Comments on: The Second Annual Millard Stake MIA Track Meet

By: Mark B.

Mark B. — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 16:34:59 +0000

Great stuff, Justin. The Times article mentions high schools that are still household names in the high school track and field world nearly 100 years later. My four oldest children ran cross-country and track in high school, and Stuyvesant (two daughters’ alma mater) and Boys (now “Boys and Girls”) and Townsend Harris (one gold star for the person who can identify him–no googling allowed) and Manual Training and Erasmus are all still around. Hunter (another daughter’s alma mater) was an all-girls school back then, so it didn’t show up, nor did Brooklyn Tech, which was founded later.

The times (whether in Millard County or New York City) are impressive because of the quality of the tracks back then–the best were cinders, not rubberized glop or whatever they are now–and the starting “blocks”–two small toeholds dug in the cinders. It would be interesting to see what the Millard County boys could do on a modern track.

By: Justin

Justin — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:35:22 +0000

A belated thanks for the interesting post, Ardis. Some of my ancestors were living in Millard County during that time period.

By: Justin

Justin — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:04:49 +0000

I also found that Brinton, the top U sprinter, ran a 10 1-5 in the 100-yard dash in May 1908 (vs. Stanford) and April 1909 (vs. the AC). I would agree with Mark B. in #12 regarding the timing issue.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 14:52:41 +0000

That helps a lot, Justin. It doesn't look like the times were that far off, if we allow for the likelihood that even college athletes weren't making a career out of training for years to shave a fraction of a second off their times. Karl H. Day and Alonzo Huntsman were both fit young men who would probably have made a good showing at any amateur meet.

By: Justin

Justin — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 14:15:49 +0000

A state meet in Utah in May 1908 featuring the U of U, BYU, AC, LDSU, and BYC: Varsity Takes Half the Points

By: Justin

Justin — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 14:12:25 +0000

FWIW, I did some searches using the NY Times archive to get a sense of how some high school and college athletes on the east coast were performing at that time. For example: HighSchool meet College meet

By: Tatiana

Tatiana — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 13:59:26 +0000

Just pull the main plug (tv). Some of the other plugs (computers) are good. =)

Seriously, I quit watching tv around 1982 and my quality of life went way way up. So I can never resist the chance to proselytize my wonderful discovery.

By: Mark B.

Mark B. — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 13:49:42 +0000

The stopwatches were likely much more accurate than the people holding them. In these days of electronic timing, we forget how imprecise are the thumbs pressing the stop “button” on stopwatches.

By: Researcher

Researcher — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:13:15 +0000

Purely anecdotal: my grandfather who came out of that cow-milking, heavy farm labor tradition was immensely strong. Here’s a story one of his grandchildren told.

One summer during our family reunion, he agreed to play softball with the grandchildren. When it was his turn to bat, someone said, “No fair! You’re using your right hand.” (He was right-handed.) So he switched to his left hand and someone said, “No fair! You have two hands on the bat.” So he held the bat with one hand and hit the ball out of the yard, across the street, and over the neighbor’s house.

There were many hazards of farm life in that era including accidents and childhood diseases and lack of medical care, but the children also were not softened by transfats and refined carbohydrates and time behind a television screen and various other types of electronic substitutes for physical activity. Makes me want to pull all the plugs.

Also, anyone have any ideas on how accurate overall the time-keeping devices would have been in that era?

By: Ray

Ray — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 06:14:56 +0000

It’s easy for us to assume faulty times, but it’s also easy for us to forget that athletics back then (especially in rural areas) wasn’t what it is now – when any extraordinarily fast runner (or supremely gifted athlete) almost is guaranteed widespread exposure and Olympic standard times are relatively well known among coaches and dedicated competitors (even in rural areas). There’s a decent chance these times are legitimate, but those involved simply had no idea that it should have been noteworthy.

None of the other times and distances seem iffy, so the amazing ones might be real, as well.