OLYMPICS SPECIAL VOL. 1 BETTY ROBINSON AND WYOMIA TYUS: The 100M Special

Ah! The Olympics, the apex of athletics, the gold standard of the gold standard of the gold standard. Every 4 years the very best in the wide, wild, wicked world of sports compete for the gold medal, some of those athletes live on forever like Carl Lewis, Flo Jo, Wilma Rudolf, Jim Thorpe, Mary Lou Retton, the list goes on but there are several others that get lost in the storied and complicated history halls of the Olympics. This edition of TSI will focus on the Women’s 100M Sprint and 4 X 100M Relay. The forgotten stars featured in the first Olympic special are Betty Robinson and Wyomia Tyus.

BETTY ROBINSON: 1928 – Amsterdam, 1936 – Berlin

Betty’s career in track and field was brief but explosive. August 23, 1911 Elizabeth Robinson was born to Harry and Elizabeth Robinson. The Robinsons resided in Riverdale, Illinois. Elizabeth, or Betty as she preferred, wasn’t immediately interested in sports. Betty attended school in Wayne, Illinois. She was accidently discovered by her high school biology teacher, Charles Price. Mr. Price was also the assistant track coach. Betty missed a train home. She sprinted with all she had to catch it (according to legend she actually made it). Price knew there was a track star in her. She ran the 100M and 4 x 100M Relay. According to her, “I had no idea that women even ran that. I grew up a hick.” She was 15 at the time.

Her first official race was at Soldier Field in Chicago. She came in second place…to the current women’s 100M record-holder, Helen Filkey. This was followed by the Olympic qualifying meet for the 1928 games. Any previous Olympics qualifier, she wouldn’t have been invited. This was the first time in Olympic history where women were allowed to participate in track and field against the wishes of Pope Pious XI and Baron de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympics. Betty came in second and made the cut. By now, she had set a school record for the 100M and turned 16.

Betty was the only American to make it through the trial races and semifinal rounds of the 100M. Canada’s Fanny Rosenfeld was heavily favored to win the gold. Canada’s other sprinter, Myrtle Cook (also so-holder of the current world record time of 12.3 seconds) and Germany’s Helen Schmidt made false starts in the final race. They were disqualified, leaving only 4 runners. Betty narrowly won the gold with the world record time of 12.2 seconds. Second place’s Rosenfeld time was 12.3 seconds. Betty was 16 and the first women to win a gold medal in the Olympic Games. In the 4 x 100M Relay, the American Women team won silver to the Canadian team’s gold. Betty is still the youngest woman to win the gold in this event.

She received a diamond watch from Wayne, Illinois, a silver cup from her high school, and a golden globe necklace from Douglas MacArthur, the president of the Olympic committee. In September of that year she lowered the 100M record to 11.0 seconds. She continued to train and compete. A year later, she started attending Northwestern University where she set more world records for 60 yards, 70 yards, and 200 yards. Betty was an excellent shooter on the rifle team.

In 1931 however things took a downturn, while flying in a biplane with her cousin piloting. They ended up crashing. Her cousin was still alive. She was discovered and declared dead at the scene but the undertaker clarified that she was alive. Betty was in a coma for a time but woke up. She needed several years of recovery. The crash left her with severe cuts, a broken left leg, crushed left arm, and a concussion. Her leg needed a silver rod and pins to keep it intact. She was inactive in sports until 1934.

She resumed training but couldn’t bend her left leg into a starting position anymore, only a standing one. The 100M was out of the question but the 4 x 100M wasn’t. She was on the 1936 4 x 100M team with Harriet Bland, Annette Rogers, and Helen Stephens. Betty was third leg. They managed to win the gold medal even though Betty’s past few years. The German team had the lead until a baton mishap threw them off. No one thought this would have happened. A mere 5 years ago, Betty was dead and she won the gold medal again.

Shortly afterwards, she retired from athletics. Betty never received any endorsement deals and couldn’t play any professional sports. She ended up finding a living elsewhere. She married Richard Schwartz in December 1939. The couple had 2 children and 3 grandchildren. Betty was inducted in the USA Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1977, among others. She represented the Girls’ Athletic Association and Women’s Olympic Athletic Association throughout her life speaking to numerous communities and schools.

She died on May 21, 1999 from Alzheimer’s.

WYOMIA TYUS: 1964 – Tokyo, 1968 – Mexico City

Unlike Betty, Wyomia was a natural athlete from an early age. She was born in Griffin, Georgia on August 29, 1945. Her parents, Willie Tyus, worked on a dairy farm, and, Marie Tyus, was a laundry lady. They had very different ideas on whether or not their only daughter should play sports. Marie deemed it inappropriate for a lady but her father was the opposite. As the youngest of 4, she followed her brothers into sports. They attended segregated schools throughout their early years. There wasn’t much encouragement in her becoming an athlete but she kept at it.

In high school, she found basketball. After a while, she tried out for track and field. Wyomia wanted to be a high jumper but found her real specialty was the 4 x 100M and the 100M. Legendary track coach, Edward Temple, from Tennessee State University saw Wyomia at the Georgia State Championship. She was 15 but he knew she needed to be on his team. Temple invited her to his track and field camp that summer. In 1962, she went to the Amateur Athletic Union championship, won the 100M and set a new American record. The next year’s championship, Wyomia came in second to Edith McGuire.

Wyomia received a scholarship to TSU in 1963. Making her the first person in her family to attend college. She won several AAU titles while there. Narrowly, she made the team for the 1964 Olympic games. For the 100M, Wyomia won the gold. For the 4 x 100M, the American team won the silver. Despite the international success, her mother still didn’t like her only daughter playing sports. This was also the first time Wyomia beat Edith McGuire in the 100M. Regardless of what her mother wanted, she went to the 1968 Olympics. There was talk of a boycott from the African American athletes due to racism and threats but she along with a few others including Tommie Smith and John Carlos went. For the second time, she won the gold in 100M. This was the first time a person won the 100M in two consecutive Olympics. The next person to do this was Carl Lewis, 20 years later. Also the American team won the gold for 4 x 100M. Wyomia did not make the Black Power salute when she won her medals but she did dedicate them to John Carlos and Tommie Smith, who did.

Just like Betty, Wyomia retired after her second Olympics. She had no endorsements and had to find work elsewhere. She served as a goodwill ambassador to Africa working with training clinics and encouraging girls to participate in sports. She was invited to the Professional International Track Association in 1973. After two years as a pro she won 22 out of 36 races. Following this, she became a physical education teacher in the Los Angeles area. After getting married a second time, had 2 children. Billie Jean King, Wyomia, and several other female athletes formed the Women’s Sports Foundation in the mid-70s.

She still resides in the LA area now.

Both of these women deserve to be remembered more than they currently are. Both of them broke boundaries and made history. Betty came back from the dead. Wyomia went from a small farm in Georgia to the world’s fastest woman in her prime. They are some of the greatest athletes to grace the Olympic track and the world.

Sources

http://www.olympic.org/news/betty-robinson-athletics/179776

http://www.anb.org/articles/19/19-00969.html

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/05/21/sports/betty-robinson-a-pathfinder-in-women-s-track-dies-at-87.html

http://www.teamusa.org/News/2015/April/28/Betty-Robinson-The-Gold-Medalist-Who-Came-Back-From-the-Dead

http://www.usatf.org/halloffame/TF/showBio.asp?HOFIDs=137

http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/sports-outdoor-recreation/wyomia-tyus-b-1945

http://www.usatf.org/halloffame/TF/showBio.asp?HOFIDs=175

http://womenshistory.about.com/od/trackandfield/p/wyomia_tyus.htm

http://www.olympic.org/wyomia-tyus

http://sports.jrank.org/pages/4987/Tyus-Wyomia.html

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB121259662999045367

EMU WAR: Birds of a Feather Stick Together

What do you get when you combine the Great Depression, the Australian Wheat Board, the Lewis Automatic Machine Gun, Emus, and World War I? The Great Emu War of 1932, that’s what.

Despite the name Emus weren’t the initial cause. This chain of events starts during World War I because of wheat. With thousands of soldiers returning to Australia, the Australian Wheat Board (established in 1915, under the Labor Party’s Billy Hughes administration) figured this was a golden opportunity to get a mass of new farmers to Western Australia. Farming in this area is known for being difficult. It would boost the national economy and give veterans jobs. The primary crops grown in this region are wheat along with other cereal grains. In order to get the soldiers interested in growing wheat, the Agriculture Department told them that they would receive subsidies for these crops. It worked. Thousands took up this opportunity.

Naturally, things were supposed to go great from here but they didn’t. The Agriculture Department never fulfilled their promise of subsidies. On top off that, the price of wheat was on the downfall and kept falling. The Great Depression hit in 1929, this only sunk the situation further. In the fall of 1932 around September. Roughly 20,000 Emus migrated to this newly transformed farmland utopia. It had plenty of water and food. The food that these flightless fowl loved so much was wheat. Also there was a drought ravaging Australia at the same time. The winter rains were one of the key sources for irrigation. The Emu only made things worse.

Prior to this however, the ex-soldier farmers fought back. A byproduct of the Emus coming through was also allowing rabbits and other pests to eat the crops along with them. The farmers killed as many Emu as possible on their own but this didn’t work given 20,000 more Emus would come through a few years later.

Emu went from a protected species to “vermin.” The only logical conclusion to this problem was the Lewis Automatic Machine Gun. Step 1 was simple, kill Emu and thus stop them from consuming the wheat fields. This was the solution the farmers proposed. The farmers didn’t go to the Minister of Agriculture, who was at the time Joseph Lyons (he was also the current Prime Minister). Charles Hawker, the previous Minister of Agriculture had retired in protest due to getting lower pay on September 23. The farmers didn’t trust the Agriculture Department so they contacted the Minister of Defence, George Pearce. He agreed to it but with two conditions. They were; only trained soldiers can operate the guns, and a cameraman from Movietone will film the campaign.

The Lewis Machine Gun was chosen because the veteran farmers saw how powerful it was in WW1. This was their only hope. The Royal Australian Artillery sent 7^th Heavy Battery commander Major G.P.W. Meredith to manage the campaign.

So far only humans have been discussed, here’s a little information about Emus. They range between 5 and 6.5 feet tall when fully grown. Emus travel in large groups across the harsh Australian outback. They migrate to the North for the summer and South for the winter. They can jump up to 7 feet. In a sprint their stride can go up to 9 feet. Plus they have excellent eyesight. Intelligent and savvy, they swiftly adapt to their environments and challenges presented their way. These birds aren’t dumb dumbs.

On October 18, 1932, Maj. Meredith brought 2 Lewis Machine Guns, 10,000 bullets, 2 soldiers to operate the weaponry, and a Movietone cameraman as per the agreement. They hoped to encounter a mob of Emu soon but it rained and the Emu scattered before Meredith’s men could engage. The next few days followed a repetitive pattern. They see a bunch of Emu, get closer to Emu, shoot at the Emu, and the Emu run away. Meredith underestimated how fast and smart these birds were. After a few skirmishes, the Emus figured out the range of the guns. So they if saw Meredith and his men they knew how far to run to and be safe. So Meredith came up with a brilliant idea, catch up to them with jeeps and shoot them from there. This didn’t work. The gunners couldn’t stabilize the machine gun enough to get a clear shot when speeding through the outback. No Emus were killed using this tactic. You can only imagine how frustrated Meredith had to be by this point. The Emus were winning. Well, they kept eating delicious healthy wheat.

The humans figured that if they wait at a watering hole a pack of Emus would eventually stop by. A pack of 100 or so Emus did stop by a nearby watering hole where the soldiers were waiting. They assumed that one machine gun would be enough. After 12 bullets it jammed and the Emus escaped. They fixed the jam but it was too late. They continued ambushes but it wasn’t enough. Everything they tried didn’t work. Every place the Emu were ambushed, they never returned. It was an endless game of catch-up. Remember the thing that caused this whole thing was wheat.

The Parliament recalled the effort on November 10, 1932 because it was a waste of time, financial sinkhole, and embarrassing. They had used 2,500 of the allotted 10,000 bullets. A few days later though it was resumed. It was still a failure. They killed more Emu but not enough to stop them going through wheat field. On December 10, 1932 it was recalled for good. Meredith had spent 9,860 bullets out of 10,000. No humans were killed. Some Emu were killed but the numbers aren’t definite. Meredith claimed over 2,000 birds were killed but this is most likely bullshit. It was never confirmed. It’s speculated to be in the hundreds not thousands.

The Australian Royal Army lost the “war.” It was barely a war. Meredith himself said it would be good target practice. Which it was but at the cost of federal money and even more irritated farmers that had to let their livelihood die out. The Emu continued their rampage on wheat. The farmers requested military action in 1934, 1943, and 1948. They were declined each time.

The primary reason it isn’t famous, has to be it’s embarrassing. It’s perfectly understandable. This was a perfect storm of overconfidence, poor planning, and bad luck. On paper it was supposed to be a breeze but these feathered flightless fowls outlasted and outsmarted the Australian military and farmers in Western Australia. At its core this sounds like a B-movie you’d see on MST3K but it isn’t.The craziest thing about this was that the Australian government or anyone at all thought this was a good idea. The only good that can be gleamed from this is that it shows only quickly a grassroots, local issue can get federal attention. Humans lost a war to Emu, this really happened.

References

http://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/emu

http://www.soilquality.org.au/au/wa

http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/bd/BD9798/98bd220

http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/01/great-emu-war-1932/

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/running-ponies/2014/08/04/the-great-emu-war-in-which-some-large-flightless-birds-unwittingly-foiled-the-australian-army/

https://medium.com/war-is-boring/australia-once-lost-a-war-to-the-mighty-emu-fd0f07203ca4

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/18516559

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/4504009

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/4509731

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/2318780

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/2315839

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/4507996

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/2317086

http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hawker-charles-allan-6603

http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/lyons-joseph-aloysius-joe-7278