UMass Boston

Greg Olson was arguably the greatest track and field performerin field events for Boston State College. He was the Warriors' MostValuable Performer in 1969 en-route to being named an All-American.Olsen was a co-captain at Boston State from 1968-69 and was giventhe Sportsmanship Award as a senior. Olsen dominated the pole vaultevent, becoming the first competitor to clear 15 feet, six inches.He went on to capture the New England State College pole vaulttitle four times and took the New England Intercollegiate Indoortitle with a record try. Olsen made the pole vault his own, winningthe NAIA championship, while leading the Warriors to a record57-point winning margin. He also took the New England AAU Indoorand Outdoor crowns with vaults that broke records that had stoodfor more than 20 years. The 1969 Boston State graduate set fieldhouse records at numerous colleges and mastered other field eventsfor BSC as well, establishing school records in the high jump (sixfeet, four inches), the long jump (21 feet, 10 ¾ inches),the triple jump (42 feet) and the decathlon (5,980 points). Olsentook first place at the Boston College Relay Invitational and thirdplace in the decathlon. He also took third place in the pole vaultin both the indoor and outdoor ICAAAA meets. He proved to be aone-man show, competing in seven events in one meet, while winningthree of them and setting a scoring record. Following hisgraduation from Boston State, he went on to teach science in theBoston Public schools for 34 years and also served as an assistanttrack coach at both Salem State College and Tufts University. Underhis tutelage, one of his athletes broke the MIT field record of 16feet, eight inches in the pole vault and went on to win the NCAADivision III title.