Eugene Vidal

Eugene Vidal (1934)

Eugene Luther Vidal (born April 13, 1895 in Madison (South Dakota) , † February 20, 1969 in Los Angeles ) was an American athlete and aviation pioneer . He was the father of the writer Gore Vidal .

Early years and sports

Eugene Vidal was born to Felix and Margaret Ann Vidal in Madison, South Dakota. Vidal attended the University of South Dakota after graduating from school in 1913 . There he particularly excelled in sports. He was a member of the football team, played basketball, baseball and did athletics. In 1915 he was team leader of the football team, in 1916 of the basketball team.

In 1916 Vidal moved to the West Point Military Academy and became captain of the football team. Here, too, he played basketball. In 1920 he participated as a decathlete at the Olympic Games in Antwerp . With a score of 6358,570 according to the then valid decathlon table, he finished 7th. He was handicapped by an injury to his right wrist that he sustained in a traffic accident shortly before the games. He therefore had to perform all throwing disciplines with his left hand. In 1924 he was sent to the Paris Games as an assistant coach . In 1921 he became a professional football player, playing for the Washington Senators .

Career after sport

Eugene Vidal served in the United States Army Air Corps , the forerunner of the US Air Force , from 1918 to 1926 . In 1922 he married Nina Gore, daughter of Democratic Senator from Oklahoma , Thomas Gore . The marriage lasted until the divorce in 1935. At West Point he taught aeronautics and served as a pilot. In 1933 he became director of the Commerce Department's Bureau of Air Commerce and was directly involved in founding Eastern Air Lines , Trans World Airlines, and Northeast Airlines . He worked with the aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart .

In addition to his administrative duties, Vidal also worked in research. In 1937 he founded the Vidal Research Corporation , which developed alloys for plastics and wood. At the same time he was involved in the Boston and Maine Railroad . In 1939 he married for the second time. He had two children with his new wife, Katherine Roberts. He named one son in honor of his former father-in-law Gore, who later became known as a writer.

Vidal became director of Northeast Airlines in later years. He also worked as an aviation expert for the Chief of Staff of the Army from 1955 to 1965 .

Eugene Luther Vidal died on February 20, 1969 at the age of 73 in Los Angeles .

Honors

Eugene Vidal was inducted into the South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame .
In the 2009 biopic Amelia by Mira Nair , he was portrayed by Ewan McGregor .

Web links

• Eugene Vidal in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Biography in the South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame (Eng.)
2. ↑ Article in the Rocky Mountain Online Archive