He competed at the United States Olympic Trials in the year of his NCAA victory and placed fifth overall. Moving on from the college circuit, he placed third nationally at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in 1965 and 1966 before finally taking his first American title at the 1967 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. This brought him selection for that season's Pan American Games held in Winnipeg and his best jump of 16.54 m (54 ft 3 in) (wind assisted, but only two centimetres short of Adhemar da Silva's games record) was enough hold off Brazil's Nelson Prudencio and win the gold medal. This made him the second American to win that title, following in the footsteps of the previous champion, Bill Sharpe. In his last year of competition, he won at the USA Indoor Track and Field Championships with a meet record of 16.50 m (54 ft 1⁄2 in) (a personal record) and then placed third at the USA Outdoors.