Track And Field Champion

The Runner.

The rise of track and field in the United States during the late nineteenth century was chiefly due to the accomplishments of Lawrence "Lon" Myers. As an amateur runner specializing in distances from 100 to 880 yards, he captured fifteen American, ten Canadian, and three British championships from 1879 to 1885. Myers also established nine American and eleven world records at distances of 50 yards to the mile. As a professional from 1886 to 1888, his races against Walter George of Great Britain established the United States as an international track and field power.

Early Start.

Myers, a sickly child, started running after a physician suggested exercise to improve his health, and by the time he had graduated from high school in Richmond, Virginia, in 1876, he had developed into a good runner. In 1876 Myers began working as a bookkeeper in New York, where his father...