This Day in Track & Field History, May 15, 2024, Lillian Copeland sets Shot Put AR (1926), Charlie Paddock runs 9.5 for 100 yards (1926), by Walt Murphy’s News and Results Services

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This Day in Track & Field–May 15

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By Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service (wmurphy25@aol.com), used with permission.

1926-Lillian Copeland  set American Records in the Shot Put (8-pounds/38-8  ¼ [11.79]) and Discus (2.75 pounds/

103-5  ½ [31.53]) in L.A.  Copeland won Olympic gold (1932) and silver (1928) in the Discus, and won 9 U.S. titles in the Shot (5), Discus (2), and Javelin (2), winning all three in 1926. The New York native enrolled at USC after the 1928 Olympics.

Hall of Fame Bio: https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/lillian-copeland

https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/77792

U.S. Champions: https://www.flipsnack.com/USATF/usatf-outdoor-champions/full-view.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lillian_Copeland

1926–After officially tying the existing World Record of 9.6 for 100-yards on four occasions, Charley Paddock finally

 became the first man to run 9.5, doing so at the L.A. Coliseum. Under the timing rules of the day, however, his time had to be rounded up to 9.6! (The AAU ratified the AR as 9.5).

           There was some doubt that Paddock had actually won the race. USC’s Charley Borah looked like a winner as they  neared the finish, but Paddock, a former USC Trojan, relied on his signature leap at the tape to earn the judges’ decision.

           Maxwell Stiles, writing for the “Los Angeles Examiner”: “There was the wildest confusion as Borah leading by more than 2 feet at 98 yards, was caught by Paddock’s savage finish (his famous leap of 12-15 ft at the tape). They broke the tape together and Borah was raised on the shoulders of a Trojan serpentine and carried off the field as the conqueror of the mighty Paddock. So certain was the writer that Borah had won by inches that he went straight to Paddock and began to offer sympathy for the latter’s defeat. Paddock, thinking he had won, glared back in surprise…when the official announcer named Paddock as the winner a mighty roar of protest swept the vast enclosure…