Eddie Tolan
Encyclopedia
Thomas Edward "Eddie" Tolan (September 29, 1908 – January 30/31, 1967), nicknamed the "Midnight Express", was an American
track and field
athlete who compete in the Sprints. He set world records in the 100 yard dash and 100 meters
event and Olympic records in the 100 meters and 200 meters
events. He was the first Afro-American to receive the title of the "world's fastest human" after winning gold medal
s in the 100 and 200 meters events at the 1932 Summer Olympics
in Los Angeles
. In March 1935, Tolan won the 75, 100 and 220 yard events at the World Professional Sprint Championships in Melbourne
, Australia
to become the first man to win both the amateur and professional world sprint championships. In his full career as a sprinter, Tolan won 300 races and lost only 7.
in Detroit where he was an outstanding football player and sprinter. While at Cass Tech, Tolan set state records in the 100 and 220 yard dashes. While still in high school, Tolan ran the 100 yard dash in 9.8 seconds and the 220 yard dash in 21.5 seconds. At age of 16, Tolan was a member of a two-man team from Cass Tech that won the 1925 National Interscholastic indoor meet in Chicago. He won his first sprint double at the state meet as a sophomore, and in 1927 he won the 100 and 220 yard dashes at the National Interscholastic Championship at Soldier Field
in Chicago. Despite his accomplishments as a sprinter, Tolan's first love was football, and he often said "the six touchdowns he scored in one game as a 131-pound quarterback at Detroit’s Cass Tech High School was his greatest thrill, rather than his double win in the Olympics."
. There are differing accounts as to why Tolan never played on the varsity football team at Michigan. According to a published account in The Detroit News in 2002, Tolan joined the freshman football team as a freshman in 1927. At that time, no African-American had played on Michigan's varsity football team since George Jewett
in the 1890s. Tolan was initially allowed to play, but on the third day of practice, the freshman football coach told him, "Some of the coaches are disagreeing on your chances. Some of them think that you shouldn’t be allowed to play football. I'd be tickled to have you but I'm afraid I'm going to be outvoted." The Detroit News
noted, that the freshman coach was outvoted: "They took away Eddie Tolan’s football uniform and handed him a track suit in exchange."
Other accounts indicate, it was an injury that prevented Tolan from playing football at Michigan. An Associated Press story on Tolan in 1958 stated: "He would have been a football great as a quarterback, had a knee injury in his junior year in high school not forced him to channel all his energies to track." In his obituary, the Associated Press reported that the coaches at Michigan "talked the pint-sized speedster into going out for track." Tolan was also quoted as saying, "The track team did a lot more traveling then, so I saw the opportunity to travel on a Pullman and see the country."
At Michigan, Tolan ran track under the mentorship of two of the great sprinters of their generations. Michigan's head coach, Steve Farrell, was considered "the greatest professional footracer this country has ever known" in the 1880s and 1890s. And Michigan’s assistant coach Charles B. Hoyt
, who took over from Farrell in 1930, was rated "America’s best sprinter" in 1913, but lost his opportunity to compete in the 1916 Olympics due to World War I
.
As a sophomore in May 1929, Tolan broke the Big Ten Conference record and tied the world’s record for the 100 yard dash with a time of 9.6. Press coverage starting with this world record run, and throughout his career, focused on three features – Tolan's race, his eyeglasses, and his short stocky build. Tolan was one of the first African-Americans to have success in sprinting, and he raced with eyeglasses taped to his head. Various accounts put his height anywhere from 5 feet, 4 inches, to 5 feet, 7 inches. One writer noted that Tolan "looks like a church deacon." Another writer described Tolan’s appearance this way:
Tolan’s gum-chewing became part of his routine. He chewed gum before a race to relieve stress. After accidentally running with the gum in his mouth, Tolan found that he was chewing in sync with his stride. Tolan later began chewing gum as part of his routine, chewing the gum faster when he needed to accelerate his leg movements.
At the Big Ten championships in May 1930, Tolan broke the world's record in the 100 yard dash with a time of 9.5. Tolan's performance was accepted by the International Amateur Athletic Federation as the new official world’s record.
Seven weeks after breaking the world's record in the 100 yard dash, Tolan also broke the world's record in the 100 meters race. Competing in Vancouver, British Columbia
, Tolan shaved two-tenths of a second off the record with a time of 10-1/5 seconds. Track officials in Vancouver announced after the race, that Tolan’s record-setting performance was "all the more remarkable in the fact that he ran uphill, the finish mark being thirty inches higher than the starting point."
Tolan's world-record performances in 1930 brought him international fame, as he became known as the "Midnight Express." In May 1931, Tolan again broke the world’s record in the 100 meters event with a time of 10.3 seconds in Vancouver. Southern California sprinter Frank Wykoff
jumped to a slight lead, but Tolan came from behind to pass Wykoff at the 100 yard mark.
Tolan graduated from the University of Michigan in 1931.
, where he did "graduate work preparatory to teaching and coaching at a Negro institution." Early in 1932, Tolan was not running at his prior level. Despite the slow start, Dean Cromwell
, Chairman of the All American Board of Track and Field, predicted great things for Tolan in his column on 1932’s "Olympic Prospects." Cromwell wrote of Tolan:
While press reports regularly referred to Tolan as "stocky," Cromwell took issue with that characterization:
The Olympic trials were held at Stanford University
, and Ralph Metcalfe
won both the 100 and 200 meters finals, with Tolan finishing second to Metcalfe in each case. The results meant that the top two American sprinters in the 1932 Olympics would for the first time be African-Americans. As a result, much of the press attention focused on race. Los Angeles Times sports columnist Braven Dyer wrote: "Metcalfe and Tolan make the ace of spades look positively pale by comparison … But how these boys can run … And they figure to do even better here than they did at Palo Alto
because it's warmer now and they enjoy the heat."
ese sprinter Takiashi Yoshioka jumped out to a four-yard lead after 40 meters. Tolan passed Yoshioka at the 6 -meter mark and had a two-yard lead over Metcalfe at the 100 yard mark. But Metcalfe passed Tolan at the tape and appeared to the crowd to be the winner. Sports writer Maxwell Stiles described the last strides as follows:
It was hours later, after review of films taken with a "Kirby two-eyed camera," that officials were able to declare Tolan the winner with a time of 10.3 seconds. The films showed that Tolan and Metcalfe hit the finish line in a dead heat, but Tolan was declared the winner, because he had his entire torso past the line on the ground before Metcalfe.
The 200 meters race was held on the fourth day of competition, and this time the race was not close, as Tolan beat Metcalfe easily with an Olympic record time of 21.2 seconds – four-tenths of a second better than the prior record of 21.6 seconds. Tolan stumbled slightly with three yards to go, but righted himself and finished with a four-foot lead. With double wins in the 100 and 200 meters contests, Tolan was dubbed the "world’s fastest human." Tolan was the first African-American to have that distinction, and press coverage of his Olympic wins focused on his race. The Associated Press called him the "spectacled little American Negro" and "the dusky little thunderbolt." Braven Dyer referred to him as "the stubby colored boy," and noted that "the chunky Detroit Negro" had defeated Arthur Jonath
of Germany, "the white-skinned Teuton." Another writer described how the "little black man with horn-rimmed glasses" crossed the finish line, being chased by "a white man of America, George Simpson
," and "a brother black, Ralph Metcalfe."
Commentators also noted, that the only other two sprinters to win double gold in the 100 and 200 meters races were also University of Michigan athletes, Ralph Craig
and Archie Hahn
.
Back in Detroit, Mayor Frank Murphy
appointed a reception committee to meet Tolan at the train station, and Michigan Governor Wilbur M. Brucker declared September 6, 1932 as "Eddie Tolan Day" throughout the state. The governor issued a proclamation stating that Tolan had "brought honor to our commonwealth" and encouraging communities throughout the state to arrange ceremonies "as an expression of Michigan's pride in his achievement."
Tolan's mother noted, that she was proud of her son's accomplishments. She noted that, though she had worked hard as the sole provider for the family, it was worth it. She added, "If my menfolk could only find jobs I could ease up a bit and a mighty big worry would be off Eddie's mind."
Less than six months after winning Olympic gold medals and the title of the "world’s fastest human," Tolan garnered national press when he fell on hard times. Syndicated columnist William H. Beatty wrote that "the heady wine of victory has turned overnight to vinegar" for Tolan. Tolan noted that, when he was met at the train station by a welcoming committee, his half-brother was collecting waste paper in the grass of the park in front of the train station. Tolan noted that his half-brother was "luckier than I am," because he had a job. His parents had both been unemployed for many months, and it was not until January 1933 that Tolan was able to get a low-paying job as a filing clerk in a county office. Tolan’s lifetime dream of becoming a physician was waning, as he had been "unable to make enough to support himself and his parents."
Desperate to earn a living, Tolan "walked the streets of many cities, seeking work," and even briefly appeared in vaudeville in 1932 with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson
. They made a good team; Tolan had set world records for running forwards, and Robinson had set world's records for running backwards: 50 yards backward sprint (6 seconds), 75 yards backwards sprint (8.2 seconds), and 100 yards backwards sprint (13.2 seconds).
Because of his brief appearance in vaudeville, the Michigan Amateur Athletic Association stripped Tolan of his amateur status in June 1933. And in April 1934, Tolan’s bad luck continued as an automobile he was driving stuck and seriously injured an 80-year-old pedestrian.
n sprint program, a series of five professional races, including the Stawell Gift
handicap. Tolan returned in April 1935 after having set new Australian records of 21.5 seconds in the 220-yard dash on a full curve track and 7.5 seconds for the 75-yard dash. He won the 75, 100, and 220 yard events at the World Professional Sprint Championships in March 1935 in Melbourne,http://ndpbeta.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/1114422http://ndpbeta.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/2380736http://ndpbeta.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/2386784http://ndpbeta.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/2384826http://ndpbeta.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/2387328http://ndpbeta.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/2387429 and became the first man to win both the amateur and professional world sprint championships.
In his full career as a sprinter, Tolan won 300 races and lost only 7. Throughout his career as a sprinter, Tolan worked by a simple creed: "Start fast, run easily, stay in your lane and finish strong."
treatments for the rest of his life. In 1967, Tolan died from heart failure at age 58 at Detroit's Mt. Carmel Hospital, while undergoing one of his weekly treatments. At the time of his death, Jesse Owens
paid him tribute in Jet
magazine:
Tolan was survived by his sisters, June Brown and Martha Lombard, and a brother, Hart H. Tolan. Though the two never met, Tolan was also a cousin of former Major League Baseball
player Bobby Tolan
. Eddie Tolan is interred at United Memorial Gardens in Plymouth
, Michigan
.
. He was one of the first 18 persons inducted. He was inducted into the University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor
in 1980. Only 17 individuals were inducted into the Hall before Tolan.
Tolan was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha
fraternity.
Eddie Tolan was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame
in 1982.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
track and field
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
athlete who compete in the Sprints. He set world records in the 100 yard dash and 100 meters
100 metres
The 100 metres, or 100-metre dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, it is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896...
event and Olympic records in the 100 meters and 200 meters
200 metres
A 200 metres race is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 m track, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques are needed to successfully run the race. A slightly shorter race, called the stadion and run on a straight track, was the first...
events. He was the first Afro-American to receive the title of the "world's fastest human" after winning gold medal
Gold medal
A gold medal is typically the medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture...
s in the 100 and 200 meters events at the 1932 Summer Olympics
1932 Summer Olympics
The 1932 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the X Olympiad, was a major world wide multi-athletic event which was celebrated in 1932 in Los Angeles, California, United States. No other cities made a bid to host these Olympics. Held during the worldwide Great Depression, many nations...
in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. In March 1935, Tolan won the 75, 100 and 220 yard events at the World Professional Sprint Championships in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
to become the first man to win both the amateur and professional world sprint championships. In his full career as a sprinter, Tolan won 300 races and lost only 7.
Early years
Tolan was born in Denver, Colorado, one of four children. Tolan's father was Thomas Tolan. The family moved to Salt Lake City, Utah when Tolan was young, and moved again to Detroit, Michigan in 1924, when Tolan was 15 years old. Tolan later recalled, "My father read about better opportunities for Negroes here, so he packed up Mom and the four kids and we came here."Cass Tech High School
Tolan attended Cass Technical High SchoolCass Technical High School
The Cass Tech Technicians football team is a high school football program in Division 1 Public School League, representing the prestigious Cass Technical High School in Detroit, MI. Cass Tech High School has long been recognized nationwide for its extraordinary football program dating back to its...
in Detroit where he was an outstanding football player and sprinter. While at Cass Tech, Tolan set state records in the 100 and 220 yard dashes. While still in high school, Tolan ran the 100 yard dash in 9.8 seconds and the 220 yard dash in 21.5 seconds. At age of 16, Tolan was a member of a two-man team from Cass Tech that won the 1925 National Interscholastic indoor meet in Chicago. He won his first sprint double at the state meet as a sophomore, and in 1927 he won the 100 and 220 yard dashes at the National Interscholastic Championship at Soldier Field
Soldier Field
Soldier Field is located on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, Illinois, United States, in the Near South Side. It is home to the NFL's Chicago Bears...
in Chicago. Despite his accomplishments as a sprinter, Tolan's first love was football, and he often said "the six touchdowns he scored in one game as a 131-pound quarterback at Detroit’s Cass Tech High School was his greatest thrill, rather than his double win in the Olympics."
Football
Tolan was recruited by several major universities as a football player, but he chose the University of MichiganUniversity of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
. There are differing accounts as to why Tolan never played on the varsity football team at Michigan. According to a published account in The Detroit News in 2002, Tolan joined the freshman football team as a freshman in 1927. At that time, no African-American had played on Michigan's varsity football team since George Jewett
George Jewett
George Henry Jewett II was an American athlete who became the first African American football player at both the University of Michigan and Northwestern University, and in the Big Ten Conference...
in the 1890s. Tolan was initially allowed to play, but on the third day of practice, the freshman football coach told him, "Some of the coaches are disagreeing on your chances. Some of them think that you shouldn’t be allowed to play football. I'd be tickled to have you but I'm afraid I'm going to be outvoted." The Detroit News
The Detroit News
The Detroit News is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan. The paper began in 1873, when it rented space in the rival Free Press's building. The News absorbed the Detroit Tribune on February 1, 1919, the Detroit Journal on July 21, 1922, and on November 7, 1960,...
noted, that the freshman coach was outvoted: "They took away Eddie Tolan’s football uniform and handed him a track suit in exchange."
Other accounts indicate, it was an injury that prevented Tolan from playing football at Michigan. An Associated Press story on Tolan in 1958 stated: "He would have been a football great as a quarterback, had a knee injury in his junior year in high school not forced him to channel all his energies to track." In his obituary, the Associated Press reported that the coaches at Michigan "talked the pint-sized speedster into going out for track." Tolan was also quoted as saying, "The track team did a lot more traveling then, so I saw the opportunity to travel on a Pullman and see the country."
Big Ten and world sprint champion
Charles B. Hoyt
-Champion sprinter:A native of Greenfield, Iowa, Hoyt won three straight 100 and 220 yard dashes in the Iowa state meet from 1911–1913 and won seven career gold medals. As a high school student in 1912, Hoyt was offered a place on the U.S. Olympic team but turned down the chance...
, who took over from Farrell in 1930, was rated "America’s best sprinter" in 1913, but lost his opportunity to compete in the 1916 Olympics due to World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
As a sophomore in May 1929, Tolan broke the Big Ten Conference record and tied the world’s record for the 100 yard dash with a time of 9.6. Press coverage starting with this world record run, and throughout his career, focused on three features – Tolan's race, his eyeglasses, and his short stocky build. Tolan was one of the first African-Americans to have success in sprinting, and he raced with eyeglasses taped to his head. Various accounts put his height anywhere from 5 feet, 4 inches, to 5 feet, 7 inches. One writer noted that Tolan "looks like a church deacon." Another writer described Tolan’s appearance this way:
"Tolan, known as the 'Midnight Express,' was five feet six inches (1.7 m) tall and weighed 130 pounds (59 kg). He smiled often, raced while chewing gum, and could be easily identified by a bandage around his left knee to protect an old football injury. In addition he wore horn-rimmed glassesHorn-rimmed glassesHorn-rimmed glasses are a type of eyeglasses. Originally made out of either horn or tortoise shell, for most of their history they have actually been constructed out of thick plastics designed to imitate those materials...
held in place with adhesive tape."
Tolan’s gum-chewing became part of his routine. He chewed gum before a race to relieve stress. After accidentally running with the gum in his mouth, Tolan found that he was chewing in sync with his stride. Tolan later began chewing gum as part of his routine, chewing the gum faster when he needed to accelerate his leg movements.
At the Big Ten championships in May 1930, Tolan broke the world's record in the 100 yard dash with a time of 9.5. Tolan's performance was accepted by the International Amateur Athletic Federation as the new official world’s record.
Seven weeks after breaking the world's record in the 100 yard dash, Tolan also broke the world's record in the 100 meters race. Competing in Vancouver, British Columbia
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, Tolan shaved two-tenths of a second off the record with a time of 10-1/5 seconds. Track officials in Vancouver announced after the race, that Tolan’s record-setting performance was "all the more remarkable in the fact that he ran uphill, the finish mark being thirty inches higher than the starting point."
Tolan's world-record performances in 1930 brought him international fame, as he became known as the "Midnight Express." In May 1931, Tolan again broke the world’s record in the 100 meters event with a time of 10.3 seconds in Vancouver. Southern California sprinter Frank Wykoff
Frank Wykoff
Frank Clifford Wyckoff was an American athlete, triple gold medal winner in 4x100 m relay at the Olympic Games....
jumped to a slight lead, but Tolan came from behind to pass Wykoff at the 100 yard mark.
Tolan graduated from the University of Michigan in 1931.
Lead-up to the Olympics
After graduating from Michigan, Tolan enrolled at West Virginia State CollegeWest Virginia State University
West Virginia State University is a historically black public college in Institute, West Virginia, United States. In the Charleston-metro area, the school is usually referred to simply as "State" or "West Virginia State"...
, where he did "graduate work preparatory to teaching and coaching at a Negro institution." Early in 1932, Tolan was not running at his prior level. Despite the slow start, Dean Cromwell
Dean Cromwell
Dean Bartlett Cromwell , nicknamed "Maker of Champions", was an American athletic coach in multiple sports, principally at the University of Southern California...
, Chairman of the All American Board of Track and Field, predicted great things for Tolan in his column on 1932’s "Olympic Prospects." Cromwell wrote of Tolan:
"Just as spring warms into summer Tolan slides from the class of mediocre sprinters to that of the champions. He is a slow starter, but when the weather gets warm so does Eddie, and off he goes."
While press reports regularly referred to Tolan as "stocky," Cromwell took issue with that characterization:
"Eddie is now 24 years of age, five feet six inches tall and weights about 130 pounds. Although he has always been termed ‘stocky’ by the press, a comparison of his weight and height will show that he cannot properly be so styled. He is well muscled, though, and in action gives the impression of great running power, with his arms and legs working smoothly and strongly in a machine piston-like manner."
The Olympic trials were held at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, and Ralph Metcalfe
Ralph Metcalfe
Ralph Harold Metcalfe was an African-American athlete and politician who came second to Jesse Owens in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Metcalfe jointly held the world record for the 100 meter sprint. Metcalfe was known as the world’s fastest human from 1932 through 1934...
won both the 100 and 200 meters finals, with Tolan finishing second to Metcalfe in each case. The results meant that the top two American sprinters in the 1932 Olympics would for the first time be African-Americans. As a result, much of the press attention focused on race. Los Angeles Times sports columnist Braven Dyer wrote: "Metcalfe and Tolan make the ace of spades look positively pale by comparison … But how these boys can run … And they figure to do even better here than they did at Palo Alto
Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...
because it's warmer now and they enjoy the heat."
100 meters race
The 100 meters contest at the 1932 Olympics was one of the closest races in Olympic history. Tolan broke the Olympic record in the first heat of the second round with a time of 10.4 seconds, but Metcalfe remained the favorite. In the finals, JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese sprinter Takiashi Yoshioka jumped out to a four-yard lead after 40 meters. Tolan passed Yoshioka at the 6 -meter mark and had a two-yard lead over Metcalfe at the 100 yard mark. But Metcalfe passed Tolan at the tape and appeared to the crowd to be the winner. Sports writer Maxwell Stiles described the last strides as follows:
"His powerful legs churning wildly, Metcalfe swept down upon little Tolan like an avenging angel full of fury. Tolan, his left knee in an elastic bandage and his glasses taped to his head near his ears, dug in for one last desperate stride in his effort to hold the lead. Just at the tape, Metcalfe rushed past Tolan and was well ahead a yard beyond the finish. Almost everyone thought Metcalfe had won."
It was hours later, after review of films taken with a "Kirby two-eyed camera," that officials were able to declare Tolan the winner with a time of 10.3 seconds. The films showed that Tolan and Metcalfe hit the finish line in a dead heat, but Tolan was declared the winner, because he had his entire torso past the line on the ground before Metcalfe.
200 meters race
Arthur Jonath
Arthur Jonath was a German athlete. He won the bronze medal in the 100 metres and the silver medal in the 4 x 100 metres relay at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. He set a European Record in the 100 metres...
of Germany, "the white-skinned Teuton." Another writer described how the "little black man with horn-rimmed glasses" crossed the finish line, being chased by "a white man of America, George Simpson
George Simpson (athlete)
George Sidney Simpson was an American athlete and silver medalist at the 1932 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Simpson was the first to run 100 yards in 9.4 seconds, but because he used starting blocks, the record was never ratified. He won the 220 yards in both NCAA and AAU in 1930...
," and "a brother black, Ralph Metcalfe."
Commentators also noted, that the only other two sprinters to win double gold in the 100 and 200 meters races were also University of Michigan athletes, Ralph Craig
Ralph Craig
Ralph Cook Craig was an American athlete, winner of the sprint double at the 1912 Summer Olympics.Craig was born in Detroit, Michigan. Initially a hurdler, he developed into a sprinter at the University of Michigan...
and Archie Hahn
Archie Hahn
Charles Archibald "Archie" Hahn was a German-American athlete, and one of the best sprinters in the early 20th century....
.
Reaction to Tolan's Accomplishments
After the sprint competition concluded, a reporter interviewed Tolan and Metcalfe in their shared room at the Olympic Village. When Metcalfe teased Tolan for being lucky, Tolan replied, "Yeah, I had it all right – but it's 'bout time, Ralph; first little ol' luck I had in eight years!" Still in bed at noon wearing pajamas and with a stocking cap on his head, Tolan said he was "in the best condition of my life when the 200 meters final started," and he vowed to give his gold medals to his mother.Back in Detroit, Mayor Frank Murphy
Frank Murphy
William Francis Murphy was a politician and jurist from Michigan. He served as First Assistant U.S. District Attorney, Eastern Michigan District , Recorder's Court Judge, Detroit . Mayor of Detroit , the last Governor-General of the Philippines , U.S...
appointed a reception committee to meet Tolan at the train station, and Michigan Governor Wilbur M. Brucker declared September 6, 1932 as "Eddie Tolan Day" throughout the state. The governor issued a proclamation stating that Tolan had "brought honor to our commonwealth" and encouraging communities throughout the state to arrange ceremonies "as an expression of Michigan's pride in his achievement."
Tolan's mother noted, that she was proud of her son's accomplishments. She noted that, though she had worked hard as the sole provider for the family, it was worth it. She added, "If my menfolk could only find jobs I could ease up a bit and a mighty big worry would be off Eddie's mind."
Vaudeville and hard times
Desperate to earn a living, Tolan "walked the streets of many cities, seeking work," and even briefly appeared in vaudeville in 1932 with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson
Bill Robinson
Bill “Bojangles” Robinson was an American tap dancer and actor of stage and film. Audiences enjoyed his understated style, which eschewed the frenetic manner of the jitterbug in favor of cool and reserve; rarely did he use his upper body, relying instead on busy, inventive feet, and an expressive...
. They made a good team; Tolan had set world records for running forwards, and Robinson had set world's records for running backwards: 50 yards backward sprint (6 seconds), 75 yards backwards sprint (8.2 seconds), and 100 yards backwards sprint (13.2 seconds).
Because of his brief appearance in vaudeville, the Michigan Amateur Athletic Association stripped Tolan of his amateur status in June 1933. And in April 1934, Tolan’s bad luck continued as an automobile he was driving stuck and seriously injured an 80-year-old pedestrian.
Professional sprinting career
In November 1934, Tolan took a leave of absence from his job as assistant county registrar of deeds to compete in the AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n sprint program, a series of five professional races, including the Stawell Gift
Stawell Gift
The Stawell Gift is Australia's oldest and richest short distance running race. It is run over every Easter weekend by the Stawell Athletic Club, with the main race finals on the holiday Monday, at Central Park, Stawell in the Grampian Mountains district of western Victoria.The race is run on grass...
handicap. Tolan returned in April 1935 after having set new Australian records of 21.5 seconds in the 220-yard dash on a full curve track and 7.5 seconds for the 75-yard dash. He won the 75, 100, and 220 yard events at the World Professional Sprint Championships in March 1935 in Melbourne,http://ndpbeta.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/1114422http://ndpbeta.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/2380736http://ndpbeta.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/2386784http://ndpbeta.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/2384826http://ndpbeta.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/2387328http://ndpbeta.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/2387429 and became the first man to win both the amateur and professional world sprint championships.
In his full career as a sprinter, Tolan won 300 races and lost only 7. Throughout his career as a sprinter, Tolan worked by a simple creed: "Start fast, run easily, stay in your lane and finish strong."
Civil service and teaching career
After returning from Australia, Tolan returned to his job in Detroit as a clerk to the Register of Deeds. Tolan worked at a variety of jobs in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1956, Tolan became a school teacher in physical and health education. He taught at the Irving Elementary School on Detroit’s West Side for several years.Death and family
Tolan never married. In 1965, Tolan's kidneys failed, and he was required to undergo weekly dialysisDialysis
In medicine, dialysis is a process for removing waste and excess water from the blood, and is primarily used to provide an artificial replacement for lost kidney function in people with renal failure...
treatments for the rest of his life. In 1967, Tolan died from heart failure at age 58 at Detroit's Mt. Carmel Hospital, while undergoing one of his weekly treatments. At the time of his death, Jesse Owens
Jesse Owens
James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens was an American track and field athlete who specialized in the sprints and the long jump. He participated in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, where he achieved international fame by winning four gold medals: one each in the 100 meters, the 200 meters, the...
paid him tribute in Jet
Jet (magazine)
Jet is an American weekly marketed toward African-American readers, founded in 1951 by John H. Johnson of Johnson Publishing Company in Chicago, Illinois...
magazine:
"When I was in high school, Eddie and Ralph (Metcalfe) were my idols. Eddie and I later became close friends. I used to live in Detroit and every time I'd go back Eddie was one of the first ones I’d look up."
Tolan was survived by his sisters, June Brown and Martha Lombard, and a brother, Hart H. Tolan. Though the two never met, Tolan was also a cousin of former Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
player Bobby Tolan
Bobby Tolan
Robert Tolan is a former center and right fielder in Major League Baseball. Tolan, who batted and threw left-handed, played for the St. Louis Cardinals , Cincinnati Reds , San Diego Padres , Philadelphia Phillies and Pittsburgh Pirates...
. Eddie Tolan is interred at United Memorial Gardens in Plymouth
Plymouth
Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
.
Honors and awards
In 1958, Tolan was inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of FameMichigan Sports Hall of Fame
The Michigan Sports Hall of Fame is a Hall of Fame to honor Michigan sports people. It was organized in 1954 by Michigan Lieutenant Governor Philip Hart, Michigan State University athletic director Biggie Munn, president of the Greater Michigan Foundation Donald Weeks, general manager of the...
. He was one of the first 18 persons inducted. He was inducted into the University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor
University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor
The University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor, founded in 1978, recognizes University of Michigan athletes, coaches, and administrators who have made significant contributions to the university's athletic programs...
in 1980. Only 17 individuals were inducted into the Hall before Tolan.
Tolan was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha
Alpha Phi Alpha
Alpha Phi Alpha is the first Inter-Collegiate Black Greek Letter fraternity. It was founded on December 4, 1906 at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Its founders are known as the "Seven Jewels". Alpha Phi Alpha developed a model that was used by the many Black Greek Letter Organizations ...
fraternity.
Eddie Tolan was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame
National Track and Field Hall of Fame
The National Track and Field Hall of Fame located within the Armory Foundation at 216 Fort Washington Avenue, between 168th and 169th Streets, in Washington Heights, in the New York City borough of Manhattan, is a museum operated by The Armory Foundation in conjunction with USA Track & Field...
in 1982.