On this day 63 years ago, Paul Cuffari ’50 broke Grove City College’s outdoor shot put record.

In the the District Small Colleges Championship, the former Brooker eclipsed the ten-year-old mark by nine inches with a heave of 47′ 2″. By the end of the season, his record mark would be extended to 48′ 3.5″. In 1954, his final season with Grove City, he pushed his record mark to 49′ 6″, a distance that would go unbroken for 29 years.

While at Stony Brook, Cuffari became the school’s first individual National Champion by finishing 1st in the 12-pound shot put at the National Prep School Track and Field Championships held at Madison Square Garden. His toss of 54′ 8″ bested the rest of the field by over two feet*. In 2002 he was inducted in the Stony Brook School Hall of Fame.

* The high school shot put weighs less than its collegiate counterpart.

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