`For the Athletic Honor of the Maple Leaf:` The Photographic Identity

`For the Athletic Honor of the Maple Leaf:` The Photographic Identity

‘For the Athletic Honor of the Maple Leaf’
The Photographic Identity of the ‘Lost Olympians’—
Canada’s Olympic ‘Stadium Team,’ London, England, 1908
Robert K. Barney*
Prologue
On 2 February 2009, Matt Quinn, the Public Affairs Officer of the Faculty of
Health Sciences at the University of Western Ontario (“Western”), received an
e-mail from David Parkes of Toronto, father of a prospective “Western” student.
Parkes, in his perusal of “Western” promotional literature, learned of the International Centre for Olympic Studies (ICOS). Parkes’ message to Quinn read:
“I'm not sure if you are the right person to contact. If not I hope you can point
me in the right direction. I have an original photograph of what I believe to be
the Canadian track and field team from the 1908 Olympics (see attached). I am
hoping to identify my great uncle, Robert Irving Parkes, who participated in the
800 metre event. Is there an available resource that might help me identify the
athletes in this photo?” Quinn forwarded the ‘Parkes message’ to ICOS,
together with Parkes’ ‘see attached’ photo (page 140).
“The Stadium, Franco-British Exhibition, London 1908”
*
Robert K. Barney is Professor Emeritus of Kinesiology and Acting Director of the International
Centre for Olympic Studies at The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.
Olympika XVIII (2009), 137-148
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In Search of Images Past
In responding to David Parkes, it was requested that he send us a family photograph of his “Great-Uncle Bob,” along with the original of the 1908 Team Photo.
The requested pictures arrived in short order.1 Our exercise was to match the
family photo with a corresponding persona in the Olympic team photo. It took
a small ICOS team just about three minutes to identify Robert Irving Parkes in
the team portrait (second row from top, fifth from right) of what David Parkes
referred to as the ‘Canadian track and field team from the 1908 Olympics.’
At that point, curiosity and the historian’s desire to
probe further got the better of us. The exercise of
the Robert Irving Parkes identification quickly
extended into an examination aimed at attempting
to identify other team-members in the picture, if
possible, the entire group.2 Why was this important? It had never been done before. No known
athlete-identified picture exists of the single largest
group of Canadian athletes photographed at the
1908 Games, a group which formed the main contingent of the nation’s first Olympic team. Canada’s
Olympic history deserves to know who they were,
how they qualified for Olympic distinction, what
they accomplished, and what their impact might
have been on Canada’s Olympic legacy.
Robert Irving Parkes, ca. 1920s
By good fortune, the David Parkes e-mail request
for an identification of his great-uncle occurred just prior to the University’s
prelude announcements of ICOS’s 20th Anniversary Celebration and commensurate delivery of the 2009 John Howard Crocker Address, eventually given by
this author on the subject of Canada’s First IOC Member: John Hanbury-Williams (see the News section in this issue of Olympika). The two subjects, Hanbury-Williams and the 1908 Canadian Olympic Team, were intricately linked.
Hanbury-Williams, appointed by Governor-General Earl Grey, headed what
came to be Canada’s first Olympic Committee, initially named the Canadian
Central Olympic Committee.
Western News3 learned of the ‘mystery photograph’ and the dilemma of
identifying the historical athletes pictured, and subsequently published the
‘Olympic Team’ photograph. Within hours the story came to the attention of the
local London (Ontario) radio, television, and print media. In short order, the
story (and the picture) reached Toronto, and hence, the national media circles of
the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation). The burgeoning media interest, of course, was driven by the fact that almost anything “Canadian Olympic”
was front and center in the media as the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games
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‘For the Athletic Honor of the Maple Leaf ’
approached. Amid the media diffusion process, the story reached the attention
of several ancestral relatives of 1908 Canadian Olympic athletes, in one case, an
aged son, in others, less aged grandsons, granddaughters, and grandnephews,
and, in one case, a much younger great-grandson and great-granddaughter. All
were eager to share their family’s heirloom artifacts--aged scrapbooks, withered
and often dog-eared photographs, ephemera artifacts, memorabilia, and personal memories of their family ancestors who had been part of the 1908 Canadian Olympic team. And, that’s where the fun began! But first, a short notation
about those 1908 Canadian Olympians who competed in sporting disciplines at
venues removed from the Olympic stadium itself, each of whom were official
members of the 1908 Canadian Olympic Team, the nation’s first.
The 1908 London Games were Canada’s first Olympic Games in terms of
organizing an official team.4 It is now established that the entire Canadian team
of athletes to the 1908 Games in London numbered 87 men.5 The first Canadian Olympians to arrive in London for the Games were three tennis players,
Charles Brown, Richard Powell and James Foulkes. They arrived in England at
the outset of May to take part in the Olympic Tennis Tournament, which
unfolded 6-11 May at the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club, known
throughout the world, then as now, simply as Wimbledon. The tennis players
won no medals but all three won matches in the opening rounds of the singles
competition, and Foulkes and
Powell also competed in men’s
doubles, though without success.6 Second to arrive in England were the marksmen, 22 of
them. Most of their contests
were carried out from 8-11 July
at the Bisley Rifle Range, citadel
of British shooting. The Uxendon Shooting Club, however,
hosted the unique trap-shooting events, in which Canadians
Walter Ewing and George BeatThe front ranks of the 1908 ‘Stadium Team’
marching in the opening ceremonies
tie won the gold and silver
medals, respectively, in the Individual contests. The Canadian trap-shooters
won the silver medal in the team contest.7 The rowing events were held at Henley on Thames 28-31 July.8 Canada was represented by 13 individuals, each a
member of Toronto’s Argonaut Boat Club. Arriving in England almost three
months after the stadium events concluded, a twelve member Canadian
lacrosse contingent met and defeated the English team in a “one game Olympic
gold medal championship contest,” played in the grand Olympic Stadium at
Shepherds Bush on 24 October.9
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The Stadium Team
We come now to the photographic record of the remainder of the team, the
largest single body of 1908 Canadian Olympic athletes. The photograph forwarded by David Parkes was not, as he originally surmised, the Canadian
Olympic track and field team. Instead, the photograph proved to be a picture taken of “most but not all” members of what became known as the
“Stadium Team,” those athletes who competed in events held inside the
Olympic Stadium.10
The entire Stadium Team numbered 37 athletes. Thirty-three of them were
present for the photograph. The upshot of eight months of gathering, scrutinizing,
analyzing, and triangulating the data has led to thirty-three positive athlete identifications. Four athletes present in the photograph remain unidentified, each of
them a track and field performer. Four individuals in the picture were not athletes.
‘See the attached photo’—Canadian ‘Stadium Team’ at the 1908 Olympics: Back row, standing left
to right: Norton Crowe (secretary of the Canadian Central Olympic Committee); William Tait (coach);
Fred Meadows (track and field); William Goldsboro (track and field); George Goulding (track and
field); Donald Buddo (track and field); Frederick Noseworthy (track and field); Louis Sebert (track and
field); John Fitzgerald (track and field); and Aubert Cote (wrestling). Middle Row, standing left to
right: Fred McCarthy (cycling); Walter Andrews (cycling); unidentified (track and field athlete); William Wood (track and field); J. Garfield MacDonald (track and field); Harry Lawson (track and field);
Fred Simpson (track and field); George Barber (track and field);11 Robert Zimmerman (swimming/diving); Robert Parkes (track and field); Frank Savage (track and field); Cal Bricker (track and field); Harry
Young (cycling); and William Anderson (cycling). Front row, seated, left to right: unidentified (track
and field athlete); Bobby Kerr (track and field); Frank Lukeman (track and field); unidentified (track
and field athlete); John Howard Crocker (manager of the Stadium Team); Ed Archibald (track and
field); unidentified (track and field athlete); and Jack Tait (track and field). Front row, seated and/or
kneeling on ground, left to right: William Sherring (coach); Orville Elliott (gymnastics); Alan Keith
(gymnastics); Professor Percy Nobbs (fencing);12 and William Galbraith (track and field).13
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‘For the Athletic Honor of the Maple Leaf ’
The 1908 ‘Stadium Team’ in dress uniform. All but four of the athletes shown here have been identified. — Back row, left to right: Fred Meadows, William Goldsboro, Fred McCarthy, Walter Andrews,
George Goulding, Don Buddo, Fred Noseworthy, Louis Sebert, John Fitzgerald, and Aubert Cot. Middle row, left to right: unidentified, William Wood, J. G. MacDonald, Harry Lawson, Fred Simpson,
George Barber, Robert Zimmerman, Robert Parkes, Frank Savage, Harry Young, William Anderson,
and Cal Bricker. Front row, kneeling or sitting on chairs: unidentified, Bobby Kerr, Frank Lukeman,
unidentified, J. H. Crocker, Ed Archibald, unidentified, Jack Tait, and William Galbraith. Seated on
ground: Orville Elliott and Alan Keith.14
They were the team manager (Crocker), Canadian Olympic Committee secretary
(Norton Crowe), and two coaches (William Sherring and William Tait).
The 1908 Canadian Stadium Team was organized through a series of trials
carried out in Toronto and Montreal in May and June 1908, respectively. The
selection process was a carefully organized and orchestrated exercise, despite an
absence of any model or previous experience on which to draw. By the good
offices of Governor-General Earl Grey, engendered, of course, through the
influence of John Hanbury-Williams, Grey’s Military Secretary, a government
grant of $35,000 dollars was awarded for the Canadian Olympic effort.
Arrangements were made for transportation to England, for accommodation
near the Olympic Stadium, and for the purchase of competition and striking
formal dress uniforms. Thirty-two athletes marched in the opening ceremony
“parade of nations.”15 They are pictured below in two photographs, one a formal
group picture with Team Manager J. H. Crocker, and another as they paraded
in the stadium. As the caption indidcates, all but four of the athletes shown in
the formal photograph below, have been identified.
The central component of the 37-member Stadium team was, of course, the
track and field team. They numbered 27 individuals; their origin demography
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reflected a trans-Canada perspective, one
stretching from the Maritimes to the
Pacific Coast.16 Of all the sporting clubs
and organizations dedicated to track and
field athletics across Canada, Toronto’s
West-End and Central YMCAs contributed the single largest contingents of ath142 top
letes, seven and four, respectively.17 The
Stadium Team was a tightly knit, well organized group. An eight member team executive was elected, a body that included
track and field athletes as well as representatives of cycling and gymnastics. 18 Ed
Archibald of Toronto was chosen to carry
the Canadian flag in the opening ceremonies “parade of nations.” Robert Zimmerman of Montreal was chosen to bear the
“Canada” standard.19
Although some performance expectations were not met, Stadium Team athletes won eight medals. Sprinter Bobby Kerr won gold in the 200 meters and
bronze in the 100 meters. J. Garfield MacDonald won a silver medal in the HopStep-Jump (today’s Triple Jump). Calvin Bricker won a bronze medal in the
Long Jump. Ed Archibald won a bronze medal in the Pole Vault. Cornelius
Walsh won the bronze medal in the Hammer Throw. Wrestler Aubert Cote,
described by Crocker in his Final Report as “a wiry little French Canadian,” won
the bronze medal in the Bantam-Weight Class (54 kilos). And, finally, in the
Team Pursuit Bicycle Race, the quartet of Walter
Andrews, William Anderson, William Morton,
and Fred McCarthy won the bronze medal. There
is little doubt that John Howard Crocker, Stadium
Team Manager, proved to be a binding and inspirational agent in the performance and general
impression made by the Canadian team, to those
who viewed their athletic efforts and personal
bearing. A YMCA leader of storied proportions
by the end of his career, even then, in 1908, at age
38, Crocker was held in almost saintly regard by
his athletic charges.20
The impact, indeed the value, of Canada’s
first Olympic Team experience can be summed
up no better than by the feelings expressed by the
The Team President, Ed
Stadium Team on the eve of their departure from
Archibald (track and field)
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‘For the Athletic Honor of the Maple Leaf ’
England. Among the extant materials of Crocker’s “Olympic Journey,” a handsomely embossed, deeply emotional, and beautifully written expression survives.21 Signed by Stadium Team President Ed Archibald, Vice-President J.G.
MacDonald, and Secretary Frank Lukeman, it is quoted here it in its entirety:
Mr. J. H. Crocker
Manager—Canadian Athletic Team—London, England, July 1908
The members of the Athletic Team representing Canada at the
Olympic Games, London, desire to express to you our sincere thanks
for the way in which you, as Manager, have attended to all the interests of our Team. You have left nothing undone which could possibly
make for our comfort and convenience and your interest in and
advice to us has been of inestimable service.
Although we have been unfortunate in not having made as good a
showing in the competitions as we expected still we believe we have
gained experience which will be invaluable to future athletes who may
go to foreign shores to uphold the athletic honor of the Maple Leaf.
We feel confident that upon no future occasion will any similar
team be privileged to have as its manager one who will be more faithful, more painstaking or more untiring in his efforts than you have
been on our behalf.
Every athlete on the Olympic Team of 1908 joins in wishing you
God-speed and every success in life and though our pathways may
change and we forget much along the journey of it, one spot will
always remain green in our memories, that is our association with
you on this most important event in Canadian athletic history.
Indeed it was a ‘most important event in Canadian athletic history.’ The 1908
Olympic Games in London, began the first chapter in a now more than 100
years journey “to uphold the athletic honor of the Maple-Leaf ” at the Olympic
Games. At this time across Canada, there is every expectation that the Canadian athletes at the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games will further that noble
quest, and maintain, even in these difficult times of intense competition, of performance enhancement, a hyper-commercialized environment, and an atmosphere of ‘showtime,’ a competition demeanor underscored by John Howard
Crocker’s credo on sport and games in one’s life:
Honour the game thou playest
For he that playeth the game hard and fair
Wins even when he loses.
Endnotes
1
The Canadian Stadium Team photograph turned out to be a picture postcard, one of hundreds of 1908 London Olympic scenes produced for the
popular market. For insight on the ‘picture postcard phenomenon’ sur143
Barney
2
3
4
144
rounding the 1908 Games, I am indebted to Bob Wilcock, an indefatigable
researcher on the subject of the 1908 Olympic Games, its marathon event,
and both the volume and specificity of picture postcards produced for the
occasion. See his, The 1908 Games—The Great Stadium and the Marathon
(London: Society of Olympic Collectors, 2001).
Thirty-three individuals in the photograph were athletes, four individuals
pictured were non-athletes. The athletes pictured number 24 track and
field men (of 27 total track and field athletes—three were not present, one
of them most certainly being the celebrated marathon runner Tom Longboat); four cyclists (one, William Morton, was absent); a swimmer/diver;
two gymnasts, a wrestler, and a fencer.
The Western News is UWO’s weekly ‘House’ newspaper, as opposed to the
bi-weekly student newspaper, The Gazette.
Fragmented instances have been noted of Canadians having competed in
the 1900 and 1904 Olympic Games in Paris and St. Louis, respectively, but
these were individual efforts, completely disassociated from any semblence
of “a Canadian team.” Among such early “individual efforts,” Canadian
brothers Alexander and Dick Grant of St. Mary’s (Ontario), track and field
athletes, competed in the 1900 Paris Olympic Games as American representatives. Both were students at American universities in Philadelphia
and Boston, respectively. See Bruce Kidd, “The First COA Presidents,”
Olympika: The International Journal of Olympic Studies 3 (1994), 108. See
also, Bill Mallon, The 1900 Olympic Games: Results for All Competitors in
All Events, with Commentary (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland Company Publishers, 1998), 10, 43, 45, 49, 61-62, 66, 67, 296. Torontonian
George Orton, known at the time as “Canada’s best miler,” and a recently
graduated PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, also
went to Paris as part of the American contingent. Orton won the 2,500
meter steeplechase and placed third in the 400 meter hurdles (Ibid., 19, 47,
49, 62, 66-67, 262. In St. Louis at the 1904 Olympics, Etienne Desmarteau,
a formidable weight thrower from Montreal, was sent to the Games as a
representative of the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association. Desmarteau
won the 56 pound weight throw event. See Don Morrow, A Sporting Evolution: The Montreal Amateur Athletic Association, 1881-1981 (Montreal:
Montreal Amateur Athletic Association, 1981), 67. And Canadian George
Lyon, an accomplished golfer from Toronto, won the “unofficial Olympic
golf championship” in St. Louis. See, Frank Cosentino & Glynn Leyshon,
Olympic Gold: Canadian Winners of the Summer Games (Toronto: Holt,
Rinehart and Winston, 1975), 11-16. Also present in St. Louis were Canadian soccer and lacrosse aggregations from Galt (Ontario) and Winnipeg
(Manitoba), respectively. Each won a championship, but both appeared in
St. Louis “on their own means and without national authority.” And, in
fact, the Olympics did not recognize team sports at the time. Leyshon also
provides the best accounts of these two St. Louis Canadian ‘pseudo Olympic event’ experiences, for lacrosse (6-10), and soccer (22-28).
‘For the Athletic Honor of the Maple Leaf ’
5
For corroboration of Canadian 1908 Olympic Games participation figures
and performance data, I have relied on the best known source, Bill Mallon &
Ian Buchanan, The 1908 Olympic Games: Results for All Competitors in All
Events, with Commentary (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2000).
6
Ibid., 256-267.
7
Ibid., 222-241. Members of the Canadian Free Rifle and International Rifle
Shooting Teams were: S. Harry Kerr, Frank Utton, Charles Crowe, Stanley
Brown, Dugald McInnis, Frank Morris, James Freeborn, Fred Elmitt, James
Jones, Arthur Martin, George Rowe, J. Arthur Steele, William Smith, Bruce
Williams, and William Eastcott. Members of the Canadian Clay Trap
Shooting Team were: Walter Ewing, George Beattie, Arthur Westover,
Mylie Fletcher, Donald MacMackon, George Vivian, and Frank Parker.
8
Mallon & Buchanan, 1908 Olympic Games, 212-221. Members of the
Canadian Rowing Team included scullers Lou Scholes and Walter Bower,
along with coxless-pairs, coxless-fours, and coxed-eight oarsmen: Frederick Toms, Norwey Jackes, Gordon Balfour, Becher Gale, Charles Riddy,
Geoffrey Taylor, Irvine Robertson, Joseph Wright, Julius Thompson,
Walter Lewis, and Douglas Kertland. A first round upset defeat of Lou
Scholes, a world class performer and Royal Henley Diamond Sculls
Champion of 1904, was particularly disappointing to Canadian rowing
team officials.
9
Mallon & Buchanan, 1908 Olympic Games, 197-199. Canadian Lacrosse
Team members were: Frank Dixon, George “Doc” Campbell, Angus Dillon, Richard Duckett, George Rennie, Clarence McKerrow, Alexander
Turnbull, Henry Hoobin, Ernest Hamilton, John Broderick, Thomas
Gorman, and Patrick Brennan (captain). The Lacrosse Team reflected
“cross-Canada” representation—Brennan, Hoobin, Dillon, McKerrow,
Duckett, and Hamilton were from Quebec; Rennie and Turnbull from
British Columbia; Ontario sent Gorman, Broderick, Dixon, and Campbell. I am grateful to Steve Brown, archivist at the Ontario Lacrosse
Museum, for his response to the national media’s coverage of the Mystery
Photograph story and for his subsequent transmission to me of important
photographs and literature surrounding the 1908 Canadian Olympic
Lacrosse Team’s trip to England.
10 The Great Olympic Stadium at Shepherd’s Bush was the most revolutionary and magnificent for its time. Its architect, Imre Kiralfy, never tired of
boasting that “his masterpiece” was “as broad as the Circus Maximus of
ancient Rome and longer than the Colosseum” (Daily Chronicle, 22 June
1908, as cited by Rebecca Jenkins, The First London Olympics—1908 (London: Piatkus Books, 2008), 50). The stadium featured a cement, banked
cycling tract (two and three-quarters laps per mile) laid out around the
outer borders of a running track (three laps per mile). In the infield of the
running track were arranged a 100 meter swimming pool with a fifty-five
foot retractable wooden diving tower. The pool’s maximum 14 foot depth
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accommodated the divers. Also arranged on the infield were platforms for
the execution of the wrestling events and the gymnastic competitions.
Indeed, the stadium often assumed a spectator perspective of watching
events under the ‘big top’ of a three ring circus.
11 In his Report of the First Canadian Olympic Athletic Team—1908 (John Howard Crocker Papers, Special Collections, D. B. Weldon Library, University of
Western Ontario), Crocker mistakenly refers to Barber as George Barker.
12 Technically, Nobbs was an appendage of the Stadium Team. The fencing
events were not held in the Stadium proper, but adjacent to the Stadium at
the “Fencing Ground of the Franco-British Exposition.” Beyond doubt,
however, Professor Nobbs was counted as part of the Stadium Team under
Crocker’s direction. In his Report of the First Canadian Olympic Athletic
Team—1908, Crocker appended the results, with his personal comments
added, for each of his charges, those being 27 track and field competitors, 5
cyclists, one swimmer-diver, one wrestler, two gymnasts, and one fencer
(p. 10). His comments on Nobbs’ performance included: “The Epee competition was keen and of the finest type. Professor Nobbs showed a form
worthy of any nation and the Canadians who had the pleasure of seeing
Pool N. 5 on Thursday had a rare treat.” (According to Mallon, 1900
Olympic Games, 153, Nobbs, fencing in Pool No. 9 (not No. 5), drew two
matches and lost four in his seven member group, which placed him tied
for 6th, and last, with August Petrie of Germany. There were thirteen pools
in the preliminary competitions).
13 Four Stadium Team members were absent when the photograph was
taken. They were: Tom Longboat (track and field); two as yet unidentified
track and field athletes; and William Morton (cycling).
14 I am indebted to Don Buddo, grandson of Donald Buddo for providing
me with this historic portrait.
15 In his Report of the First Canadian Olympic Athletic Team—1908, Team
Manager Crocker incorrectly stated “on opening day the team of thirty-five,
dressed in neat cream white uniforms…marched before the King in a manner well pleasing to all” (4). As both the ‘pre-parade’ group portrait and the
photograph of the marching contingent prove, the number was 32, not 35.
16 I am grateful to John Sebert of Hamilton, Ontario, son of the 1908 Olympian sprinter Louis Sebert, for the gracious loan of a family scrapbook and
photograph album featuring his father’s athletic career. From its collection
of newspaper clippings and multiple photographs, a number of identifications were made, and, as well, the “home club” demography of Stadium
Team members. Of the 37 Stadium Team members, for example, 5 hailed
from Montreal; one each from Alberta’s biggest cities, Edmonton and Calgary; one from Vancouver, British Columbia; one from New Glasgow,
Nova Scotia; the remainder came from Ontario, especially from Toronto
and vicinity, including Hamilton.
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‘For the Athletic Honor of the Maple Leaf ’
17 Representing the West-End YMCA were Fred Meadows, Louis Sebert, Cal
Bricker, Harry Lawson, Ed Archibald, Jack Tait, and Robert Parkes. Central YMCA athletes were George Goulding, George Barber, William
Goldsboro, and William Galbraith.
18 Ed Archibald (West End YMCA-Toronto-track and field) was elected
president. Partly reflective of the distinction was Archibald’s prior international experience—he was a pole vault competitor in the Athens Intercalated Olympic Games of 1906. J. Garfield MacDonald (New Glasgow,
Nova Scotia-track and field) was elected vice-president. Fred Lukeman
(Montreal-track and field) was elected secretary. Other members of the
Stadium Team Executive were George Barber (Toronto-track and field),
Harry Lawson (Toronto-track and field), William Anderson (Torontobicycling), Bobby Kerr (Hamilton-track and field), and Allan Keith
(Toronto-gymnastics). I am indebted to Wayne Burkholder of Orillia,
Ontario, grandson of Harry Lawson, for providing me with the portrait of
the Executive.
19 Prior to this research, it was entirely unknown who Canada’s first-ever
Olympic flag bearer was, a dilemma that frustrated record keepers at the
Canadian Olympic Committee. The matching of Archibald’s individual
physiognomy and personal countenance with that of the flag-bearer in the
two known photographs of the Canadian 1908 ‘marching contingent’ was
one of the less difficult identifications. I am indebted to Murray McIssaac,
grandson of Ed Archibald, for access to family photographs of Archibald
and his Olympic memorabilia. Robert Zimmerman (Montreal-swimming/
diving) was affectionately known to his teammates as ‘Zimmy,’ which was
his manner in signing ‘reminiscent postcards’ sent after the Games to former Olympic teammates.
20 Crocker, after whom the Annual Crocker Lecture at ICOS is named,
served for over a half century in the service of the Canadian YMCA movement. One of his assignments was in Shanghai, China. While there, he was
a member of the small group of visionaries that established the Far Eastern
Athletic Games, the “Olympic Kindergarten” sports festival known today
as the Asian Games. Crocker was named “honorary manager” of every
Canadian Olympic Team from the Stockholm Games in 1912 to those in
Melbourne in 1956. He died in 1959. His biography was the focus of a
study that resulted in the first Master’s Thesis produced in Physical Education at the University of Western Ontario. See Mary Eleanor Keyes, “John
Howard Crocker, LLD, 1870-1959” (unpublished Master’s Thesis, University of Western Ontario, 1964).
21 Gifted to the International Centre for Olympic Studies by the Mary Eleanor Keyes Estate, the document was subsequently framed and displayed
beside Crocker’s oil portrait in ICOS, appropriately, directly above another
cherished Olympic artifact, an Olympic victory podium from the 1984 Los
Angeles Games.
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Illustration Credits
137 Photographic Collections, International Centre for Olympic Studies,
University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario.
138 David Parkes Family photographic archives, Toronto, Ontario.
139 John Howard Crocker Collection, Special Collections, D. B. Weldon Library, University of Western Ontario.
140 David Parkes Family photographic archives, Toronto, Ontario.
141 Donald Buddo Family photographic archives, Elmira, Ontario.
142 (top), Wayne Burkholder Family photographic archives, Orillia, Ontario.
142 (bottom), Murray McIsaac Family photographic archives.
148