Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1908-08-06
HAYES, THE RUNNER,
Crack Marathon Race Winner a
Department Store Lad.
ONLY NINETEEN YEARS OLD.

O@NSN w. "NN''S
Him, With Big Advance In Pay.
John j. Hayes. the New York boy
who recently won the Marathon race
in the Olympic games at London. told
his friends in a department store
weeks before he started with the
American athletes for England that
he would win the big race sure.
II just know I'm going to win" said
Jack Hayes, "and wish it were fifty
miles instead of twenty-six. The next
time you fellows see me I'll be wear
ing the laurel wreath, or whatever
they give the winner, around my ears.
I've been training my head and my
legs for ten years for a chance at the
Marathon"
The boy who made good in the
toughest, most heartbreaking athletic
contest in the world is only nineteen
years old, a slim, little nickeled steel
athlete from his toes to the crown of
his head, says the New York Sun. He
stands just a shade under five feet
four inches, and he weighs 125 pounds.
Jack Hayes is as Irish as you find
them, with black hair, blue eyes, a
good humored and freckled face and
a ton of confidence in himself With
all his triumphs on the cinder path
and he has won enough cups and
medals and trophies to fill a cup
board-he is a modest chap who does
not care to gable about his own
achievements. When he talked about
his chances in the Marathon before he
left the United States young Hayes
said to his friends in the store:
81 know to breath how far l can
nun and how fast. intend to go
tight out with the pacemakers, keep
at their heels until l am ready to fin
ish and then go in and win. l am
not afraid of any of them. but l ex-
pect our own boys to make It hot for
me. Longboat? I'll bet you the In
dian crumples up before he goes twen-
ty miles. Tom Longboat Is like a
prize fighter who has seen his best
days, and / don't believe he will have
enough in him to go the distance"
Lit actual lul1nAllS VI lhC MAJ olhOA
proved how accurately young Hayes
had estimated his own ability and the
strength of his competitors. Long
boat. the Indian, gave up before the
twenty mile mark. and, except for the
Italian and the South African. it was
the Americans who gave Jack Hayes
the stiffest trial. He ran as he said
he would, up with the pacemakers I'M
ill he got ready to let them see his
heels, and then he sprinted on and
won, as he told his friends he could.
Hayes went to work at the depart
ment store when he was seventeen
years old as a messenger and odd job
boy. He wasn't all muscles and legs.
80 he worked his way up to the job
of assistant in the superintendent
Office at a salary of $50 a week. When
he gets back to the big store its
proprietor will offer him the chance of
making $4,000 or $1,000 a year as
head of the sporting goods department.
More than that, he is going to give
him big reception.
Last spring Hayes trained on a
quarter mile track on top of the
department store. Most of his train
ing had to be done at night, since
his job kept him busy every day but
Sunday In a letter Hayes wrote to
one of his friends in the store and re-
ceived the other day he said:
There won't be any excuse if we
don't win. AS for myself, I can still
eat, sleep and run just as well as l
did on the other side"
Hayes is unmarried and lives at 246
East Fifty-1fth street.
Hayes is the first American to fig
ure prominently in a Marathon held
abroad. The event at the first Olym-
pic revival in Athens was won by a
Greek. LOues. who covered the orig
tnal course from the village OF Mara
thon TO the stadium at Athens in 2
hours 50 minutes 20 seconds. At the
Paris Oympiad Of 1900 the Marathon
was won by Teato, a Frenchman,
with A. l. Newton of the New York
Athletic club a good second. Teato's
time was 2 hours 80 minutes In the
st. Louis Olympiad Of 1904 all the
places were won by Americans, there
being no foreign opposition worth
while. The winner, r. j. Hicks of
Boston won over wretched course
in the unavoldably slow time Of
hours % minutes SO seconds.
Once again the event was held on
the original course at Athens in 1906,
and, though the Americans made a
good fight, first place went to Sher-
ring Of Canada. w. G. Frank of the
Irish-American Athletic club was
third In. Sherring's time was hours
81 minutes % 3-5 seconds. Outside OF
some minor Marathons, such as at
Boston, St. Louis and other places,
this brings the history Of the race to
the present.
AS a distance man anywhere from
two to ten miles Hayes was slow and
never figured in the front brigade.
But he had plenty Of stamina, and