Track & Field
Favorite athlete: Jackie Robinson
Favorite team: Pittsburgh Steelers
Favorite memory competing in sports: Clearing 13’ and medaling seventh at districts junior year two days after breaking my signature pole and spraining my hand.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: Competing gets me excited, but when I’m vaulting, I need to keep calm. Once, in order to stay calm, I was listening to choral music but didn’t realize I was singing out loud – everyone was staring at me in the midst of this athletic event singing opera like there wasn’t a care in the world.
Music on iPod: Everything
Future plans: Major in Landscape Architecture at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. I’ve been accepted to be the pole vaulter on their D1 team as well. Additionally, I hope to sing there, and when college is over, I hope to get into sustainable design, as well as keep singing and vaulting any way I can – all of them are a passion.
One goal before turning 30: Vault 17’
One thing people don’t know about me: I love plants, I have a green thumb.
By GORDON GLANTZ
As the sun descends upon the track at Quakertown Community High School, a passerby would see what initially seems to be younger kid – possibly in middle school – working on the pole vault, setting the bar higher and higher as he challenges himself to clear it just like a “big kid” would.
Except, he is a big kid with an even bigger heart and desire to exceed.
That lone figure is the high school’s District One-contending and state-aspiring pole vaulter, Ron Jon Cubbage, who lists Jackie Robinson as not only his favorite athlete but as a role model in battling adversity.
The senior, and Univest Featured Male Athlete of the Week, stands only 5 feet, 3 inches – a height as rare in the field event as someone under 6-feet jumping center for a varsity basketball team.
In a society where it seems the bar is being lowered, Cubbage – often tutored by the school’s pole vaulting coach, John Farrell -- continues to raise the bar for himself, not only in sports but in life.
Cubbage, called Ron “Jon,” by his mother, Roe, to differentiate between his dad and grandfather - all also named Ron - summons the spirit of Robinson when the walls seem to be closing in on him.
“I’m 5-3 and there are not many (vaulters) under 5-11 out there,” he said. “It’s hard to be a pole vaulter and be short. I’m inspired by (Robinson’s) story. The movie ‘42’ was awesome. I think of him whenever I’m in a tough spot.”
Also one of the top scholastic vocalists in the nation, the best trait about the honors student with a 4.15 GPA is that he doesn’t let the pressure he puts on himself to excel change how he deals with others, according to Quakertown track coach Sean Stetler.
“Ron Jon is one of the most optimistic people I have ever coached,” said Stetler. “He shows up for practice and meets every day throughout the winter and spring with an overwhelmingly positive attitude. His relentless positivity and joy for the sport is contagious to those around him. That joy for the sport can be clearly seen at meets when he finishes big jumps, as he is never shy about celebrating.
“Ron Jon’s expertise, dedication, and relentlessly positive energy will be greatly missed next year. Luckily, Ron Jon is leaving us with two younger brothers on the team.”
Those two brothers would be Matt and Dan, ages 16 and 15, who are runners that are “learning to pole vault,” says their older brother, who is the middle child of five (older sisters are Samantha, 23, and Marissa, 19).
“I’m the first athlete in my family since my grandfather,” he said, adding that academics and music were stressed most in the Cubbage household. “Every member of my family was required to play an instrument. I played piano and trumpet.”
Winter Chill, Spring Thrill
Cubbage’s interest in pole vaulting, spawned by his lifelong participation in the Boy Scouts and love of climbing and “being in the air,” did not manifest itself until his freshman year at Quakertown.
Although he expressed an interest in the event from the second he laid eyes on it, his physique left him on the outside looking in when came time to compete. That feeling only drove him harder come that spring, and the long and winding road to success, though often fraught with setbacks of not achieving lofty goals, took hold.
“I joined track in ninth grade,” he explained. “I was always real into stuff like rock climbing. I was in the Boy Scouts. As soon as I saw it, I said, ‘that’s the sport I want to do.’ I had to really work at it, though. Not being chosen in the winter, it sparked a fire under me. I came back more determined in the spring and I managed to set the freshman record at the school.”
This meteoric rise is not lost on Cubage’s coach, who knows well of the toil it took to make it happen.
“Pole vault is a very technical event that cannot be picked up over a season or even a whole year,” said Stetler. “Ron Jon has worked with Coach Farrell, our superb pole vaulting coach, tirelessly over the last four years to become a student of the sport.
“Not only has he gone from 9 feet his freshman year, to 13 feet his senior year, but even more impressively, he has the knowledge and generosity to coach other athletes at competitions. He is constantly helping his teammates and even the competition with their technique and providing feedback to help others reach their potential.”
Cubbage credits Farrell for much of the improvement.
“(Farrell) is the best coach I could have asked for,” he said. “He knows how to vault and he’s right there with me when I’m putting in the extra hours. He has given me his time, his direction and – even when I needed it – his shoes. I am grateful for his influence in my life and the direction of my future.”
A season ago, as a junior, Cubbage had a PR (personal record) of 13 feet, 6 inches. He finished seventh in District One, a mere two slots from qualifying for states.
Although he has had a more up-and-down senior year, so far only clearing a best of 13 feet and 2 inches, he is looking forward to the post-season feeling the sky – and bar – is the limit.
“Anything can happen in any meet,” he said, as Friday’s District meet loomed.
First Place to First Chair
Cubbage should know all about competing at the highest levels, and not just from his triumphs in track and field.
As a vocalist, Cubbage accomplished something that no other QCSD singer had previously with a flawless PMEA/NAfME record - he was selected for all PMEA/NAfME Honors Chorus for which he was eligible in every year he was eligible.
He capped off his senior year by taking first chair (equivalent of first place) at every PMEA audition and was twice featured as a soloist -- at the Region VI Chorus festival and at the All-National Chorus festival in Nashville.
“I won states in March,” said Cubbage, who added that he didn’t really take his singing seriously until his sophomore year, the first in which he was eligible.
He credits Stetler and Jonathan Lechner, the choral director, for giving him enough leash to navigate the two vastly different disciplines that require extreme attention to detail and preparation.
“They were lenient in letting me work out a schedule,” said Cubbage, who also found time to remain active in Boy Scouts and teach ESL classes. “A lot of it also comes down to me being willing to work hard and put in the hours.”
And as is the case with pole vaulting, he approaches singing with an infectious spirit.
“Ron Jon is a great guy -- very hardworking, very teachable, high-spirited, fun to work with,” said Lechner. “He has a solid sense of who he is, and what he believes. He’s a gentleman and a kind, caring person.”
Added Cubbage, when told of Lechner’s remarks: “I would say that is accurate. I have a broad sense of things, and I know what I want to do and to keep on doing it.”
And so he will, as the page turns to a new chapter – college.
Eyes on the Future
Pole vaulting and singing are two of Cubbage’s three main passions, with the third being landscape design.
As only he can do, he selected a road less traveled to combine them all, applying for – and receiving – a full academic scholarship to North Carolina A&T, a traditionally Southern black college.
“From Day 1, my mom did not accept anything less than an A,” said Cubbage. “I’m glad she didn’t, because it helped set me apart from other people.”
He visited the campus and marched right into the track office – all 5-feet, 3 inches of him -- and announced that he was a pole vaulter.
“When I walked in, there was a chuckle,” he said self-effacingly. “But they didn’t have a pole vaulter. They had one who was a senior, so he was leaving. I talked to the coach and we put it together.
“I really liked the atmosphere. I always wanted to work outside, and the program (for my major) met my standards and exceeded it.”
As far as track, well, he will just have to prove himself all over again. Setting the bar high.
“Despite my height, I will have to provide the best I can for them as a pole vaulter,” said Cubbage, who describes his final year at Quakertown as being “a rough season.”
In addition to working with Farrell, he has been working with Olympic pole vaulter Lawrence Johnson.
"I'm extremely grateful to Lawrence Johnson for his training," Cubbage said. "It's helped me immensely to get higher heights and have better form."
