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

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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.

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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://frankwykoff.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

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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 center 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?"