Alfred Gilbert

Alfred Carlton Gilbert (born February 15, 1884 in Salem , Oregon , † January 24, 1961 in New Haven , Connecticut ) was an American athlete and toy inventor. With a height of 1.70 m, his competition weight was 68 kg.

Gilbert attended Tualatin Academy , then Pacific University in nearby Forest Grove , Oregon . In 1902 he transferred across the USA to Yale University . Gilbert financed his studies there as a magician and graduated with an exam in sports medicine . As a versatile athlete, he set records with 39 pull-ups without a break and in the long jump from the starting block . He invented the puncture box for the pole vault and set two world records. In 1908 Walter Dray and Alfred Gilbert competed to improve the (unofficial) world record in pole vault, during which Dray's world record from 1907 was increased from 3.79 meters to 3.90 meters. Gilbert jumped two world records with 3.855 meters and 3.86 meters.

At the Olympic Games in 1908 Dray was not at the start. Alfred Gilbert jumped 3.71 meters, just like his compatriot Edward Cook . A jump-off was not carried out and so both athletes were declared Olympic champions and three others were declared Olympic thirds.

Gilbert chemistry box from the 1940s

After graduating from Yale University with a degree in sports medicine, Gilbert never practiced as a sports medicine specialist , but founded a toy factory, the AC Gilbert Company . He invented the Erector Set , a system for toy trains. In total, he received 150 patents on toys he had invented, which were sold over 30 million times. His company was the first in the United States to involve employees in the company's success. He was the founding president of the U.S. Toy Industry Association and was inducted into the Toy Industry Hall of Fame in 1985. In 1954 he handed over his company to his son.

A museum is dedicated to him in his native Salem.

literature

• Bill Mallon / Ian Buchanan: Quest for Gold , New York 1984 ISBN 0-88011-217-4
• Ekkehard zur Megede: The Modern Olympic Century 1896-1996 Track and Field Athletics , Berlin 1999, published by the German Society for Athletics Documentation eV

Web links

• Alfred Gilbert in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )

Individual evidence

1. ^ Pacific University Heart of the Oak, 1902, p. 85.
2. ↑ "World's Record Vault by Gilbert of Yale; Collegian Clears Bar at Celtic Park at 12 Feet 3 Inches." New York Times, May 31, 1906.
3. ↑ Yale Alumni Magazine, July / August 2008
4. ^ Arnd Krüger (1980). Neo-Olympism between nationalism and internationalism. In Horst Ueberhorst (ed.). History of Exercise. Volume 3/1 (pp. 522-568). Berlin: Bartels & Wernitz.