Roy Morris has won a national reputation as a sprinter of note. R. E. Johnson of Pittsburgh, is one of the best 5,000 and 10,000 meter runners in the country. Little Charley Mitchell of the St. Christopher Club, New York, is one of the pluckiest and ablest marathon runners in the land and has finished eighth out of a string of sixty. G. L. Brashear, now coach of Straight University, New Orleans, La., was at one time one of the best all-round athletes in California. E. Niles has repeatedly shown that he is one of the best 440 and 880 yard sprinters in New England.
“The New York Athletic Club games saw another promising Negro athlete come into prominence. Billy Parker, representing the St. Christopher Club, raced to an easy victory in the 1,000 yard run. He won about as he pleased in 2:10. Parker is one of the best-looking runners that the Colored clubs have developed in years. He is big, rangy, and a good strider.” The above is what Howard Valentine, a sport writer, had to say in a white paper, the New York Globe, about Wm. S. (Billy) Parker who so easily defeated some of the fastest Colored and white runners in the East. Parker is also one of the foremost basketball players in the East. Young men who are interested in bicycle riding might be encouraged to learn here that little Major Taylor, a Colored man, during the year 1900 held the championship as the fastest bicycle rider in America.
Track and Field Records Held by Colored Youths
Best Western Inter-Collegiate Conference Record. 440 Yards, 47 2-5 seconds, Binga Dismond, Chicago, at Evantson, Ill., June 3, 1916.
Best United States Inter-Scholastic Track Record. 60 yards, 6 2-5 seconds, Sol Butler, Hutchinson, (Kansas) High School, at Evanston, Ill. March 28, 1914.
In July, 1919 Butler (now of Drake) won the broad jump in the Inter-Allied Games at Pershing Stadium, France.
100 Yards, 9- 3-4 seconds by H. P. Drew at Berkley, California, March 28, 1914. 130 Yards, 12 4-5 seconds, H. P. Drew at Brooklyn, N. Y., Nov. 22, 1913. 220 Yards, 21 1-5 seconds, H. P. Drew at Clearmont, California, Feb. 28. 1914.
Colored Youths Who Have Won Unusual Distinctions in Track and Field Work in White Colleges.
Sol Butler All-round Athlete Drake University Theodore Cable Hammer Thrower Harvard University Binga Dismond 440 Yard Runner Chicago University Howard P. Drew Short Distant Runner So. Cal. University Edwin O. Gourdin All-round Athlete Harvard University W. R. Granger Half Miler Dartmouth College Irving Howe Short Distant Runner Colby College A. L. Jackson Hurdler Harvard University Wm. B. Matthews Baseball player Harvard University Fritz Pollard Hurdler and Football Brown University Dewey Rogers Sprinter University of Pa. John B. Taylor 440 Yard Sprinter University of Pa. Joseph E. Trigg Oarsman Syracuse University Fred White Short and Middle Sprinter University of Pa.