Fast Tales

Here are some in depth articles about several great sprinters. If you have an article or story you would like to post here on Fast Tales, please contact me.

The Greatest 100 Meter Runner Of All Time

Who Was George Poage?

The California Comet - Harold Davis

In Appreciation of Calvin Smith

The Original Michael Johnson

The Legend of Eulace Peacock

 

The Greatest 100m Runner of All Time, by Justin Clouder

Quite a subject heading, and a considerable claim to make about any athlete, especially in an event with as great a history of remarkable athletes and characters as the men's 100m.

However, among track & field historians, writers and statisticians there is remarkable agreement about the greatest male 100m runners of all time. Two names always seem to come to the top of the pile - Carl Lewis and Bob Hayes. In my view, although Lewis would rack up more "points" in terms on titles won, times run, longevity etc, there is no doubt that Bob Hayes is the most awesome sprinting force of modern times. This piece is a summary of his career highlights.

Hayes was born on 20th December 1942. He was a massive man - a fraction under 6'0" tall and over 190 lbs. He was not a classic stylist by any means - it was once written of him that "he doesn't so much run a race as beat it to death." His first sport was US Football - he won a scholarship to Florida A&M University on the back of his football prowess and after retiring from T&F went on to an equally glorious career playing for the Dallas Cowboys. Most of Hayes' sprinting was done while at college, and it was all fitted in around the college football season!

He first burst to the fore with a 100y time of 9.3 in a heat of the NAIA in Sioux Falls on 2nd June 1961, aged 18 years 5 months. This equalled the World Record but was never ratified as 22 days later Frank Budd ran the first ever 9.2, and Hayes' mark was forgotten.

Early in 1962 (on 17th February) Hayes equalled Budd's mark with a 9.2 of his own at Coral Gables. This mark was not ratified as the starting gun was of the wrong calibre (!). On 12th May that year he ran 9.3, at the SIAC champs, a meeting for black college athletes. It was reported that the timekeepers all recorded times in the 9.0-9.1 range, but the time was rounded off to a less "inflamatory" 9.3 (the ame time he had run in both heat and semi). Hayes was told by his coach that because all the timekeepers, judges and athletes were black, no-one would have believed a 9.0 or 9.1 mark and they would have been a laughing stock. Hayes went on to win the AAU title from a strong field including Harry Jerome, Paul Drayton, Ira Murchison and Frank Budd.

Also in 1962, Hayes lost the only races he would ever lose at 100m (he never lost at 100y). He ran 10.1 during a European visit in the summer of '62 but also lost very narrowly to Jerome, although some observers claimed the judges had given it to the wrong man. Hayes was also beaten earlier in the year, by Roger Sayers in the NAIA 100m final, having missed three weeks of training recovering from a virus.

1963 started with two blistering long sprint WRs - 20.5 for 200m in Pointe a Pitre on 10 February to equal the World Record, and a 20.5 for 220y (worth 20.4 for 200m) at Coral Gables on 2nd March. Following this came two landmark short sprint times. First, on 27th April, Hayes became the first man to run 100m in under 10.0, with a wind assisted 9.9 at the MSR in Walnut (beating Henry Carr and John Gilbert, both of whom ran 10.0w). Then, at the AAU in St Louis on 21st June he ran 9.1 for 100y in his semi final, the first such time ever. He repeated the time to win the final, albeit wind assisted.

1964 started with a bang, with a 9.1 for 100y and a blistering 20.1 for 220y in Coral Gables on New Year's Day. Neither was ratified as a WR because there was no wind guage. He then went indoors and ran a WR equalling 6.0 for 60y five times. Among these was a performance in New York auto timed at 5.99. It is still uncertain if this is a reliable auto time, but if it is, it has never been beaten to this day, at 55m or at 60y. Second on that day was rising star Charlie Greene, who would go on to a bronze in the 1968 OG.

Moving outdoors again, Hayes twice more ran 9.1 for 100y, at Orangeburg on 18th April and at Nashville on 2nd May. Neither was ratified as a WR - a recurring theme during Hayes career. He then won the Olympic trials 100m in 10.1 and placed third in the 200m (he gave his spot up for WR holder Henry Carr, who went on to win in Tokyo).

On to Tokyo in October, the zenith and the final act of Hayes' brief career. He breezed through the heats and quarters in 10.4 and 10.3 respectively on 14th October. The next day, at 10am, he produced an amazing semi final run of 9.91 with a 5.3m/s wind behind him. This was the first time anyone had beaten 10.00 with auto timing, and it remainded the fastest ever run until William Snoddy got on the end of an 11.2m/s wind in Dallas in 1977 and ran 9.87. No one ran faster in the Olympics (aside from Ben Johnson) until, incredibly, the three medallists in Atlanta, 32 years later!

If it is hard to fathom the quality of this run, what he achieved in the final is even more staggering. Hayes drew the inside lane for the final, and the last event before the race was the finish of the 20km walk. Remember, this was a cinder track, and the inside lane was so chewed up it had to be raked! Nevertheless, Hayes won in 10.06. He had a 0.19 gap over Cuba's Enrique Figuerola, who equalled the previous best ever auto time of 10.25 (Hary in 1960). Third was Harry Jerome, joint world record holder! This victory margin was not exceeded until Lewis won by 0.20 in 1984. The winning time was ratified as a WR equalling 10.0, which somewhat understated it.

And yet, Hayes greatest performance was yet to come. Running the last leg of the 4x100m, by the time Hayes got the baton, after Paul Drayton, Gerald Ashworth and Richard Stebbins, the USA were some 3-4m down on the field. Hayes, in the words of one observer, "exploded down the track in an eruption of speed never witnessed before or since." He blew past the field in 30-40m and went on to cross the line some 3m clear in a new WR of 39.0. He had taken 6-8m out of some of the finest sprinters in the world. Various times have been given for his last leg, the slowest estimate being 8.9 but most being around 8.6-8.7.

Jocelyn Delecour, France's last leg runner, famously said to Paul Drayton before the relay final that "you can't win, all you have is Bob Hayes." Drayton was able to reply, after the race "all you need..."

That was Hayes' last race. He signed for the Dallas Cowboys on his return, commencing a career in US Football which was just as impressive.

One amusing aside to Hayes' 100m victory. During some messing around in the village between Hayes, Ralph Boston and Joe Frazier, one of Hayes' spikes was kicked under a bed. He didn't realise this until he got to the stadium, and he had to run in borrowed spikes!

It is always fun to wonder what champions of the past would achieve given today's training methods, nutrition, financial rewards, competition etc. Hayes achieved all of the above before his 22nd Birthday, running in the football off-season, on mostly cinder tracks. He estimated that had he carried on he could have brought his 100m time down by "a couple of tenths." My personal view is that if Hayes had trained full time to his mid twenties, run on today's tracks and had today's social, nutritional and training benefits, he would be running 100m in at least the low 9.70s and maybe even under 9.70.

The greatest? In my view, no contest.

And what if he had run on?

I wonder if it might be interesting to consider what would have happened had Hayes decided to continue after 1964 to defend his title in Mexico City, rather than what would happen if he was transported to modern TrackWorld.

Consider the advantages Hayes would have had in '68 vs '64. Top competition for a start. A synthetic track. Altitude. 4 more years training. He had already run 9.9w (in '63) and 9.91w (in '64). The hand timing in Tokyo was 9.9 - 9.9 - 9.8. So it's fair to assume that we would have had a 9.9 WR well before Jim Hines managed the feat in the '68 AAU. Considering Hines ran 10.03 in the '68 AAU, just 3/100ths faster than Hayes had run on a cinder track in Tokyo, it's probably fair to assume that at least one auto-timer would have caught Hayes in under 10.00 before Mexico City. So already we've re-written the history of 100m running, with Hayes the first man under 10 seconds with hand-timing (windy and legal) and auto timing (windy and legal) all at sea level. Now, we get to Mexico City. Hines ran 0.08 faster in MC than his sea-level best (9.95 vs 10.03). Assuming Hayes would already have been down to around 9.95 - 9.99 it's easy to imagine him running 9.90 or faster. In fact, I consider that an extremely conservative estimate because I'm ascribing Hayes likely improvements from Tokyo to Mexico City to the track, competition and altitude, without wondering if he might actually have got FASTER with time (not unreasonable, although also not certain).

So, an altitude-assisted Bob Hayes WR of under 9.90? It's not hard to imagine this being well below 9.90. It might have stood for 30 years. It might even stand now. Sub 10.00 without altitude? It was 1983 before anyone managed that.

Justin Clouder

 

Who was George Poage?

The 1904 Olympic Games in St. Louis, celebrating the centennial of the Louisiana Purchase in conjunction with a world's fair that same year, were waged amid an undercurrent of racial uneasiness.

Black and white exhibits were mounted separately, and "colored" areas were apart from the others.

Some blacks wanted African-American athletes to boycott both the fair and the games, but a Wisconsin runner named George Coleman Poage elected to participate, and in the process became the first African-American athlete awarded a medal in a modern Olympiad.

Poage was part of a small but vibrant black community at the time, according to an account by Bruce Mouser in the La Crosse County Historical Society newsletter. When Poage's family arrived from Missouri in 1884, there were more than 100 black residents and 29 heads of household in La Crosse, most employed in service jobs.

A third of black males were barbers, although George Edwin Taylor was active in politics and owned and edited a newspaper in the mid-1880s. He would later claim his was the first African-American owned paper with a predominantly white readership.

So there was opportunity for young George Poage and he took advantage.

What school records were available suggest Poage was both a good student and good athlete. He graduated second in his high school class of 25 students in 1899 and presented the salutatorian's address.

"None went on to become notable in other than a local sense," the newsletter said, "except for Poage."

It was his speed that got him noticed. He had run in high school, in one meet winning the 50-, 100- and 220-yard dashes before removing his shoes to win second place in the standing broad jump. After high school, he moved to Madison to attend the University of Wisconsin.

The games of 1904 were far smaller than today's overblown spectacles. Only 496 athletes from 11 countries competed, according to the newsletter's account, and just 20,000 spectators were in attendance for track and field events.

Many of the Americans wore the uniforms of competing athletic clubs that dominated the games. Poage was running for the Milwaukee Athletic Club -- he was its first non-white competitor -- when he won bronze medals for finishing third in both the 200-meter and 400-meter hurdles.

His groundbreaking performance was remarked upon and, for a time, remembered. In 1913, a La Crosse newspaper would describe Poage as "one of the fastest men in (the) world" at the time and as "perhaps the greatest track athlete that was ever developed in this city."

Still, in keeping with the times, even his hometown's pride was less than colorblind.

"Poage Runs Third In Olympian Games," the La Crosse Leader-Press reported on Sept. 1, 1904. "La Crosse Colored Athlete Tired Near Finish."

by Dennis McCann, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

 

The California Comet--Harold Davis, by Justin Clouder

If Calvin Smith was unlucky to have come up against Carl Lewis and Ben Johnson at the peak of hs career, this story is of an athlete who was even more unlucky. Harold Davis, known as the California Comet, was completely dominant in the sprints from 1940-1943, a time when, of course, there were no major championships to win!

Davis won the AAU 100m title in 1940, 1942 and 1943 (second in 1941) and won the 200m AAU title all 4 years 1940-1943. That's 7 out of 8 titles, with 1 second place. His only challenger over this time was Barney Ewell, who pipped him for the 1941 AAU 100m title. Had there been Olympic Games in 1940 and 1944, there seems little doubt that Davis could have been a multiple gold medal winner, although of course many potential challengers were otherwise engaged during these years.

Harold Davis was born on 5th January 1921. He was 5'10" and about 160 lbs. He was a dreadful starter, and regularly used to make up yards of ground on other athletes - not easy over 100y. It was one such performance which first brought him to the attention of the track world in 1940 when, aged 19, he fell onto all fours at the start of a 100y race in Los Angeles, then proceeded to make up 5-7m on a crack field to finish 4th.

His only loss in a major 100m race (he never lost at 200m / 220y) came in similar fashion, when losing the 1941 AAU title to Barney Ewell after giving Ewell a 3m lead in the first few yards with an appalling start. Both men clocked 10.3, making one wonder what Davis might have done with a good start.

He did set two World Records, one at 100m with 10.2 in Compton on 6th June 1941 (he was timed at 5.7 and 4.5 for the two halves of that race) and one at 100y with 9.4 in Fresno on 16th May 1942 (this was not ratified as he used unapproved blocks). His legal 200m best was 20.4 (on a straight) in 1942, and he twice ran a straight course 20.2 with wind assistance, once at 220y in 1941 and once at 200m in 1943 (to win the AAUs). Both these races consisted of 10.3 first halves and 9.9 second halves.

Overall, a great talent who never got to perform on a World stage.

Justin Clouder

 

In Appreciation of Calvin Smith, by Justin Clouder

This profile is of a man who, although a World Record breaker in the 100m and a double 200m World Champion, spent most of a fantastic career overshadowed, primarily by Carl Lewis.

In my view Calvin Smith is one of the best 100m runners never to win a world title. His consistent high performance, dedication, hard racing and unceasing good nature have endeared him to track crowds the world over during a career lasting from 1979 to 1996.

Calvin Smith was born on 8th January 1961 and was 5'10 and 140 lbs. His distinctive head back style and fantastic leg speed made him easy to pick out on the track.

After running 9.6 for 100y and 21.5 for 220y in 1978, he improved to 10.36 and 21.22 (20.7h) in 1979, taking the US junior 200m title. The following year, while still a junior, he twice ran 10.17, once behind Stanley Floyd's 10.07 WJR, and also clocked 10.12w and 20.64, taking a pair of silvers in both the US junior and Pan American junior champs.

After a relatively quiet year in 1981, Smith climbed to top World class in 1982, running 10.05 and 9.91w at 100m and 20.30 and 20.20w at 200m. He won his only US senior title, at 200m, and produced a performance clearly superior to the WR of the time (Hines' 9.95 at altitude) with his 9.91 clocking in a match against the GDR in Karl Marz Stadt. The wind reading was a tantalising 2.1 m/s.

Smith finally claimed the WR in 1983, running 9.93 at the 1800m+ altitude of Air Force Academy. This was the start of Carl Lewis's reign at 100m, however, and Smith had to settle for second in the first WC in Helsinki. However, he did win the 200m and ran his customary blistering 3rd leg to help the US to a WR of 37.86 in the 4x100m. Later in the year he produced a 9.97 / 19.99 double in Zurich, the first ever sub 10 / sub 20 one night performance. The 100m time matched Lewis' low altitide World best from earlier in the year, while the 19.99 left Lewis well behind to silence the doubters who claimed that Smith only won the 200m because of Lewis' absence.

If 1983 was Smith's best year, 1984 was a disappointment. He finished 4th in the 100m Olympic trials and ran only in the relay (another WR, 37.83) in LA. Season's bests of 10.11 / 9.94w and 20.33 were not what the WR holder would have wanted. 1985 saw times of 10.10 and 20.14, a victory in the World Cup 4x100m and a 200m Grand Priz title. Consistent world class form was maintained in the champs-free 1986 (10.14 / 20.29).

Come the next WC, in 1987, Smith retained his 200m title in a very close race (he had, as in 1983, qualified for the US team in 3rd place at the trials). However, 5th place in the 100m trials kept him out of that event, although his form on the European tour prior to the champs suggested that a medal would have been likely.

1988 was an amazing year for 100m running, and Smith raised his game as well. He ran 9.87w in both semi and final at the red hot Olympic trials to make his first Olympic individual event (also placing 5th in the 200m). He repeated his 9.97 low altitude best to lose to Lewis (9.93) but beat Johnson (10.00) in the key Zurich race prior to the OG. At the games he became the first man to run under 10.00 and finish lower than second, and the fastest non-medallist ever, until Johnson's disqualification raised him to bronze.

Although that was the end of championship racing for Smith (except for 3rd in the 1992 World Cup and 1st in the Relay), he remained a fixture on the European circuit, producing year on year marks of 10.05/20.30 (89), 10.04/20.54 (90), 10.38/21.32 (91), 10.14 / 20.70 (92), 10.06/20.50 (93), 10.22/20.78 (94), 10.25/20.71 (95) amd 10.25 (96). He was still capable of pulling top performances out of a hat, not least when giving Linford Christie a fright with a 10.06 in Edinburgh in 1993.

Overall, Smith has 4 times under 10.00 (plus a further 6 windy), 16 times under 10.10 (plus 10 windy) and 40 under 10.20 (plus 16 windy). He was under 10.20 in 12 seasons, 9 of them in a row from 1982-1990.

In addition to all this, Smith always proved a charming man and a popular competitor. If he has retired then tribute should be paid to a great athlete ho was unlucky enough to run at the same time as some of the greatest sprinters of all time. Along with Ralph Metcalfe, Eulace Peacock and Charlie Greene, without doubt one of the best sprinters never to win a world 100m title.

Justin Clouder

 

The Original Michael Johnson, by Justin Clouder

Michael Johnson is unique (among men) in having won 200m and 400m at one OG, and his dominance of both events is unprecedented.

However, at least one great champion of the past can claim similar ability over both events, and also achieved something Johnson has yet to do - World Records in both. That man is 1968 Olympic 200m Champion Tommie Smith. This piece is an overview of his career highlights.

Smith is best known for his 1968 Olympic win, in a time (19.83) which was a WR until 1979 and has still only been surpassed by a handful of men, and also for the controversy surrounding the Black Power salute he and John Carlos gave on the victory rostrum in Mexico City.

However, Mexico City effectively represented the end of a great career. Prior to this came three other WRs at 200m and one each at 400m, 4x200m and 4x400m. Many of these were barrier breaking performances.

Smith's first WR came at 200m on a straight course in San Jose on 13 March 1965, when he equalled the 20.0 record held by Dave Sime (in 1956) and Frank Budd (in 1962). The following year he obliterated this with a stunning 19.5 over 220y (201.2m), also at San Jose, on 7th May. This was the first sub 20 sec 200m (straight or turn) with a legal wind, a landmark performance.

Later in 1966, on 11 June in Sacramento, Smith ran 20.0 for 220y round a full turn. This is worth 19.9 for 200m (although no time was taken at the 200m mark), the first time 20.0 was broken around a turn. Second in this race was Lee Evans in 21.0, while Jim Hines won a second race in 20.9! Six days later Smith won the NCAA 220y title in Provo, clocking 20.26 (worth 20.14 for 200m), the fastest auto-time on record (breaking Henry Carr's 20.36 from the Tokyo OG in 1964).

A further barrier breaking performance came on 24th July 1966, in a 4x400m for the USA against the Commonwealth. Following Robert Frey (46.3) and Lee Evans (44.5), Smith ran a 43.8 leg (the first ever under 44) before handing over to Theron Lewis, who ran 45.0 to bring the team home in 2:59.6, the first ever performance under 3:00.

Smith ran 400m infrequently, but one stunning performance came in 1967. This was a WR of 44.8 for 440y (44.5 at 400m) in San Jose on 20th May. This was a great race with Lee Evans, who led through 220y 21.5-21.7 before Smith pulled ahead by 330y (33.5-33.8). Evans finished in 45.3. The next day Smith ran 10.1 for 100m, his best ever.

One week prior to this race, on 13th May, Smith contributed a stunning 19.4 220y leg (worth 19.3 for 200m) to a San Jose State College team WR for 4x220y at the Fresno Relays. This followed 21.1 from Ken Shackleford, 20.5 from Robert Talmadge and 21.1 from Lee Evans. Later in 1967, Smith ran 45.25 for 400m in London, his best ever auto-time. He also ran 45.9 indoors in early 1967 and had a long jump best of 7.90 (25'11").

Altogether, a stellar few years. Few athletes can claim quite so many firsts, let alone over such a short perod. Smith was also a supremely elegant runner as well as supremely talented, and at 6'3" and 180lbs he was an imposing sight on the track. He was born on 12th February 1944 and so all the above, and his OG triumph, was accomplished before his 25th birthday.

All in all, in my view, one of the all-time greats of Track & Field.

Justin Clouder

 

The Legend of Eulace Peacock

 Eulace Peacock, nicknamed “The World’s Fastest Human,” was faster than Jesse Owens, the star of the 1936 Olympics. Peacock beat Owens in seven of the ten 100–yard dashes they ran against each other in 1935, but due to an injury Peacock was unable to compete in the Olympics.

Eulace Peacock was born August 27, 1914, in Dothan, Alabama, the son of James Peacock, who was part Cherokee Indian, and Rose Ann Chambers. The family moved to East Orange, New Jersey, when Eulace was very young because his father, who had worked in the dining car of a railroad, found employment in a tar plant, probably the Allied Chemical Company in Newark. In 1923 the family moved to Union, New Jersey, and Eulace attended Union schools.

At the age of eleven Eulace could jump eighteen feet in the running long jump, but was not much of a sprinter. His older brother, James, a track and football star at Union High School, inspired Eulace to join the track team. James went on to Temple University where he ran track and played football under the legendary Glenn “Pop” Warner. Their brother, Clarence, competed in track as a hurdler and went on to Rutgers University, eventually becoming a pharmacist.

As a high school track star, Eulace continued to improve in the sprints and never lost a high school contest in the running long jump. In the last meet of the 1933 season, he set a national high school record of 24 feet, 4.5 inches, in the long jump. Upon going home and putting on the radio, hi learned that another high school student, Jesse Owens, broke the world record in the running long jump on that same day. In 1983 Peacock’s mark was still a Union High School record. Eulace’s best high school time for the 100– yard dash was 9.7 seconds and 21.7 seconds for the 220–yard dash. He was chosen an All–State Athlete in New Jersey in football, basketball and track, and was a member of his school’s French and Glee Clubs.

Eulace attended Temple University on a scholarship and was almost a teammate of Jesse Owens, who instead accepted a scholarship to Ohio State University. Through the years both runners became friends and later went into the meat business together under the name of “Owens and Peacock Company.”

Aspiring to the 1936 Olympic Track Team and fearful of injuring his legs, Eulace passed up playing college football. In track he competed in the Pentathlon, the five events consisting of the running broad jump, javelin throw, 200– meter race, discus throw, and 1500–meter flat race. He was the National Champion in 1933, ’34, ’37, ’43, ’44 and ’45. At the National Amateur Athletic Union Championship in Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1935 he defeated both Jesse Owens and Ralph Metcalf in the 100–meter dash, in the time of 10.2 seconds and defeated Jesse Owens in the running broad jump with a leap of 26 feet, 3 inches. Jesse Owens won the 100–meter dash in the 1936 Olympics with a wind– assisted time of 10.3 seconds.

Eulace Peacock never lost a dual meet, competing for Temple University, and his school records of 9.5 seconds in the 100–yard dash and 26 feet, 3 inches in the long jump, were still Temple University records in 1989, more than fifty years after they were set.

Eulace Peacock competed in Europe with the United States Track Team in 1934 and 1935. In 1934 he tied the 100–meter world record at Oslo, Norway, but while competing in Milan, Italy, in 1935, he pulled a hamstring muscle and reinjured it at the Penn Relays in 1936, ending his chances of trying out for the 1936 Olympic Track Team.

After graduating from Temple, Eulace became an instructor for the New York City Board of Education. He also worked for the Internal Revenue Service prior to serving in the Coast Guard from 1942 to 1945, where as a Chief Petty Officer, he assisted boxer Jack Dempsey in the training of inductees. He coached the only service team to ever win a college championship event, the Penn Relays.

Eulace Peacock became the proprietor of a liquor store in New York City in 1947, and moved to 100 Cook Avenue in Yonkers in 1948, where he raised dogs as a hobby. For many years he officiated at AAU, NCAA, IC4A and Olympic Trial Track Championships. Through the years he has been inducted into the Helm’s Hall of Fame in Los Angeles, joining America’s premier track and field athletes, the New Jersey Sports Hall of Fame, the National Track Hall of Fame in Indianapolis, the Yonkers Sports Hall of Fame in 1971, and the Westchester County Sports Hall of Fame in 1989.

In a television interview at Union High School in 1983, Eulace Peacock stated that the secret to success was hard work and concentration. “You have to sacrifice in order to make it,” he said. His grandson, Michael DiGangi, took these words seriously. A 1996 graduate of Saunders Trade School where he was captain of the swim team, Michael was admitted to the Naval Academy at Annapolis this past July.

—Tom Flynn