Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1919-02-04
NE RED|TH QUITS
THE C|NDER PATH
ON LEAVING ARMY
Running Marvel Win Go Into.
Business, Holding Record
for Quarter and Halt Mile
Distances,
By William Abbott.

bN W itlidm AbnOtt.
Reports OF running championships
now will seem strange without men
ton of Ted Meredith. whose exploits (
the last ten years led many 10 believe
that track records were made chiefly
for him to shattcr Recently mustered .
out of the aviation service after serv-
ing in France. Meredith nnds il neces-
sary to retire from athletics that he
may devote all his time to business.
SO the cinder track loses one of the
most remarkable runners who ever
obeycd the starters instruction ITO /
get set" The worlds record holder
of the 44o and $50 yards finishes his
career with his performances unbcat- 1
en-, and at a time when more record
breaking races were expected from
him
Meredith was sensation in nearly
every race he ran. From countless
great bursts of speed several of Tcd's /
running efforts stand out pre-cmi- .
entity; his world mark of A. % for
440 Yards. made at Cambridge in
1916; a world record for the half Of
I'm. ~ Is. AT Cambridge in 1916, /
and world record Of i'm. 81 9-l0s,. !
at stockholm in l9l2.
No athletic trainer Codl share
credit for Merediths prodigiOus feats
on Cinder tracks. From the start to
the finish of his wonderful career the
Philadelphia flyer was a Just natural
runner fortified with tremendous lung
and leg power and n will to conquer
all his racing adversares. There was ,
nothing freakish abont the human
speed machine. Exceptional quick
ness at the getaway and long, Looping
stride. those were the Meredith stocks
in trade
Meredith first made his hid for ath-
letc fame while student at MERGERS
burg academy.
His rise to the head of the cOuniry's
fleetest middle distance men was as,
rapid rs his racing stride, Before the !
lad entered PENNSYLVANIA university
after many great colleges had made
overtures for the land flycr-Mcre-
diths name was known wherever
running races were held. Not sat g
fled with showing his heels to all
American stars the Pennsylvania
wizard went 10 Stockholm in lHl2 torI
the olympic games, ana there he de-
feated Bolin. the much heralded
Swedish champion, in an S00-meter
race,
Meredith. concentrating everyth me-
on speed, never cssayed to 90 beyond
the $50 mark He had no ambitions
for the mile notwithstanding the
earnest entreaties of many well
meaning admirers, Tied was salts
fled to stay in the middle distance
class, and there he remained supreme
mp to the day # retirement.
IT was slightly over ten years ago
1, l. nm,
ing career.
"At that time" says the world
champion, 81 was a student at the
Media high school, lust outside Phila-
delphia. was Is when made a mem /
her of the schools relay team. Ny \
time was SIS. for my quarter I'M the
teams first competition, During that
yenr eararal half miles in about 2m. !
0s fell to my lot,
The next season showed a little
movement in both the quarter and
half mite. | soon found that ! didn't /
have the right sort of speed for the
quarter and after great deal of eX-
epcrimenting with sprintng | finally
scored in both quarter and half mile |
events that season.
MY first year of running showed |
me doing az seconds for the quarters. 1
Nnile the next year cut inns tlllle /
down to 54 seconds I'm afraid ! trie /
10 do too much all around running, /
which resulted in my being nipped in |
The Middle Atlantic quarter. which I
was run in - seconds. The next sea-
son | really got going in a way that |
was noticeable
And Ted's Improvement then must |
have been very marked indeed for
old Mike Murphy who could recognize !