Early Years
Ron Jourdan was born and raised in Pensacola, Florida. He attended the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he was a member of coach Jimmy Carnes' Florida Gators track and field team from 1966 to 1970. In his junior year, Jourdan won the 1969 NCAA Division 1 Indoor championship at Detroit's Cobo Hall, establishing a new meet record of 7 ft ¾ in (2.153 m), breaking the record of 7'0" set in 1966 by Otis Burrell of Nevada: it was the only record broken at those championships. That same year he also won both the indoor and outdoor Southeastern Conference (SEC) championships, setting new meet records of 7'0" both times. Jourdan finished fourth at the AAU outdoor championships in 1969 and finished the season with the fourth-best jump in the world for that year (2.185). He repeated as SEC champion in the high jump in 1970, both indoors and outdoors, jumping 6-10 both times. He later equaled his personal best (2.185), the tenth best jump in the world in 1970.
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