Robert Garrett
Encyclopedia
Robert Garrett was an American
athlete. He was the first modern Olympic
champion in discus throw
and shot put
.
County, Maryland
, Garrett came from a wealthy family and studied in Princeton University
. He excelled in track and field athletics as an undergraduate, and was captain of the Princeton track team in both his junior and senior years. Garrett was primarily a shot-putter, though he also competed in the jumping events
. When he decided to compete in the first modern Olympics
in 1896, Professor William Milligan Sloane suggested he should also try the discus.
They consulted classical authorities to develop a drawing and Garrett hired a blacksmith to make a discus. It weighed nearly 30 pounds (14 kg) and it was impossible to throw any distance, so he gave up on the idea. Garrett paid for his own and three classmates' (Francis Lane
third in 100 m, Herbert Jamison
second in 400 m, and Albert Tyler
second in pole vault
) way to Athens
to compete in the Olympics
. When he discovered that a real discus weighs less than five pounds, he decided to enter the event for fun.
stance, was more beautiful than the last. Not so with Garrett, who seized the discus in his right hand and swinging himself around and around, the way the 16 pound hammer is usually thrown, threw the discus with tremendous force. Garrett's first two throws were embarrassingly clumsy. Instead of sailing parallel to the ground, the discus turned over and over and narrowly missed hitting some of the audience. Both foreigners and Americans laughed at his efforts and he joined in the general merriment. His final throw, however, punctuated with a loud grunt, sent the discus sailing 19 centimeters beyond the best Greek
competitor's Panagiotis Paraskevopoulos
's mark to 29.15 metres.
American spectator Burton Holmes wrote: "All were stupefied. The Greeks had been defeated at their own classic exercise. They were overwhelmed by the superior skill and daring of the Americans, to whom they ascribed a supernatural invincibility enabling them to dispense with training and to win at games which they had never before seen." The performances were remarkable. According to James Connolly, in five of the track and field events won by Americans, they had not had a single day of outdoor practice since the previous fall.
Garrett also won the shot put with a distance of 11.22 metres and finished second in the high jump (tied equally with James Connolly at 1.65 metres) and second in the long jump (with a jump of 6.00 metres).
In the 1984 NBC
miniseries
, The First Olympics: Athens, 1896, he was portrayed by Hunt Block
. In the second episode, Garrett was portrayed as being a participant in the first Olympic Marathon
, which, in reality, he wasn't.
, Garrett placed third in the shot put and the standing triple jump. His bronze medal in the shot put was especially impressive, as he refused to compete in the final due to it being held on a Sunday. His qualifying mark was good enough to place him in third. He also competed in the discus throw again, but due to a poorly planned course was unable to set a legal mark as his discus throws all hit trees.
Garrett was the IC4A shot put champion in 1897.
In addition, Garrett was a member of the Tug-of-War team at the 1900 Olympics that was forced to withdraw because three of its six members were engaged in the hammer throw final.
and archeology. He helped to organize and finance an archaeological expedition to Syria
, led by Dr. John M. T. Finney. From 1932 to 1939, he was involved with the Committee for the Excavation of Antioch and Its Vicinity both helping to fund the excavations and working on them. His hobby was collecting Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts. In 1942 Garrett donated to Princeton University
his collection of more than 11,000 manuscripts, including sixteen Byzantine Greek manuscripts, containing rare and beautiful examples of illuminated Byzantine art
for the use of scholars. He was for many years a trustee of Princeton University
and The Baltimore Museum of Art
.
Garrett had amassed this collection of historical volumes of Western and non-Western manuscripts, fragments, and scrolls, originating from Europe, the Near East, Africa, Asia and Mesoamerica, ca. 1340 B.C.-1900s.
Garrett inherited his collecting interest from his father, Thomas Harrison Garrett, Princeton Class of 1868. After his father's sudden death in 1888, Garrett spent the following two and a half years traveling extensively with his mother and two brothers, Horatio and John, in Europe and the Near East. During his travels Garrett developed a particular interest in manuscripts and
began collecting. He used the text Universal Paleography: or, Facsimiles of Writing of All Nations and Periods by J. B. Silvestre (by Sir Frederic Madden, London, 1949–50) as his guide for collecting primary examples of every known type of script.
Mr. Garrett was a leader in the development of public recreational facilities in Baltimore, many of which were privately funded by himself and his friends and colleagues. He was the first chairman of Baltimore's Department of Recreation, and the first chairman of the city's combined Department of Recreation and Parks. Mr. Garrett was through much of his life an active member of the National Recreation Association, and was elected its chairman in 1941. His value as a public citizen can clearly be recognized in the Baltimore mayoral campaign of 1947, when both the Republican and Democratic nominees promised that, if elected, they would name Mr. Garrett as chairman of the city's Department of Recreation and Parks. A devout Presbyterian throughout his life, he was a member of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of the United States, and was recognized in 1948 as the year's outstanding layperson in the field of religious education by the International Council of Religious Education.
Through a mayoral appointment, he served as the chairman of the city's Public Improvement Commission. He was also largely responsible for bringing the Boy Scouts of America to his beloved city in 1910, and took an active role in managing that organization in Baltimore until his retirement from the Baltimore Area Council in 1934. In 1919, Mr. Garrett gave to the City of Baltimore a tract of land in its Brooklyn neighborhood to be used as a public park, which was named in his honor; this was but one of many properties which he offered to the city for use as public parkland.
Robert Garrett died on April 25, 1961, in Baltimore, Maryland.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
athlete. He was the first modern Olympic
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
champion in discus throw
Discus throw
The discus throw is an event in track and field athletics competition, in which an athlete throws a heavy disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than his or her competitors. It is an ancient sport, as evidenced by the 5th century BC Myron statue, Discobolus...
and shot put
Shot put
The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" a heavy metal ball—the shot—as far as possible. It is common to use the term "shot put" to refer to both the shot itself and to the putting action....
.
Biography
Born in BaltimoreBaltimore County, Maryland
Baltimore County is a county located in the northern part of the US state of Maryland. In 2010, its population was 805,029. It is part of the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. Its county seat is Towson. The name of the county was derived from the barony of the Proprietor of the Maryland...
County, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
, Garrett came from a wealthy family and studied in Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
. He excelled in track and field athletics as an undergraduate, and was captain of the Princeton track team in both his junior and senior years. Garrett was primarily a shot-putter, though he also competed in the jumping events
Jumping
Jumping or leaping is a form of locomotion or movement in which an organism or non-living mechanical system propels itself through the air along a ballistic trajectory...
. When he decided to compete in the first modern Olympics
1896 Summer Olympics
The 1896 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad, was a multi-sport event celebrated in Athens, Greece, from April 6 to April 15, 1896. It was the first international Olympic Games held in the Modern era...
in 1896, Professor William Milligan Sloane suggested he should also try the discus.
They consulted classical authorities to develop a drawing and Garrett hired a blacksmith to make a discus. It weighed nearly 30 pounds (14 kg) and it was impossible to throw any distance, so he gave up on the idea. Garrett paid for his own and three classmates' (Francis Lane
Francis Lane
Francis Adonijah Lane was an American athlete. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Greece....
third in 100 m, Herbert Jamison
Herbert Jamison
Herbert Jamison was an American track and field athlete. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens....
second in 400 m, and Albert Tyler
Albert Tyler (athlete)
Albert Clinton Tyler was an American athlete. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens....
second in pole vault
Pole vault
Pole vaulting is a track and field event in which a person uses a long, flexible pole as an aid to leap over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the ancient Greeks, as well as the Cretans and Celts...
) way to Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
to compete in the Olympics
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
. When he discovered that a real discus weighs less than five pounds, he decided to enter the event for fun.
1896 Olympics
The Greek discus throwers were true stylists. Each throw, as they spun and rose from a classical DiscobolusDiscobolus
The Discobolus of Myron is a famous Greek sculpture that was completed towards the end of the Severe period, circa 460-450 BC. The original Greek bronze is lost...
stance, was more beautiful than the last. Not so with Garrett, who seized the discus in his right hand and swinging himself around and around, the way the 16 pound hammer is usually thrown, threw the discus with tremendous force. Garrett's first two throws were embarrassingly clumsy. Instead of sailing parallel to the ground, the discus turned over and over and narrowly missed hitting some of the audience. Both foreigners and Americans laughed at his efforts and he joined in the general merriment. His final throw, however, punctuated with a loud grunt, sent the discus sailing 19 centimeters beyond the best Greek
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
competitor's Panagiotis Paraskevopoulos
Panagiotis Paraskevopoulos
Panagiotis Paraskevopoulos was a Greek athlete. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens.He was born in Gortynia and died in Corfu....
's mark to 29.15 metres.
American spectator Burton Holmes wrote: "All were stupefied. The Greeks had been defeated at their own classic exercise. They were overwhelmed by the superior skill and daring of the Americans, to whom they ascribed a supernatural invincibility enabling them to dispense with training and to win at games which they had never before seen." The performances were remarkable. According to James Connolly, in five of the track and field events won by Americans, they had not had a single day of outdoor practice since the previous fall.
Garrett also won the shot put with a distance of 11.22 metres and finished second in the high jump (tied equally with James Connolly at 1.65 metres) and second in the long jump (with a jump of 6.00 metres).
In the 1984 NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
miniseries
Miniseries
A miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a television show production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...
, The First Olympics: Athens, 1896, he was portrayed by Hunt Block
Hunt Block
Hunt Block is an American actor. He graduated from Harvard University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.His first big break was selling Buick Centuries at the Chicago Auto show...
. In the second episode, Garrett was portrayed as being a participant in the first Olympic Marathon
Marathon
The marathon is a long-distance running event with an official distance of 42.195 kilometres , that is usually run as a road race...
, which, in reality, he wasn't.
1900 Olympics
In the 1900 Olympics1900 Summer Olympics
The 1900 Summer Olympics, today officially known as the Games of the II Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1900 in Paris, France. No opening or closing ceremonies were held; competitions began on May 14 and ended on October 28. The Games were held as part of...
, Garrett placed third in the shot put and the standing triple jump. His bronze medal in the shot put was especially impressive, as he refused to compete in the final due to it being held on a Sunday. His qualifying mark was good enough to place him in third. He also competed in the discus throw again, but due to a poorly planned course was unable to set a legal mark as his discus throws all hit trees.
Garrett was the IC4A shot put champion in 1897.
In addition, Garrett was a member of the Tug-of-War team at the 1900 Olympics that was forced to withdraw because three of its six members were engaged in the hammer throw final.
Life after Olympics
Later he became a banker and donator to science, especially to historyHistory
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
and archeology. He helped to organize and finance an archaeological expedition to Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, led by Dr. John M. T. Finney. From 1932 to 1939, he was involved with the Committee for the Excavation of Antioch and Its Vicinity both helping to fund the excavations and working on them. His hobby was collecting Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts. In 1942 Garrett donated to Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
his collection of more than 11,000 manuscripts, including sixteen Byzantine Greek manuscripts, containing rare and beautiful examples of illuminated Byzantine art
Byzantine art
Byzantine art is the term commonly used to describe the artistic products of the Byzantine Empire from about the 5th century until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453....
for the use of scholars. He was for many years a trustee of Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
and The Baltimore Museum of Art
Baltimore Museum of Art
The Baltimore Museum of Art in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, was founded in 1914. Built in the Roman Temple style, the Museum is home to an internationally renowned collection of 19th-century, modern, and contemporary art. Founded in 1914 with a single painting, the BMA today has 90,000 works...
.
Garrett had amassed this collection of historical volumes of Western and non-Western manuscripts, fragments, and scrolls, originating from Europe, the Near East, Africa, Asia and Mesoamerica, ca. 1340 B.C.-1900s.
Garrett inherited his collecting interest from his father, Thomas Harrison Garrett, Princeton Class of 1868. After his father's sudden death in 1888, Garrett spent the following two and a half years traveling extensively with his mother and two brothers, Horatio and John, in Europe and the Near East. During his travels Garrett developed a particular interest in manuscripts and
began collecting. He used the text Universal Paleography: or, Facsimiles of Writing of All Nations and Periods by J. B. Silvestre (by Sir Frederic Madden, London, 1949–50) as his guide for collecting primary examples of every known type of script.
Mr. Garrett was a leader in the development of public recreational facilities in Baltimore, many of which were privately funded by himself and his friends and colleagues. He was the first chairman of Baltimore's Department of Recreation, and the first chairman of the city's combined Department of Recreation and Parks. Mr. Garrett was through much of his life an active member of the National Recreation Association, and was elected its chairman in 1941. His value as a public citizen can clearly be recognized in the Baltimore mayoral campaign of 1947, when both the Republican and Democratic nominees promised that, if elected, they would name Mr. Garrett as chairman of the city's Department of Recreation and Parks. A devout Presbyterian throughout his life, he was a member of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of the United States, and was recognized in 1948 as the year's outstanding layperson in the field of religious education by the International Council of Religious Education.
Through a mayoral appointment, he served as the chairman of the city's Public Improvement Commission. He was also largely responsible for bringing the Boy Scouts of America to his beloved city in 1910, and took an active role in managing that organization in Baltimore until his retirement from the Baltimore Area Council in 1934. In 1919, Mr. Garrett gave to the City of Baltimore a tract of land in its Brooklyn neighborhood to be used as a public park, which was named in his honor; this was but one of many properties which he offered to the city for use as public parkland.
Robert Garrett died on April 25, 1961, in Baltimore, Maryland.