This Day in Track & Field-November 11
1868–From Wally Donovan’s History of Indoor Track & Field
“On a cold and rainy night, the indoor track was born in New York City. The newly formed New York Athletic Club conducted the first organized track and field meet ever held in the United States in a building under construction for a skating rink at Third Avenue and 63rd Street.
The building (later known as the Empire City Skating Rink) had only a partial roof, so the faithful club members hastily gathered tarpaulins, sewn them together, and stretched them over the yawning hole atop the structure.
The rink’s center had yet to be floored inside, so the athletes competed on a staked eighth-of-a-mile clay track with four straight, narrow sides and uncomfortably sharp corners.
On Wednesday evening, November 11, 1868, it was raining as the crowd arrived in horsecars and carriages. They were greeted by a 42-piece band, and the place was aglow with gaslights. However, this didn’t keep the 2,000 spectators (both male and female) and the athletes in their flimsy tracksuits from shivering.
Spiked shoes were used for the first time, but there was only one pair, so they were shared by (some) athletes. The boots helped win a prize in every event they were used, three firsts, one second, and one-third being the total for the evening. When it is remembered that not one of the users had ever before worn a spiked shoe and that the track was almost as hard as a concrete floor, it may be realized that the new style shoes were somewhat uncomfortable, to say the least.
The use of the pistol at the beginning was less general than it later became, and a bass drum was used at this meeting to give the starting signal. While it will be generally admitted that such a sound would be audible not only to the starters but even to the spectators, a contestant in one heat of the 75-yard run asked for another trial because he ‘did not hear the drum.’
The marks made by each winner were the first amateur records ever claimed in America.”
Winners
75 yards—William B. Curtis NYAC 9.0
220y—Frank Johnson NYAC 28.0
440y—H.S. Magrane NYAC 1:02.0
880y— H.S. Magrane NYAC 2:26.0
Hurdles (distance not stated)—Frank Johnson NYAC 24.0
Running Jump—F.W. Stone Woods’ Gymnasium 5’-2”
Running Broad Jump—John Goldie Caledonian Club 17’-0”
Standing Broad Jump (with weights)—P.M. Broderick NYAC 11’-6 1/5”
Standing High Jump—John Goldie Caledonian Club 4’-5”
Standing Three Jumps—P.M. Broderick NYAC 33’-8”
Pole Vault—W.L. Campbell Caledonian Club (NYAC?) 8’-3”
Shot Put—Alexander Graham Caledonian Club 35’-5”
Hammer—W.L. Campbell Caledonian Club (NYAC?) 73’-0”
Mile Walk–J.E. Russell NYAC 7:50.5
1882–Lon Myers lowered his American Record in the mile to 4:27.6 in New York. A charter member of the National Hall of Fame (1974), Myers also set American Records in the 100y, 220y, 440y, and 880y and won a total of 15 U.S. titles in the 100y (2), 220y (4), 440y (6) and 880y (3)
Wiki Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lon_Myers
https://www.usatf.org/news/2020/myers-earns-throwback-athlete-of-the-week-honors
1963 (New)—Just like the mile has its’ 4-minute barrier, the benchmark for the traditional 2-1/2 mile high school cross country course at NY’s Van Cortlandt Park is 13 minutes. While he didn’t garner the level of attention that Roger Bannister received when he ran his historic 3:59.4 in 1954, Bill Leahy, a 17-year
An old Boston Catholic Memorial H.S. senior became another barrier-buster when he ran 12:58.6 on this date at the “Irish Christian Brothers Championship”!
Marc Bloom, a member of the Van Cortlandt Park Hall of Fame (for his extensive coverage of high school events at the iconic site), writes at length about Leahy’s life before and after his shining moment in this RunnerSpace article:
https://www.runnerspace.com/news.php?news_id=647922
