Career
He is best known for breaking the world record in the 440 yard dash in 1963, the last runner to hold the 400m record with a time recorded for the longer 440 yards. Plummer shattered the old mark set by Glenn Davis five years previously by the huge margin of 8 tenths of a second. Plummer"s only memory of the race was hearing the starter say "set" before the race began.
Plummer"s time also tied the existing world record in the shorter 400 metres (440 yards is 40234 metres).
This was the first ever 440 run under 45 seconds. In 1964, Plummer attempted to qualify for the Olympic Games but trailed in his heat due to the flare-up of an arthritic knee, a condition that was to eventually end his athletics career.
In 1965, Plummer returned to the track specializing in the 220 yard/200 meter event. Plummer was a native of Brooklyn, New York City and served in the United States Air Force before attending UNM. After attending UNM, Plummer moved to Colorado and worked as an educator in the Denver public schools system.
He also served for a time as an associate dean in the Athletic Department at UNM in charge of education.
Plummer died on November 30, 2015 in Denver at the age of 77. Plummer was ranked among the best in the United States of America and the world in the 440 yard/400 metre sprint event in the period 1961-1964 and the 220 yard/200 metre sprint event in the period 1963-1966, according to the votes of the experts of Track and Field News. Plummer competed in the 220 yard/220 metre and 440 yard/400 metre events in the United States of America National Track and Field Championships between 1961 and 1966.