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Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service (wmurphy25@aol.com)
This Day in Track & Field–April 20
1895–The Penn Relays were born.
https://pennrelays.com/sports/2018/11/2/about-the-relays.aspx
The first Penn Relays was a smash success. Held on April 20, 1895 (the linked article above incorrectly lists the date as April 21), in conjunction with the University’s Spring Handicap Track and Field Games, the meet, until this year, the longest uninterrupted collegiate track meet in the country, was a greater success than hoped for, drawing an attendance of approximately 5,000, the largest track and field crowd to that time in Philadelphia. At the dawn of the 20th century, track and field in the United States was centered around the three large eastern cities of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, so it is evident that in addition to being the largest track crowd in Philadelphia, it was immediately one of the largest ever in America.
The pre-history of the Penn Relays and the history of relay running as sport began in 1893 at the University of Pennsylvania. While there are earlier examples of relay races having been run, nowhere else did the concept take hold and flourish. In fact, the history of relay racing cannot be told without linking it to the Penn Relay Carnival.
When the University Track Committee, chaired by Frank B. Ellis ‘93, looked for ways of adding interest to their 1893 spring handicap meet, they struck on the idea of a relay, four men each running a quarter mile in succession. The idea created enough interest that a team from Princeton was invited to contest the event. Held at the end of the meet on May 12, the Princeton team of J.A. Chapman, George McCampbell, Isaac Brokow and Theodore Turner pulled away in the homestretch to beat Penn by eight yards with a time of 3:34.0.
The following year, Penn exacted its revenge against the Princeton team on the University…
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