Born in 1908, Percy Williams was a scrawny and sickly kid; nothing like the heavily muscled sprinters of today. He was 15 years old when he came down with rheumatic fever, an illness that caused heart damage and, in theory, ruled out future strenuous exercise.
Teenage Sprinter Sets Records
He weighed in at just 123 pounds (56 kg) and was described by the great American sprinter Charlie Paddock as “that skinny little kid.” Thin and weedy he might have been but he sure could run.
Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame notes he was 18 when “his incredible speed caught the attention of coach Bob Granger, who immediately took him under his wing and began to prepare the young athlete for the great races of which he knew him to be capable.”
By 1928, he was ready for the big time.
Just shy of his 20th birthday, Williams travelled to Hamilton, Ontario for the Canadian Olympic trials.
Historica records that the young runner “shocked the Canadian track establishment, winning the 100m and the 200m races. What made these accomplishments all the more noteworthy is that Williams had never before competed in a 100m race.” His time of 10.6 seconds equalled what was then the Olympic record.
Amsterdam Olympic Victories
Although virtually unknown in the rarefied world of elite sprinting Percy Williams went with the Canadian team to the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam.
He was entered into the 100m and 200m races and sports historian Bill McNulty says Williams “was not expected to win”
But, against a field of superstar sprinters, the young Canadian won not just one but both events, establishing himself, as the Hall of Fame puts it, “as the fastest man on earth.”
Historica points out that Williams “would remain the first and only non-American to double gold in these events in the Olympics.”
The experts, particularly American ones who considered the two events largely belonged to them, said the victories were flukes.
String of Sprint Victories
Williams was challenged to repeat his feat against top competitors. According to the Canadian Encyclopedia “following the Olympics, [Williams] clinched his domination of the world’s top stars by going unbeaten in a spectacular series of indoor races in New York, Chicago, Boston and Philadelphia.”
Perhaps, not quite unbeaten; several sources say he won 21 out of the 22 events that were held over the space of just 23 days.
No flash in the pan, in 1930 he set a world record for the 100m race of 10.3 seconds; a time that would have won him the gold medal in the next four Olympic Games. It wasn’t until the great Jesse Owens clocked 10.2 seconds in 1936 that Williams’s record was broken.
He was named captain of Canada’s Olympic team for the 1932 games in Los Angeles, but he had lost a little of his pace and was eliminated in the semi-finals of the 100m dash and retired from racing.
Percy Williams in Later Life
After his athletics career ended Percy Williams went into the insurance business.
In 1950, a Canadian Press poll selected him as the greatest Canadian track athlete in the first half of the 20th century. He was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1980 and he was inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame in the same year.
He never married and lived with his mother until her death in 1977.
In 1982, apparently despondent over the loss of his mother and suffering in constant pain from arthritis, he took his own life. He left no suicide note so the motives for his last desperate act can only be guessed at.
Sources
- “I Just Ran.” Samuel Hawley, Ronsdale Press, September 2011.
- “YouTube Video on Percy Williams, Subject of our New Biography, I Just Ran.” Ronsdale Press, November 14, 2011.
- “Wiliams, Percy Alfred.” Brian S. Lewis, Canadian Encyclopedia.
- “Percy Williams.” B.C. Sports Hall of Fame.
- “Percy Williams.” Historica.ca.
Rupert Taylor - Rupert Taylor is the editor of a magazine that provides background to current events.
