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From: "Frank
Hawkins"
F.Hawkins@aci.on.ca
To:
webmaster@frankwykoff.com
Sent: Tuesday,
August 24, 2004
5:40 PM
Subject:
Percy Williams stealing race in
Vancouver 1929
(Letter #1)
Hi,
I am not sure about the
outcome of
this race,
but I am sure that
Americans hate to lose to the point
of being positively xenophobic. The
fact is that Percy beat top American
sprinters 19 of 21 times at varying
distances and on varying surfaces
during the "iron guts" tour after
the
1928 Olympics. He did this
despite the fact that he had never
run on any surface other than an
outdoor track and had never competed
at a distance shorter than 100
meters. He never had any private or
government sponsor as did your
American sprinters. He worked all
day at the Vancouver Post office and
trained at night. He was quite
simply the fastest man in the world
in his day (he was a fair 200 meter
sprinter as well-at least better
than any American in 1928) and he
was a Canadian rather than an
American. I guess that fact probably
is irksome. If he had been American,
you would all be quite happy.
Frank Hawkins___________
FrankWykoff.Com replied that
we were only reprinting what was
more or less written in the American
Newspapers that we had as reference
...and Mr. Hawkins wrote back: From: "Frank Hawkins"
F.Hawkins@aci.on.ca
To: "Terri Wykoff"
webmaster@frankwykoff.com
Sent: Tuesday,
August 24, 2004
8:54 PM
Subject: Re:
Percy
Williams stealing race in Vancouver
1929
(Letter #2)
Dear Terri Wykoff,
The title is offensive, since
it could never have been Percy
Williams who stole the race. He was
merely a participant. It might be
more accurate to suggest that your
relative(?) was robbed by a
dishonest Canadian judge. Percy was
a great runner and a good friend of
my father, who was a middle distance
runner (a miler). The title is
demeaning to a great Canadian
runner. You and your fellow
Americans might be offended if an
article were to be published in a
Canadian newspaper demeaning the
memory and reputation of a great
American athlete (pick any one whom
you wish). I can tell you that as a
child Percy was left paralyzed as a
result of bulbar polio. It was never
expected that he would recover the
ability to walk. That he did so was
due to the determination of his
mother who massaged his legs daily
for hours. Though he recovered full
use of his legs, his left arm was
slightly withered and created an
almost imperceptible lean to the
side when he ran. This meant a
slight balance problem for which
happily he was able to find a
solution. Though he qualified to
represent Canada in 1928 by equaling
the existing Olympic 100 meter mark
of 10.6, he was given no
chance at all at the 1928 games. As
you probably know, he won both the
100 and 200 meter sprints. These
were the days when Olympic
competition was beginning to deviate
from the intent of the founder.
Nationalism and professionalism were
beginning to exert a marked
influence-a total perversion of the
ancient Olympic games as practiced
by the Hellenes. Percy was the
consummate amateur. He hitchhiked
from Vancouver BC to Hamilton
,Ontario to compete in the Olympic
qualification trials (the American
equivalent would be approximately
Seattle to Detroit). He did have a
coach, Granger by name, as I recall.
Granger worked his passage to
Amsterdam on a cattle ship. Unlike
most sprinters today who reach
maximum acceleration in the
first 50 meters or so, Percy didn't
really kick in until about 70
meters. Granger was never really
able to solve this problem.___________
FrankWykoff.Com replied: Dear Mr. Hawkins,
It was not my intent to slam at
Percy Williams. This story was my
favorite of all the stories I have
in my father-in-laws files -- the
biggest controversy of all times in
his life. You are correct, though,
I shouldn't have written the title
as "Did Percy Williams Steal A race"
-- except that is what draws an
audience to a page. The article did
read that Williams was surprised
that he was declared the winner ...
and Wykoff didn't complain, it was
Eddie Tolan who did that -- and it
was like the most interesting story
on file.
My father-in-law thought of Percy
Williams as one of his greatest
sprinters of all time. He liked
Percy Williams very much, and both
were friends from afar and while in
Los Angeles, Percy Williams even
posed with Frank at the grand
opening of a Roller Skating rink in
Glendale, CA.
http://frankwykoff.com/percy_williams_-_a_classy_sprinter.htm
I plan to publish both of your
wonderful & interesting letters.
Hope it is alright with you, if not -- please
write. Also, did you check
http://frankwykoff2.com/memorials.htm
(under construction)
yet -- it is under construction, and
I would like to include PERCY
WILLIAMS -- CANADIAN FLAG and all
amongst the Greatest Sprinters of
the World -- Would like for you to
write a short biography with your
name to be published -- you maintain
re-copy rights (of your write-up)
-- it would be an honor at
frankwykoff.com to include Percy
Williams. Terri Wykoff ___________ From: "Frank
Hawkins"
F.Hawkins@aci.on.ca
To: "Terri Wykoff"
webmaster@frankwykoff.com
Sent:
Wednesday, August 25, 2004
8:07 AM
Subject: Re:
Percy
Williams stealing race in Vancouver
1929
(Letter #3)
Dear Terri Wykoff,
Thank you for your kind and
courteous response. I am sure that
your intentions are only to honor a
great runner, your
father-in-law, and the great
sprinters against whom he competed
in his illustrious career. I
did visit the website and was most
impressed at how you have brought to
life the feats of a truly great
generation of athletes. Please feel
free to use whatever snippets of
information I may have provided
about Percy Williams. Percy had a
short career. He pulled up lame
during the 100 meter event in the
1932 Olympics and never ran
thereafter. Oddly, he said that he
never really enjoyed running and did
it only because he found
that he was good at it. Though he
was no 'prima donna', he did enjoy
the attention that his performances
brought. He actually ran very few
races in his short career. He did
set a world record of 10.3 for the
100 meters on August 9th,1930.I
understand that Frank Wykoff ran
10.3 twice and yet does not seem to
have been recognized by the
International Association of
Athletics Federations.
I know that manual timing was used
in those days and wind factors often
nullified great runs. But, Frank did
it twice and I cannot understand why
the IAAF does not include his name
along with
Williams,
Tolan,
Metcalfe,
Berger, Peacock and Yoshioka. Percy
was a reclusive character and
virtually dropped out of public
sight. He became an insurance agent.
He never married. He died not so
long ago in 1982 at the age of 74.
My congratulations to you for what
you are doing.
Frank
Wykoff
was at the centre of not
only the track world but also the
world of great happenings .I am
'blown away' by the fact that he
anchored the great
American 400
meter relay team that included
Jesse Owens
and
at the
Berlin Olympics
of 1936.
Kindest regards,
Frank Hawkins
8-30-04 - Action taken by
FrankWykoff.Com - the title
of the page "Did Percy
Williams Steal A Race" was
changed to
"Williams, Tolan, Wykoff
--All Finished 1st?"
Other E-Mail on the above
subject matter:
1.
Williams Hopes For A
New Record (Assoc. Press)2.
Claim Wykoff First
in Race
(Williams to move to Los Angeles)3.
Sprint King to Find
Throne
(Percy Williams)4.
Williams, Tolan, Wykoff --
All Finished 1st?
5.
E-Mail (8-24-04) --
Background information on Percy Williams
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