John Thomas Pennel (July 25, 1940 – September 26, 1993) was an American pole vaulter, and four-time world record holder.

At Coral Gables Senior High School, where he was a member of both the gymnastics and the track and field teams, he cleared 11 feet 3 inches (3.43 m) at the age of 15.

[3] [4] In 1959 Pennel went to Northeast Louisiana State College (NLSC) on a track scholarship and continued to improve, clearing 4.32 m (14 ft 2 in) in 1959, and then his big breakthrough came at a meet at Chattanooga on March 19, 1960.

Off a dirt runway and using a borrowed aluminium pole he cleared 4.58 m, just a quarter of an inch over fifteen feet and a national record for a college freshman.

He cleared 4.47 m (14 ft 8 in) in 1961 before switching to the new fiberglass poles and within a very few months began to reap the benefits; on the last day of the year he went over fifteen feet again (4.61 m) in New Orleans and improved to 4.67 m (15 ft. 4") indoors on January 12, 1962, but again failed to repeat his form outdoors that season.

Early in 1963, by which time he is being coached by Bob Groseclose,[5] he cleared sixteen feet in training but was turned down by meeting promoters on the grounds that he wasn't good enough.

Outdoors, he started off with 4.80 m (15 ft. 9") and the following week, on March 23, 1963, the man who was not good enough for an indoor meet exceeded the existing world record of 4.94 m with a 4.95 m (16 ft 3") jump at home in Memphis.

[6] The following weekend decathlete and future world record holder Yang Chuan-kwang became the first man to vault sixteen feet and lose, being beaten by Ron Morris at a meet in Fresno, California.

However, Sternberg got his second and final world record at Compton, California on June 7, clearing 5.08 m (16 ft 8 in), and found 5.00 m (16 ft. 4¾") enough to take the NCAA at Albuquerque the following week with Cruz, Cramer, Hansen and Watson in that order all on 4.82 m (15 ft. 9¾"),[9] and strangely he also found 4.98 m (16 ft. 4") sufficient to take the AAU title in St. Louis a week later with Pennel back in sixth place on 4.80m (15 ft. 9"),[10] (the same weekend that Bob Hayes ran the first legal 9.1 s 100 yards).

"[14] The Americans won the match in Moscow by a mere five points, which Athletics Weekly reported as a "disaster", and Pennel came second in the vault behind Uelses with both of them well below their best.

The previous day, however, at Coral Gables, Florida, using a pole he had borrowed from fellow vaulter Fred Hansen back in March, Pennel had cleared 5.20 m (17ft.

On the September 9, 1963 episode, Pennel scored against the celebrity panel (Tom Poston, Peggy Cass, Earl Wrightson, and Kitty Carlisle), and immediately donated his winnings to the Brian Sternberg Hospital Fund.

[22] After his pole vaulting career, Pennel moved to Glendale, California, and worked in sales for Italian Swiss Colony wines as well as marketing for Adidas and other companies.