William Buckingham Curtis

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Bill Curtis (circa 1870)
Harry Buermeyer (left) and Bill Curtis (right), c. 1870
NYAC Track Team, Bill Curtis (center)

William Buckingham "Father Bill" Curtis (born January 17, 1837 in Salisbury , Vermont , † June 30, 1900 at Mount Washington ) was one of the most important representatives of American sport at the end of the 19th century. His death at the age of 63 during the winter ascent of Mount Washington brought a lot of approval for the life's work of the "father of American amateur athletics" ( father of American amateur sport ).

Life

Curtis fell ill with tuberculosis at the age of 10 and was sent by his father to the mountains of Vermont to cure them in the dry mountain air. This sport and fitness experience influenced him for his life. At the age of 15, now with his parents in Illinois, he began a career as a sprinter, in which he remained undefeated for 20 years. He enrolled at Wabash College and excelled in various sports, then after an argument with a professor he moved to Bell's Commercial College, but was still active in competitive sports. He now studied economics and also worked as an accountant for an uncle. He became a member of the Illinois Volunteers at the beginning of the Civil War and remained active until the end of the war. He was on the General Staff of John T. Wilder and was highly decorated.

Curtis started to compete between the ages of 17 and 43. In 1853, at his first competition at the age of 17, he started in 9 disciplines in gymnastics, rowing, weightlifting and sprinting and won them all for the Chicago Caledonian Club. In 1860 Curtis began managing Hubert Ottignon's Metropolitan Gymnasium in Chicago with his friend John C. Babcock . With a yoke on his shoulders he raised 3229 engl. Pounds (= 1462 kg), which was a world record at the time. Even at 40 he ran the 100 y in 10.8 seconds (= approx. 11.8 100 m). From 1853 to 1872 Curtis did not lose a sprint race before finally losing to Harry Buermeyer . Curtis was also a three-time American hammer throw champion.

Curtis helped found many of the first major sports clubs in the United States, including the New York Athletic Club (NYAC) with Buermeyer and Babcock in 1868. Curtis became a founding president. In 1872 he opened the Chicago Athletic Club , and around 1880 the Fresh Air Club to allow members to train in the fresh air in New York City. In 1888 he was the founding president of the Amateur Athletic Union and eventually the Olympic Committee. After his career as an active athlete, he became the editor-in-chief of the New York sports newspaper The Spirit of the Times . Later he also started speed skating, reported on this sport in the newspaper and set other American records. In 1884 he became the founding president of the National Amateur Skating Association.

Throughout his life he also worked as a referee in the Intercollegiate Athletic Association. He tried to keep the sport free from betting fraud and corruption. With Curtis began the special path of American sport, which has university sport as an independent element alongside club sport. In 1979 he was inducted into the USA Track & Field Hall of Fame .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wettan, Richard G. and Willis, Joe D. William Buckingham Curtis: The Founding Father of American Amateur Athletics, 1837-1900, Quest , 27 (Winter 1977), 28-37.
  2. ↑ Paul DeLoca: American National Biography: Supplement 2 All . Ed .: Oxford University Press. 2005, ISBN 978-0-19-522202-9 , pp. 118-120 ( digitized version ).
  3. ^ Caspar Whitney : The Sportsman's View-Point: The Death of Father Bill Curtis. Outing August 36 (1900), 5.557 ( digitized )
  4. ↑ Welcome to the Quest for Victory Timeline ( Memento from January 25, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ^ New York Herald, February 18th, 1890
  6. ↑ Super Strength (Circa 1924) by Alan Calvert, Chapter 23
  7. ^ William Buckingham "Father Bill" Curtis: Founder of the US Olympic Committee, by Lowell M. Seida (1998)
  8. ^ Charles Goodman Tebbutt: Skating . Ed .: Longmans, Green and Co. 1892, Chapter VII: Modern Racing, p. 270–272 ( digitized version [accessed February 10, 2013]).
  9. ^ Arnd Krüger : The American sport between isolationism and internationalism. In: Leistungssport 18 (1988), 1, pp. 43-50.
  10. ^ William Curtis. USA Track and Field Hall of Fame.
personal data
SURNAME Curtis, William Buckingham
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Father Bill
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American sports official, entrepreneur, sprinter, strength athlete, speed skater
DATE OF BIRTH January 17, 1837
PLACE OF BIRTH Salisbury, Vermont
DATE OF DEATH June 30, 1900
Place of death Mount Washington