track and outside of the track to make them better people,” said Hendricks.
Dial is not only impacting his athletes individually he has also led the Jenks Boys Track team to several great successes. Dial Started coaching in the fall of 2022 at Jenks. The boy's team got second place at both the regional and State 6A competition in the 2023 season.
Joe Dial has had an incredible journey from a young boy wielding a broken-off pole, to becoming a record-breaking pole vaulter and head coach of the Jenks High School boys' track and cross country team. His transition from a world-renowned pole vaulter to a mentor and coach has brought a new chapter of success to Jenks athletics. With Joe Dial, Jenks High School isn't just witnessing victories on the track; it's experiencing the transformative power of a coach dedicated to not just creating champions, but also fostering character, camaraderie, and a lifelong love for a sport.
