
William Harrison "Bones" Dillard (July 8, 1923 – November 15, 2019) was an American track and field athlete, who is the only male in the history of the Olympic Games to win gold in both the 100 meter (sprints) and the 110 meter hurdles, making him the “World’s Fastest Man” in 1948 and the “World’s Fastest Hurdler” in 1952.
Early life and career
Dillard was born in
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...
, on July 8, 1923,
[ and attended ]East Technical High School
East Technical High School or East Tech is a secondary school under the operation of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District in Cleveland, Ohio.
History
The school, when it opened on October 5, 1908, was the first public trade school in the ...
. He entered Baldwin-Wallace College in 1941 and joined Pi Lambda Phi International Fraternity, and two years later was drafted into the U.S. Army, serving in the all-black 92nd Infantry Division known as the Buffalo Soldiers.
According to a 1962 article written by Trinidadian Olympic sprinter Mike Agostini for Australia's ''The Age
''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...
'' newspaper, Dillard was first inspired as a youngster by Charley Paddock
Charles William Paddock (August 11, 1900 – July 21, 1943) was an American athlete and two-time Olympic champion.
Biography
Paddock was born in Gainesville, Texas, to Charles H. and Lulu (Robinson) Paddock. His family moved to Pasadena, Cali ...
, who Agostini says visited Dillard at his high school and encouraged him to follow his dream of becoming an Olympic champion like himself.
Dillard returned to college in 1946, and resumed athletics, inspired by Jesse Owens
James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens (September 12, 1913 – March 31, 1980) was an American track and field athlete who made history at the Athletics at the 1936 Summer Olympics, 1936 Olympic Games by becoming the first person to win four gold meda ...
, who, like him, was from Cleveland and had attended East Technical High School. He won the NCAA and AAU 120-yard and 220-yard hurdles in both 1946 and 1947, tying world records in both events with a 22.3 in the 220 in 1946 and a 13.6 in the 120. Between June 1947 and June 1948, he remained unbeaten in 82 consecutive finals, a record until broken by Ed Moses.
Olympic Games
At the trials for the 1948 Summer Olympics
The 1948 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and officially branded as London 1948, were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus cau ...
, Dillard failed to qualify for the 110 m hurdles event, but qualified for the 100 m after finishing third.
At the Games, Dillard reached the final, which seemed to end in a dead heat between Dillard and another American, Barney Ewell. The finish photo showed Dillard had won, equalling the World record
A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...
as well. This was the first use of a photo finish
A photo finish occurs in a sporting race when multiple competitors cross the finishing line at nearly the same time. As the naked eye may not be able to determine which of the competitors crossed the line first, a photo or video taken at the fini ...
at an Olympic Games. As a member of the 4 × 100 m relay
A relay
Electromechanical relay schematic showing a control coil, four pairs of normally open and one pair of normally closed contacts
An automotive-style miniature relay with the dust cover taken off
A relay is an electrically operated switc ...
team, he won another gold medal at the London Games.[
Four years later, still a strong hurdler, Dillard did qualify for the 110 m hurdles event, and won the event in ]Helsinki
Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...
.[ Another 4 × 100 m relay victory yielded Dillard's fourth Olympic title. Dillard attempted to qualify for a third Olympics in 1956, but failed (finishing seventh in the trials final). Earlier he took part in and won the gold medal in the 110 m hurdles at the 1953 Maccabiah Games.
]
Later years
Dillard worked for the Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. Since , the team ...
baseball franchise in scouting and public relations capacities, and hosted a radio talk show on Cleveland's WERE. He also worked for the Cleveland City School District for many years as its business manager.[ Dillard died on November 15, 2019, at the age of 96, of ]stomach cancer
Stomach cancer, also known as gastric cancer, is a malignant tumor of the stomach. It is a cancer that develops in the Gastric mucosa, lining of the stomach. Most cases of stomach cancers are gastric carcinomas, which can be divided into a numb ...
. At the time of his death he was the United States' oldest living Olympic gold medallist.
Competition record
Awards and honors
* Four-time Olympic Gold Medalist
* U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame inductee
* James E. Sullivan Award winner, in 1955
* Statue at Baldwin Wallace University
Baldwin Wallace University (BW) is a private university in Berea, Ohio, United States. Established in 1845 as Baldwin Institute by Methodist businessman John Baldwin, it merged with nearby German Wallace College in 1913 to become Baldwin-Wallace ...
* Track at Baldwin Wallace named the Harrison Dillard Track
* United States National Track and Field Hall of Fame inductee in 1974 (the inaugural year)
* IAAF Hall of Fame inductee, in 2013.
World Rankings
Dillard was ranked among the best in the world in both the 100 m/100 y sprint and 110 m/120 y sprint hurdle events from 1947 to 1953, according to the votes of the experts of ''Track and Field News
''Track & Field News'' is an American monthly sports magazine founded in 1948 by brothers Bert Nelson and Cordner Nelson, focused on the world of track and field
Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includ ...
''.
[Rankings started in 1947.]
World Records
Dillard in his career posted the following world record and world best times.[120 yards is 109.73m, a difference of 27 cm with 110 m. This means for record purposes there is no conversion factor applied for hand-timing when converting between times recorded for the two distances.][200 m/220 y hurdle events over a turn were accepted as world records to 1 January 1959; 200 m/220 y hurdle events were removed as world record events in 1969.]
Dillard achieved the following world records during his track career:[Progression of IAAF World Records 2011 Edition, Editor Imre Matrahazi, IAAF Athletics, p 468.]
* 120 y (110 m) hurdles of 13.6 s in Lawrence at the Kansas Relays on 17 April 1948;
* 220 y hurdles (straight course) of 22.5 s in Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...
on 8 June 1946;
* 220 y hurdles (straight course) of 22.3 s in Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...
on 21 June 1947.
He also ran the following world best times that were never ratified by the sport's governing body, the IAAF
World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...
:
* 220 y hurdles (turn) of 23.0 s in Minneapolis
Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...
on 22 June 1946;
* 220 y hurdles (straight course) of 22.5 s in Berea, Ohio
Berea ( ) is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. The population was 18,545 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. A western suburb of Cleveland, it is a part of the Greater Cleveland, Cleveland metropolitan area. Berea is home ...
on 20 May 1947.
Notes
References
Further reading
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External links
Interview with Harrison Dillard
recorded September 13, 2012, at Cleveland Public Library
The Cleveland Public Library is a public library system in Cleveland, Ohio. Founded in 1869, it had a circulation of 3.5 million items in 2020. It operates the Main Library on Superior Avenue in downtown Cleveland, 27 branches throughout the cit ...
's Sports Research Center.
Harrison Dillard 100m win at 1948 Olympics
(video)
Encyclopedia of Baldwin Wallace University History: Harrison Dillard
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dillard, Harrison
1923 births
2019 deaths
African-American track and field athletes
United States Army personnel of World War II
American male hurdlers
American male sprinters
Athletes (track and field) at the 1948 Summer Olympics
Athletes (track and field) at the 1952 Summer Olympics
Baldwin Wallace Yellow Jackets men's track and field athletes
Deaths from cancer in Ohio
Deaths from stomach cancer in the United States
James E. Sullivan Award recipients
Maccabiah Games medalists in athletics
Medalists at the 1948 Summer Olympics
Medalists at the 1952 Summer Olympics
Military personnel from Cleveland
Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field
Track and field athletes from Cleveland
Buffalo Soldiers
NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners
20th-century African-American sportsmen
20th-century American sportsmen