Walt Murphy is one of the finest track geeks that I know. Walt does #ThisDayinTrack&FieldHistory, an excellent daily service that provides true geek stories about our sport. You can check out the service for FREE with a free one-month trial subscription! (email: [email protected] ) for the entire daily service. We will post a few historic moments each day, beginning February 1, 2024.
This Day in Track & Field-June 18
By Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service ([email protected]), used with permission.
This Day in Track & Field–June 18
1921—Charley Paddock runs 10.2 (actually 10-1/5) for 110 yards in Pasadena, but AAU officials never submitted the mark as a World Record because Paddock actually ran longer than 100 meters (100.58m)! Paddock had won three medals the previous year at the Antwerp Olympics—gold in the 100 and 4×100 and silver in the 200.
1921–The inaugural NCAA Championships were held at Stagg Field on the campus of the University of Chicago (17-18), with Illinois beating Notre Dame, 20-1/4 to 16-3/4, to win the team title.
Among the winners were Canadian Earl Thomson, the reigning Olympic champion, who won the 120y-hurdles for Dartmouth, equaling his own World Record of 14.4y (but never ratified), and Penn’s Earl Eby (880), the silver medalist in the 800-meters at the 1920 Olympics.
Eby joined the U.S. Air Force after his freshman year at Penn, and served in France during World War I before returning to school. He later worked for the Philadelphia Bulletin and covered Penn sports, including the Penn Relays, for 31 years.
Results: https://trackandfieldnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/1921.pdf
Penn Bio(Eby): https://archives.upenn.edu/exhibits/penn-people/biography/earl-william-eby
http://www.ustfccca.org/ncaa-100/the-first-ncaa-championship-track-field
1936—Finland’s Matti Järvinen threw 253-4 (77.23) in Helsinki to set his 10th (and final) World Record in the Javelin. Järvinen, the 1932 Olympic champion in the event, was the record holder from August 8, 1930 through August 25, 1938, the day that fellow Finn Yrjö Nikkanen threw 255-5 (77.87). Järvinen was there to see his record fall, finishing 2nd with a throw of 240-3 (73.23).
From his Wiki Bio: “Järvinen was the son of Verner Järvinen, an Olympic bronze medalist in Discus throw (1908). His brother Akilles Järvinen was a decathlon world record holder and two-time Olympic silver medalist (1928,1932). His other brother Kalle was a shot putter and also an Olympian. The exact distance of his gold-winning throw, 72.71 meters, was used as the height of the Helsinki Olympic Stadium in commemoration of his achievement.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matti_J%C3%A4rvinen
WR Progression(meters): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men’s_javelin_world_record_progression
Video(1932 Olympics): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ud5lowOSYJU
1938–Glenn Cunningham (4:07.2) won the Mile at the 5th Annual Princeton Invitation over Archie San Romani (4:10.4). Cunningham (3:00.8) later finished a close 2nd in the 3/4-mile run to Wayne Rideout, who set a World Record of 3:00.4.
Race Highlight: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QS1JVcOOeHA
