Robert Pullard, 38, a former star USC pole vaulter who became a Los Angeles police officer, was found dead Friday in his Canoga Park apartment, the Los Angeles Police Department reported.

The death was reported to the coroner's office as an "apparent natural death," although a determination was not made as to whether an autopsy will be performed, coroner's spokeswoman Deborah Peterson said.

After Pullard failed to appear for work on Wednesday and Thursday, police officers were sent to his apartment Friday afternoon to investigate and found him dead, a police official said. There were no signs of violence or forced entry, according to police.

An eight-year veteran of the force, Pullard had been assigned to the Van Nuys Division but was temporarily working for the department's press relations section.

Pullard's 1969 vault of 16 feet 7 inches while competing for Los Angeles High School still stands as the City high school record, and at the time was the National Interscholastic Federation record. It also made him the highest black vaulter of all time outdoors. He went on to become a star at USC and later, in 1978, became the first black vaulter to clear 18 feet.

His best vault was 18 feet 1 1/2 inch in '78.

Pullard was eliminated in qualifying for the 1972 Olympic Games but made the 1976 U.S. Olympic team as an alternate, although he did not compete. In 1980, his Olympic hopes were frustrated by President Jimmy Carter's ban on U.S. competition in the Moscow Games as a protest against Soviet intervention in Afghanistan.

In 1984, at age 32, Pullard tried again. He came three inches short of the minimum vault required to qualify for the U.S. trials.

In recent years, Pullard remained active in track and field, working with local clubs and coaching high school-age pole vaulters at Birmingham High School in Van Nuys.

Pullard was a rarity among pole vaulters on two counts, both as a black and because he was left-handed.

After graduating from USC in 1974, Pullard worked briefly with pole vaulters in Nigeria. When he discovered that the Nigerians did not have a pole-vaulting pit, he manufactured one out of 120 bed mattresses tied together.