Harold Davis (athlete)

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Harold "Hal" Davis (born January 5, 1921 in Salinas , California , † August 12, 2007 in Lakeport , California) was an American sprinter who set the 100 m world record for Jesse Owens in 1941 .

Life

At Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill , the 17-year-old was the fastest kid in the US over 100 yd in 9.7 s (which is about 10.4 s over 100 m) and 220 yd in 21.0 s. Due to his modest academic achievements, he did not receive a university scholarship, but continued his studies at the nearby Salinas Junior College (now Hartnell College ). Under his coach Bud Winter there , he set Jesse Owens ' 100 m world record from June 6, 1941 (10.2 s). After junior college , he moved to the University of California, Berkeley , where he was trained by Brutus Hamilton . As a California Comet , he did not lose a sprint race between 1940 and 1943. He became American champion over 100 yd for three years and over 220 yd for 4 years. His setting of the world record over 100 yd in 9.4 s (May 16, 1942) was not recognized by the IAAF because he had used starting blocks that in the USA, but not approved by the IAAF. Since the Olympics of 1940 and 1944 were canceled due to World War II , he did not achieve an international career, although his run times were the fastest in the world at the time.

From 1943 to 1946 he was a land surveyor with the US Marines in Southeast Asia . When he returned to the USA, he tried to continue his sports career, but suffered a muscle tear in the 1946/47 indoor season from which he did not recover. He then worked as a cowboy , dancer and casual worker.

He was inducted into the Hall of Fame for the U.S. Athletics Federation, the University of California, Berkeley, and the San José Earthquakes , and was named Athlete of the Century by the Pac-12 League.

Footnotes

  1. ^ Arnd Krüger : American sport between isolationism and internationalism. In: competitive sport. Vol. 18, 1988, No. 1, pp. 43-47 ; No. 2, pp. 47-50 .
  2. ↑ L. Quercetani, G. Pallicca: A World History of Sprint Racing 1850-2005. 2006, p. 67.
  3. ^ A b Paul Doherty: 'California Comet' Shines No More. In: Morgan Hill Times , August 17, 2007.
  4. ↑ Hal Davis Player Profile. In: Calbears.com , accessed June 16, 2016.
  5. ^ Members of the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame. ( Memento of the original from September 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: SJSA.org , accessed on June 16, 2016.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / sjsa.org
  6. ↑ Track Trio Named Pac-12 All-Century. In: Calbears.com , May 31, 2016 (English).
personal data
SURNAME Davis, Harold
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Davis, Hal (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American sprinter
DATE OF BIRTH January 5, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Salinas , California , United States
DATE OF DEATH August 12, 2007
Place of death Lakeport , California , United States