John Howard (athlete, 1888)

John Howard
Full name	John Armstrong Howard
nation	Canada
birthday	October 6, 1888
place of birth	Winnipeg ,  Canada
size	189 cm
date of death	January 10, 1937
Place of death	Winnipeg, Canada
Career
discipline	sprint
Best performance	100 m: 11.0 s; 200 m: 22.3 s; 400 m: 52.1 s
society	Winnipeg North End Amateur Club
Trainer	Walter Knox
last change: February 15, 2017

John Armstrong Howard (born October 6, 1888 in Winnipeg , † January 10, 1937 ibid) was a Canadian athlete whose specialty was the sprint .

John Howard grew up as the son of a barber in Winnipeg. He trained as a mechanic and played baseball. However, his passion was athletics, especially sprinting.

Howard became the dominant figure in the Canadian sprint. In 1913 he was Canadian champion over 100 and 220 yards. He became Canada's first black participant in the Olympic Games. His appointment to the Olympic selection sparked controversy. He was forbidden to eat with his teammates on the trip to Stockholm. He was also not allowed to stay in the same hotel.

In Stockholm started on both sprint courses and in both relays. In both the 100-meter run and the 200-meter run , he was eliminated in the semifinals, which is due to a stomach disease. Even with the 100-meter relay , he failed in the semifinals, with the German team losing 1.2 seconds. In the 400-meter relay , he was eliminated as the second runner against the eventual Olympic champion USA in the first round.

During the First World War , John Howard served in the Canadian Expeditionary Force in France . In 1919 he took part in the Allied Games in Paris and won the bronze medal in the 100-meter run.

After finishing his sports career, John Howard worked for Canadian National Railway for six years , after which he ran a ranch in the Riding Mountains. He also worked as a boxing trainer.

John Howard is the grandfather of the Canadian sprinter Harry Jerome , who won bronze over 100 meters in Tokyo in 1964 . In 2004 Howard was inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame.

Web links

• John Howard in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )