Reprint of the Newsletter - 5-24-03                 

Helms Athletic Foundation  Newsletter dated 1957

THIS WAS TO HAVE BEEN THE "RACE OF THE CENTURY". .  for the world sprint championship . . pitting Frank Wykoff, of Glendale, who broke the world record for 100-yards, at 9.4, on May 10, 1930, at Patterson Field, Occidental College, against the Canadian flash, Percy Williams, winner of the 1928 Olympic Games 100, and 200-meter runs. The occasion was the Pre-Olympic Track & Field Meet at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on June 19, 1931.

The event was further highlighted by the fact that this was to be the first time that the lights were to be turned on at the Coliseum for an evening program -- lighting facilities having just been installed in the stadium, for nocturnal activities which were to be held in connection with the forthcoming Olympic Games at Los Angeles in 1932.

The Pre-Olympic Meet was staged under the direction of the Board of Athletic Governor of the Los Angeles Athletic Club, headed by William May Garland, President, and P. H. "Puss" Halbriter served as the general director.

A crowd of nearly 40,000 turned out for the Pre-Olympic meet.  At the appointed moment, Douglas Fairbanks, Honorary referee, escorted his wife, and "America's Sweetheart," Mary Pickford, to the center of the field, where she turned on the switch, officially lighting the Coliseum for the first time.

Joe E. Brown gave the crowd a thrill when he participated in an unofficial 50-yard match race with Frank Wykoff and Percy Williams, to open festivities.  For motion purposes, Brown was adjudged the winner.

Although Wykoff and Williams were the featured participants in the heralded 100-yard classic, Emmett Toppino, of New Orleans, who was later to star in the 400-meter Relay of the 1932 Olympic Games, and Cy Leland, of the San Francisco Olympic Club, were other talented starters.

The tension was so great at the take-off line, as the sprinters toed the mark, that starter Bob Strehle had difficulty in getting the runners away to a perfect start.  However, once the race got under way, Wykoff proved to be the master.

Wykoff hit the tape first, in time of 9.5, followed by Toppino, Leland, and Williams.  Finishing fourth, the Canadian wound up in disappointing fashion, for Williams was supposed to have given Wykoff a stiff test over the 100-yard distance.

Another feature of the 1931 Pre-Olympic meet was the 440-yard run, in which Vic Williams, of U.S.C., and Ben Eastman, of Stanford, were the publicized stars -- and they were!  Williams had once beaten Eastman, and Eastman had once downed Williams.  This was to be the run-off match.  As it turned out, Williams nipped Eastman by a yard in fair time of 48.4.  The run did not produce faster times which had been expected of Williams and Eastman.

George T. Davis, of the Herald-Express, tabbed the two events -- the 100-yard, and the 440-yard -- on the nose.  In a pre-meet story, Davis wrote: "Frank Wykoff will defeat Percy Williams!  Vic Williams will defeat Ben Eastman!  I'm willing to burn all of my bridges on these prophesies, and they're not home-town predictions, either!" Davis proved to be an unerring prophet, as the results are evidence.

____________________

MORE PHOTOGRAPHS

Pre-Olympic Games - Part 1  

Photograph of Race that Wykoff Vanquished Percy Williams

Back | Home | Up | Next