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John Donaldson, Jr., (16 March 1886 – 1 September 1933), better known as Jack, was a professional sprinter in the early part of the 1900s. He held various world sprinting records ranging from 100 yards to 400 yards, some of which stood for many years.
Jack Donaldson was born in Raywood in central Victoria on 16 March 1886. His father, Jack snr, led a somewhat nomadic life consisting of mining in Tarnagulla, farming in Raywood, and publican in Kerang, before finally moving to Inglewood as proprietor of the Pelican Hotel, when Jack jnr was still quite young.
Growing up in Inglewood, Donaldson, along with his brothers Don, Frank and Dick were prominent athletes and footballers. Lacking any professional training, Donaldson was easily able to beat all comers by the turn of the century.
In 1906, aged 20, Donaldson started as favourite in the Stawell Gift with a handicap of 11 yards, but was narrowly beaten by E W Thompson.
Donaldson was one of the rare professional athletes in the world at that time. With his stride of 8 ft 4 in and from his humble beginnings in Inglewood, he skyrocketed to world fame with six world records in distances from 100 yards to 400 yards. He travelled to London, New York and South Africa to compete in exhibition races. He was nicknamed the 'Blue Streak' due to his blue running singlet with a large white 'A'.
At Johannesburg, South Africa, on 12 February 1910, he established a world record of 9 3/8 seconds for the 100 yard dash. It was 38 years before American Mal Patton reduced that time.
Between his overseas tours Jack often returned to Inglewood to be with his family, and at Bendigo in 1911, he competed in a series of footraces against Arthur Postle of Queensland. Postle won the 75 yard dash, but Donaldson won the 130 yard, 220 yard and 440 yard races.
He created yet another world record in beating an American opponent (Charles Holway) at the Sydney Sports Ground on 23 September 1911, a record that stood until 1951. The covering of 130 yards in 12 seconds is generally regarded as Donaldson's most notable performance.
After retiring from sprinting, Donaldson operated a gymnasium in Inglewood. There are stories about his training methods on the local football ground where, before crowds of cheering locals, he would race after the town's fastest greyhounds, catching them and returning them to their owners.
In 1919, Donaldson moved to New York where he operated a gymnasium. He committed suicide in New York City on 1 September 1933.
Holding six world records during his career, Donaldson's most enduring marks were:
100 yards in 9.375 seconds (set at Johannesburg, 1910), which stood until 1948.
130 yards in 12 seconds (set at Sydney, 1911), which stood until 1951.
Thomas Edward "Eddie" Tolan, nicknamed the "Midnight Express", was an American track and field athlete who competed in sprints. He set world records in the 100-yard dash and 100 meters event and Olympic records in the 100 meters and 200 meters events. He was the first non-Euro-American to receive the title of the "world's fastest human" after winning gold medals in the 100 and 200 meters events at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. In March 1935, Tolan won the 75, 100 and 220-yard events at the World Professional Sprint Championships in Melbourne to become the first man to win both the amateur and professional world sprint championships. In his full career as a sprinter, Tolan won 300 races and lost only 7.
Robert Lee Hayes, nicknamed "Bullet Bob", was an American sprinter and professional football player. After winning gold medals at the 1964 Summer Olympics, he played as a split end in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys. Hayes is the only athlete to win both an Olympic gold medal and a Super Bowl ring. He was a two-sport stand-out in college in both track and field and football at Florida A&M University. Hayes was enshrined in the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor in 2001 and was selected for induction in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in January 2009. Hayes is the second Olympic gold medalist to be inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, after Jim Thorpe. He once held the world record for the 70-yard dash. He also is tied for the world's second-fastest time in the 60-yard dash. He was once considered the "world's fastest human" by virtue of his multiple world records in the 60-yard, 100-yard, 220-yard, and Olympic 100-meter dashes. He was inducted into the United States Olympic Hall of Fame.
Ralph Cook Craig was an American track and field athlete. He was the winner of the sprint double at the 1912 Summer Olympics.
Alvin Christian "Al" Kraenzlein was an American track-and-field athlete known as "the father of the modern hurdling technique". He was the first sportsman in the history of the Olympic games to win four individual gold medals in a single discipline at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris. As of 2016, Alvin Kraenzlein is the only track-and-field athlete who has won four individual titles at one Olympics. Kraenzlein is also known for developing a pioneering technique of straight-leg hurdling, which allowed him to set two world hurdle records. He is an Olympic Hall of Fame (1984) and National Track and Field Hall of Fame (1974) inductee.
Leamon King was an American athlete who jointly held the world record for the 100-meter sprint for men from 1956 to 1960.
Charles Edward "Charlie" Greene was an American track and field sprinter and winner of the gold medal in the 4 × 100 metres relay at the 1968 Summer Olympics.
David William Sime was an American sprinter, multi-sport athlete at Duke University, and a pioneering ophthalmologist. He won a silver medal in the 100-meter dash at the 1960 Olympic Games. He held several sprint records during the late 1950s.
Robert Cloughen was an American athlete, a member of the Irish American Athletic Club, and a member of the 1908 U.S. Olympic team. His father John was the fifth Manhattan Borough president in 1909 and also New York City's Commissioner of Public Works.
Walter Dix is a retired American sprinter who specialized in the 100 meters and 200 meters. He is the sixth-fastest 200-meter runner ever with a best of 19.53 seconds, and has broken the 10-second barrier in the 100 meters, with a best of 9.88 (9.80w) seconds. He was the only track athlete from USA to win 2 individual Olympic medals in Beijing.
Charles William Martin was an American football player, track athlete, and sports coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for one season in 1912, compiling a record of 3–4–1.
Stephen J. Farrell was professional track athlete, circus performer and track coach.
Subedar Abdul Khaliq, also known as Parinda-e-Asia(Urdu for The Flying Bird of Asia), was a Pakistani sprinter from 8 Medium Regiment Artillery who won 36 international gold medals, 15 international silver medals, and 12 International bronze medals for Pakistan. He competed in the 100m, 200m, and 4 x 100 meters relay. He participated in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and the 1960 Rome Olympics. He also participated in the 1954 Asian Games and the 1958 Asian Games. During the 1956 Indo-Pak Meet held in Delhi, Abdul Khaliq was first referred to as "The Flying Bird of Asia" by the Prime Minister of India of the time, Jawaharlal Nehru, who was reportedly captivated by his performance during the event.
Claude Bracey, known variously as the "Texas Flyer," the "Dixie Flyer," and the "Texas Tornado," was an American sprinter who tied world records in the 100-yard and 100-meter races between 1928 and 1932. He competed for the United States at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam and also won the 100-yard and 220-yard sprints at the 1928 NCAA Men's Track and Field Championships.
Laurence Eugene "Lon" Myers was an American sprinter and middle distance runner.
The 440-yard dash, or quarter-mile race, is a sprint race in track and field competitions.
Powderhall Stadium, formerly the Powderhall Grounds, was a multi-sports facility overlooking the Water of Leith on Beaverhall Road, in the Powderhall (Broughton) area of northern Edinburgh, Scotland. It opened in January 1870 at the height of professional pedestrianism and was modelled on the stadium at Stamford Bridge in London. It hosted professional sprint races, track and field athletics, including the Scottish Amateur Athletics Championships on a number of occasions, professional football, international rugby, cycling, and dog races as well as boxing, quoits and pigeon shooting. For 100 years it hosted the Powderhall Sprint, the most famous professional sprint handicap in the world. With the decline of pedestrianism as a spectator sport in the 1920s it was converted to a greyhound stadium, hosting the Scottish Grand National for over sixty five years, and it also hosted professional speedway. The stadium finally closed in 1995 and the site is now a housing estate.
Arthur Benjamin Postle was an Australian professional athlete, one of the country's most renowned sprinters in the early twentieth century. Born in Queensland and becoming a professional runner in 1902, Postle rose to prominence for the defeat of Beauchamp Day – then an Irish world champion – at Kalgoorlie in Western Australia in December 1906. Known thereafter as 'The Crimson Flash' for his coloured running costume, Postle also acquired the moniker "The Mighty Postle" for his defeat of Bill Growcott two years later in England, Growcott being England's champion runner. Postle's career took him throughout the United Kingdom and to New Zealand as well as across Australia, where he had a rivalry with fellow Australian champion Jack Donaldson.
Charles E. Holway was an American sprinter. At his peak at the beginning of the twentieth century, following his defeat of champion Australians Jack Donaldson and Arthur Postle, Holway was considered a world champion sprinter. He was born in Attleboro, Massachusetts, and took to running at an early age. He became a professional in 1905, defeating a number of runners in the United States before travelling to England and Wales in 1908. In the latter, he won a national competition in Pontypridd. He took part in the World Sprint Championship in 1911, and his defeat of Postle later in his career was the first time the latter had ever been defeated. Described as "big chested" and "very heavy limbed", Holway's stride while ready in his starting position covered a distance of over 8 feet (2.4 m).
The New Year Sprint is the name of a handicap sprint race for professional athletes that takes place each year in Scotland. The sprint is one of the original events of this type, tracing its history back to 1870.
Eldridge “Gus” Eatman was a Black Canadian sprinter and First World War veteran born in Zealand Station, now known as Zealand, in the province of New Brunswick and lived most of his life in Saint John, where he moved at a young age. During his career as a sprinter, Eatman challenged color barriers and set multiple records in the early 1900's. In 1906, he was the recipient of the Powderhall Trophy.
'Back to Inglewood 2004', Howard Rochester
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