Velma Springstead

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Velma Agnes Springstead (born August 22, 1906 in Hamilton , Ontario ; † March 27, 1927 ibid) was a Canadian athlete who worked as a teacher and secretary parallel to her sports career.

life and career

Velma Springstead was born on August 22, 1906 as the daughter of Margaret Edith Crowe and Bernice Lavelle "Val" Springstead in the city of Hamilton in the Canadian province of Ontario. She lived near the port and industrial area in a house at the address 228 Burlington Street , now 228 Burlington St E . As a teenager she played softball and basketball for the Hamilton Ladies Club and regularly won competitions in sprinting , hurdling and high jump . In 1925, she helped the first Canadian women's team ever to take part in international competitions to establish and legitimize their own women's competition. In the same year she was sent by the Amateur Athletic Union of Canada (AAU or AAUC), which until then consisted exclusively of men, as a member of a women's team to London , England , where the team played against the national teams of the United Kingdom and the Czechoslovakia should compete.

Originally, the AAUC showed no willingness to accept the invitation from the British and organize the deployment of a women's team, but shied away from public criticism if it had declined the invitation. That's why Alexandrine Gibb , the secretary of a Toronto broker , who also worked as a sports director in her spare time, was entrusted with the selection and management of the team. In the hastily set trial competitions on July 11, 1925 in the Varsity Stadium in Toronto, Springstead then surpassed the previous Canadian record in the women's high jump, which was held by Innes Bramley at that time , and thus made it into the team for the competitions in England. During her jump she stepped up in a billowing tunic and came in the so-called shear jump to a height of four feet and seven inches , which corresponds to a height of about 140 cm.

During the journey by ship from Québec to Liverpool , the team of ten athletes was accompanied by Alexandrine Gibb and a companion, as well as representatives of the Canadian government , the Canadian Pacific Railway , and a selection of the British organizers and besieged by reporters and photographers. At the competitions at Stamford Bridge in London, the hosts emerged victorious on August 1, 1925, the Czechoslovak selection took second place and the Canadians, who were in no way embarrassed, came third and last. Springstead, for example, was third in the high jump and fourth in the hurdles and is said to have contributed to the enthusiasm and determination of the entire team. She is said to have always been present and encouraged her teammates, as well as having convinced the rivals and the audience with her exuberance. Because of her commitment, she was awarded the Lord Decies Trophy named after John Beresford, 5th Baron Decies , at the end of the meeting . Shortly after her return, she won the gold medal in the high jump at the Canadian Track and Field Championships , the Canadian national championships in athletics. According to other reports, the 1.40m she achieved in the qualifying competition for the meeting in London was attributable to the Canadian national championships.

Inspired by the successes in England, the Women's Amateur Athletic Federation of Canada (WAAF or WAAFC) was set up in the following year to give Canadian women who would have deserved a permanent place in international sports competition one. In the following years the organization established itself throughout Canada and in 1928 the WAAF, under the leadership of Alexandrine Gibbs, in cooperation with the Amateur Athletic Union of Canada, sent a selection of women to the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam . Springstead, who had been considered a potential participant in this Olympic selection, did not experience this anymore. In March 1927 she had been admitted to St. Joseph's Hospital in Hamilton with severe chest pain , where she died three days later, on March 27, 1927, unmarried at the age of 20 of pneumonia .

The leaders of Canadian women's sport continued to be inspired by their ambition and zest for life. After Springstead's death, the WAAF concentrated more on the health of its athletes. From then on, the participants had to undergo a medical examination every season, whereby the doctors were in turn encouraged to mainly take care of impoverished athletes. This in turn became a trademark of the WAAF, which in 1932 under the leadership of Gibbs initiated the Velma Springstead Trophy named after Springstead , which has been awarded annually to the best Canadian female athlete ever since. The award was intended to be awarded on the basis of performance, athleticism and demeanor and has always been seen as an example of the contribution Springstead had made to Canadian women's sport.

In addition to her athletic career Springstead worked until her death as a secretary to the sales manager ( Engl. : Sales manager ) to that of George Elias Tuckett founded Tuckett Tobacco Company and taught at the Sunday school of Calvin Presbyterian Church . She also learned to play the piano on the side .

In 2011 she was posthumously inducted into the Hamilton Sports Hall of Fame .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hamilton's heroes of sports , accessed May 2, 2020
  2. ↑ Hamilton sports hall of fame adds 10 members , accessed May 2, 2020
personal data
SURNAME Springstead, Velma
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Springstead, Velma Agnes (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian athlete, teacher and secretary
DATE OF BIRTH August 22, 1906
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamilton , Ontario , Canada
DATE OF DEATH March 27, 1927
Place of death Hamilton , Ontario , Canada