V.1 #47 Local History Timeline: 1910-1915; Table of Contents: #1-47

1910-1915

1910s

High school, club, and college competitions did well during the years leading up to America’s entry into World War I.  Indoor facilities, like those in the annex to Music Hall and the Armory on Freeman Avenue helped make indoor track and field to be quite popular. 

Teams representing the Cincinnati Gymnasium and Athletic Club (the Gym and now the Cincinnati Athletic Club) ruled.  During this period, UC’s track team had the first black athlete to participate in any sport at the University.

A number of local high school athletes set indoor state records.  Harry Martin did this on numerous occasions.

1910 

High School – Ohio state record

Indoor 60 yard Low Hurdles 30”

7 3/5-        Harry Martin-Cincinnati Woodward-2-12-10-Cincy Music Hall Skating Rink

Indoor

Here is an example of a trophy cup that was won at an indoor meet.  The inscription is the following:

Intercollegiate Relay

Hotel Honing Trophy

Celts Open Athletic Meet

Feb. 12, 1910

Won by

University of Cincinnati

Time 3 Min. 56 Secs.

Arthur L. Helbig. Capt.

W. Franklin Mitchell

Ellis McNelly.

Frederick W. Howell

Alfred Brodbeck. Trainer

UC

UC competed in an intercollegiate meet against Miami (OH) and Butler University.  Johnson was manager.

Club

The club meets often featured a combination of adult and junior competitions.  While some of the events would seem modern, others would appear quaint or archaic.  The program scheduled for League Park on May 7, 1910 included a 400-yard relay for public school boys, a half-mile interscholastic relay and a “potato race” for up to 16 year olds.  In addition to several events open to all, including fungo long distance hitting, running broad jump and tug of war, the meet also featured a 1-mile open senior relay race for members of athletic clubs, YMCA’s and universities.

1911 

High School – Ohio state record

Indoor 50-Yard Dash

5 4/5-        Harry Martin-Cincinnati Woodward-2-18-11-1^st Regiment Carnival at Cincinnati Armory

Indoor 60 yard Low Hurdles 30”

7 2/5-        Harry Martin-Cincinnati Woodward-2-18-11-1^st Regiment Carnival, Cincinnati Armory

Cincinnati Armory on Freeman Avenue

UC’s Track Team Becomes Integrated

Ralph Belsinger, nicknamed "eight stride," became the first African-American track member and athlete in any sport at UC. He would run until 1915. Belsinger anchored relay teams and ran the mile.  After graduating with a degree in education, he taught in the Cincinnati public schools for four decades.

Manager was James W. Pottenger. Barr was Captain. 

 UC Relay Team

Club

In June the Commercial Club Indiana’s Athletic Committee invited the Gym to send a team to their track meet.  By mid-1911 it was clear that the Gym’s blue and white team was among the best in the nation. Some of the top local meets at the time consisted of:

The First Regiment’s indoor carnival (February)

The Gym’s annual intramural “blue ribbon” meet.

The GCAC’s annual Mid-Summer meet and Carnival of Athletics, the club’s traditional open track and field meet (June) held on their own athletic property.

This last meet was one of the premier meets in the region.  Teams from all over the Midwest attended, including Notre Dame, champions of the Midwest Conference.  More than 300 athletes entered in 1911.  Local athletes represented the University of Cincinnati, Christ Church, Celts, YMCA, First Regiment, and the Friar’s Club as they tried to upend the Gym. They failed to stop the Gym’s juggernaut that more than doubled the score of the second place UC team.

1912 

High School – Ohio state record

Indoor 50-Yard Dash

5 4/5-        Harry Martin-Cincinnati Woodward-3-2-12-1^st Regiment Carnival at Cincinnati Armory

Indoor 440 Yards – Small

57 2/5-      Harry Martin-Cincinnati Woodward-3-1-12-1^st Regiment Carnival, Cincinnati Armory

Indoor High Jump

6’-     George Stotsbury-Cincinnati Hughes-3-2-12-1^st Regiment Carnival, Cincinnati Armory

UC

This group was hailed as one of the strongest team in the Midwest. They set nine new state records in the dual meet against Kentucky College. The relay team beat Miami (OH), Ohio State, and Ohio Wesleyan during the Y.M.C.A. Carnival Meet.

Cincinnati finished third in both the Y.M.C.A and the Cincinnati Amateur Athletic Federation (C.A.A.F) meets. UC prevailed over the Gym, 39 to 37, by winning the last event, the pole vault, at the Gym’s annual June carnival.

Walking

The Gym (Cincinnati Athletic Club) reorganized its walking club.  The walking club regularly took long distance walks to such locations as Independence, Kentucky.  The club planned to “take long walks every Sunday, rain, snow or shine.”

It was becoming customary for organizations to request reimbursement for travel and lodging expenses when traveling to other meets.

The Gym prepared athletes to attend the Central Olympic Trials. They were held on June 8 in Evanston (Chicago). Selections from three trials sites helped determine the team for the 1912 Games that were to be held in Stockholm.  Those preparing were:

         Lovell Draper, long distances

         Myron Johnson, 440

         Fred Holder, 880

         Ed Stephenson, pole vault

         Raynor Allen, hurdler, jumps (high, broad, and hop, step, and jump)

The ­Post talked about Lovell Draper as a potential sub 5:00 miler.  Ed Stephenson had vaulted 11’6”, and Raynor Allen had jumped 5’9”.

Another top athlete of the day was Harry Martin, a black sprinter and hurdler who the Post called “the speed marvel of Woodward.”  Martin had allegedly equaled the world’s record for the 50-yard indoor hurdles.  No record could be found regarding their accomplishments at the Trials and no local athlete made the Olympic Team.

1913

1500 rabid fans that cheered for their respective teams, shaking rattles and cowbells, and creating “more than enough noisy encouragement” for the teams, attended the First Regiment Ohio National Guard’s indoor athletic carnival at the Armory.  The top three were the Gym, Ohio State University, and the University of Cincinnati.

The meet was notable for several technological innovations.  Instead of announcing the results by megaphone, results were flashed on a screen using a “stereopticon machine.”  The First Regiment’s planners also installed a telephone line between the playing floor and the locker room area “allowing contestants to rest until the event in which they were entered was ready to be run.”

There is mention of a Memorial Day race from Mt. Lookout to the 7^th and Walnut Cincinnati YMCA building. 

Due to a late spring flooding, the Gym’s athletic facilities were still covered in mud as of May 31, when the club planned their annual track meet.  It was cancelled and, since this was the only outdoor meet scheduled that year; it was the first time since 1890 that Cincinnati had no athletic meeting.

Amateur sports had disputes between the local organizations and the national Amateur Athletic Union (AAU).  The locals felt that their dues, which they sent to the national organization in New York, did not translate into a commensurate return to them.  In addition, there was talk of disallowing local individuals to compete because they were deemed as professionals (a hot topic after Jim Thorpe lost his two gold medals, which he won at Stockholm, due to playing baseball a few years earlier and earning some money).  William “Dutch” Goebel, a 39’ shot putter and Lovell Draper were investigated. In the end, no one was blacklisted for past actions.

1914

High School – Ohio state record

Indoor Pole Vault

9’6”-             Costello-Cincinnati Walnut Hills-3-7-14-YMCA Carnival, Cincinnati Armory

Indoor 50-Yard Dash

5 4/5-        L. Schrimper-Cincinnati Woodward-3-14-14-CAAF Carnival at Cincinnati Armory

Indoor 880 Yards - small

2:17.0-            Nieman-Cincinnati Walnut Hills-3-7-14-YMCA Carnival, Cincinnati Armory

Indoor Shot Put

40’8 1/2”-           Knabe-Cincinnati Hughes-3-7-14-YMCA Carnival, Cincinnati Armory

Club

By 1914, the number of athletic clubs in the Greater Cincinnati area was approaching several hundred.  Each fielded teams in one or more sports.  Some were affiliated with the national or regional branches of the AAU and local sports bodies like the Cincinnati Amateur Athletic Federation (CAAF).  Others remained independent and unregulated.  The AAU and the CAAF did manage to bring some order to some of the sports, but they failed to settle amateur athletics as a whole.  Additionally, they had no power to force the various organizations to cooperate financially, which hurt competition locally and limited the development of Cincinnati’s athletes.

Adolph Mathis of the Times-Star complained that there was not a single banked indoor track in Cincinnati.  The indoor meets at the First Regiment Armory were run on flat floors.  Since the First Regiment was understandably reluctant to allow the runners to wear spikes, this led to a lot of slipping and sliding and slow times.  The subject periodically arose, but finances (or lack of) always prevailed.

The Gym’s walking club, established before the turn of the century, reached new heights of.  The club, with 25 members, continued its fall and winter outings during the period.  A typical stroll included a daylong hike.  For most members, walking was a casually uncompetitive avocation. 

1915 

High School – Ohio state record

Indoor 50-Yard Dash

5 4/5-        E.J. Ertel-Cincinnati Hughes-2-27-15-YMCA Carnival at Cincinnati Armory

Indoor 880 Yards - small

2:09 2/5-   R. Hartley-Cincinnati Hughes-2-27-15-YMCA Carnival, Cincinnati Armory

Club

It was reported that the Cincinnati Amateur Athletic Federation promoted three ‘very successful’ indoor track and field meets and 315 athletes had registered with the CAAF.

During the summer a team of Cincinnati athletes attended a series of meets in the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco held during July and August. S. Whitcomb, who competed in the high and low hurdles, decathlon star, Fred Stormer, and miler Harry Gardewing were among the contingent.  The Cincinnati team finished seventh overall and Gardewing finished third in the mile.

UC

This could have been considered the best team in history (up to this point), but events were limited due to the war. UC won all the local indoor meets, but lost to Ohio University. No outdoor meets were scheduled.

Coach Alfred “King” Brodbeck, who came from the Cincinnati Gymnasium and Athletic Club (Gym) was there until 1916. He resigned and left for Miami University after apparently some disputes with Dr. Charles William Dabney, the UC President.

 Table of Contents of Previous Blogs  #s 1-47

V.1  #1     An Abridged Edition of Greater Cincinnati Running During the 20th Century.

V.1  #2     Memories from the First Heart Mini-Marathon

V.1  #3    Behind the Scenes Action at the First Heart Mini-Marathon

V.1  #4     Early Heart Mini Memories

V.1  #5     Being a Heart Mini Race Volunteer  by Mark Jones

V.1  #6     Run and Walk History of the First Two Decades of the 20th Century

V.1  #7     The Rise of Team Generic

V.1  #8     Origins of The Runners' Club of Greater Cincinnati

V.1  #9     Pure Kentucky

V.1  #10   Some Notes on the Origin of the Flying Pig Marathon and How It Grew

V.1  #11   How Did the Actual Flying Pig Race Go?

V.1  #12   Local Top Ten Finishers at the Boston Marathon

V.1  #13   Area Marathons that Preceded the Flying Pig (Part 1 of 3)

V.1  #14   Area Marathons that Preceded the Flying Pig (Part 2 of 3)

V.1  #15   Area Marathons that Preceded the Flying Pig (Part 3 of 3)

V.1  #16    Facts about the University of Cincinnati Track & Field and Cross Country Part 1 of 3; 1892-1949

V.1  #17   Facts about the University of Cincinnati Track & Field and Cross Country Programs (Part 2 of 3; 1950-1975)

V.1  #18   Facts about the University of Cincinnati Track & Field and Cross Country Programs (Part 3 of 3; 1975-1999)

V.1  #19   You Know You Have Been Running For Quite A While If …

V.1  #20   The Way It Was -  How Were Distance Runners Viewed in the 1960s Prior to the Running Boom?

V.1 #21     Memorial Day Race 40 - What Was a 40 Year Old Race Like?

V.1  #22   Cincinnati’s Non-Traditional or Unique Races

V.1  #23   The First Girls Pole Vault Competition In Ohio

V.1  #24   Local Walking Clubs Early in the Century

V.1  #25   Locals Who Accomplished Extraordinary Ultra Feats

V.1  #26   Cincinnati’s Indoor Track Palace in the Early Part of the Century

V.1  #27   You Know You Have Been Running For Quite Awhile If You Remember... (Part 2)

V.1  #28   World Record Holder Races In Cincinnati

V.1  #29   The Running Scene in Cincinnati in 1930

V.1  #30     The Way It Was - Entry Fee Inflation

V.1  #31    Don Wahle – A Local Running Legend.  The Early Years

V.1  #32   Don Wahle – A Local Running Legend (Part 2)

V.1  #33  The Way It Was – 70s and 80s When Do You Hang ‘Em Up?

V.1  #34   Charles Anderson Passes Away

V.1  #35     Blog History Table of Contents - #1-#34

V.1  #36     Ted Corbitt:  The Father of American Distance Running (Part 1)

V.1  #37     Ted Corbitt - The Father of American Distance Running (Part 2)

V.1  #38     Avondale Running Club - The Area's First African-American Road Running Group

V.1.  #39     Before Jesse Owens There Was DeHart Hubbard

V.1  #40     Olympic Discus Champion - John Anderson

V.1  #41     Jesse Owens’ Shadow – “Sam Stoller”

V.1  #42     Ted Corbitt's Olympic Experience

V.1  #43     Julie Isphording – 1984 Olympic Marathoner

V.1  #44     Olympian D'Andre Hill - the Fastest Woman Ever Born in Cincinnati

V.1  #45     Running and Walking History from the mid-1800s through 1909

V.1  #46     Jay Birmingham - USA Transcontinental Run Record Holder

V.1  #47     Local History Timeline:  1910-1915; Table of Contents:  #1-47