Hall of Fame
Clay Clatur ('65)Clay Clatur came to Kingston as a non-scholarship athlete, but left the University of Rhode Island in 1965 with the school, Yankee Conference and New England record in the pole vault. Clatur cleared 14-feet in the pole vault at a time when that height was a rarity. He lettered three years in indoor and outdoor track, but as a senior he excelled in pole vaulting. He was undefeated in 1965, setting meet records at both the Yankee Conference and the New England Championships. He was only the fifth Rhode Island track & field athlete to set a New England Championship record. Clatur came to Rhode Island in 1961 as an electrical engineering major and had to deal with the death of both parents before his sophomore year, but credits former track coach Art Sherman for keeping him on the path to success. A 1965 graduate, he earned a master's degree in computer systems design from the University of Wisconsin. A computer design engineer, he was a Vice President with four different firms, retiring in 2000. His last assignment was as Vice President and General Manager, European Operations, of a PC software company, based in London, England.
