Friday, September 11, 2009

Tom Longboat


Who’s On First?

There was no reason, no one is better, or more important, but how to choose the first?

It came to me while listening to my favourite radio station, CBC Radio One.

The interviewee ___, on the radio show ___, both names’ escape me, was talking about an Onondaga named Tom Longboat, and how he’d set a course record for the Boston Marathon back in 1907, and then went on to serve in WW1. He acclaimed how many First Nations people had never ever heard the name Tom Longboat. He was right.

I was one of them.

Maybe you are, too.

Not anymore!


Introducing our first hero of many,

TOM LONGBOAT

Tom Longboat was an Onondaga born on June 4, 1887. He grew up on the Grand River First Nations Reservation in Ontario. It was Tom’s destiny to become world renown as a long distance runner; now it is our pleasure to recall his achievements as our very first profile entry for the First Nations People Project.

Tom’s road to success was filled with obstacles, the least of which was poverty. In 1906, while training with Bill Davis, a Mohawk, Tom ran his first race wearing cheap sneakers and a droopy cotton bathing suit. Others laughed at the sight, but Tom laughed last when he won the 19 mile race by a full 3 minutes.

Tom went on to run and win many other races, and with proper running shoes, he most notably won the Boston Marathon of 1907 when he was 19 years old. There he set a course record of 2:24:24. That is something we can all be proud of, and you can see his listing here.

At the age of 29 Tom enlisted to fight in WW1. There he continued to run, carrying messages and orders between units. Tom Longboat was wounded twice while in service, and even declared dead. Yet he survived the war and returned to Canada in 1919.

Tom Longboat died in 1949 at the age of 62. He is remembered today in the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame and the Indian Hall of Fame. Where is the Indian Hall of Fame? Apparently it was a travelling exhibition of some “Indian” sports stars, but nothing worthy of perpetual recognition.

Today, we stand and read, corrected.

Recognize Tom Longboat.


To learn more about Tom Longboat, do an Internet search you! LOL!
Some Anishiniaabeg humour; get used to it!

Check out these links:
http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/remembers/sub.cfm?source=history/other/native/longboat
Tom Longboat
Tom Longboat



Meegwich to the Library Archives of Canada for the pictures.
Meegwich to Canada's Sports Hall of Fame for the first picture.

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