Redlands Connection is a concoction of sports memories emanating from a city that once numbered less than 20,000 people. From the Super Bowl to the World Series, from the World Cup to golf’s U.S. Open, plus NCAA Final Four connections, Tour de France cycling, major tennis, NBA and a little NHL, aquatics and quite a bit more, the sparkling little city that sits around halfway between Los Angeles and Palm Springs long before Interstate 10 was constructed. In April 1921, a gold medal Olympian showed up at the University of Redlands to set world track-running records. – Obrey Brown
It’s now, these days, over 100 years from a brilliant run in Redlands.
There was a guy who took a Golden Streak of the Golden West. A USC superstar. He was Sir Charles. Also known as the Winged foot of Mercury. Let’s not forget that Charles Paddock was part of Team USA.
At the 1920 Antwerp Olympics, Paddock was a gold medal sprinter, winner at 100-meter and part of the USA’s winning 4 x 100 relay. Overall in his career, Sir Charles wound up with two golds and two silvers during his Olympic appearances.
That 1920 Olympian was, in fact, that same Olympiad at which Redlands-based hurdler William Yount had participated.
Paddock was likely the track’s version of baseball’s Babe Ruth. Or boxing’s Jack Dempsey. Or tennis’ Bill Tilden. Or golfer Robert Jones. But he was a decorated sprint champion.
On April 23, 1921 – less than a year after he’d won the gold medal in Belgium – Paddock showed up at the University of Redlands. That day, Paddock broke four world records and equaled another one.
Paddock, whose historically significant role in a 1981 motion picture, “Chariots of Fire” – portrayed, incidentally, by Dennis Christopher – had shown up at Redlands for an exhibition within that USC-Pomona dual. That day, he reached no less than five world records.
In “Chariots of Fire,” there was nothing about Redlands, of course. Paddock had just a brief appearance next to those great Englanders, not to mention his USA mates. There was, in fact, nothing about those world marks he’d set on that April 23, 1921 afternoon in that San Bernardino County city.
Paddock, in fact, was a mere character at the 1924 Paris Olympics – a favorite who was chased down by Britain’s Harold Abrahams in the 200-meter.
Still, Paddock was part of America’s winning 4 x 100 relay that year.
FOUR RECORDS SET, ANOTHER TIED AT REDLANDS
Let’s not forget on that April 23 day at Redlands, that Pomona College outscored USC, 39-33, in a dual track meet. Paddock? Well, no. He was not a collegiate athlete, just making a high-level appearance at this meet not including that local university.
That same April 23 day, the four marks – 100-meter, 200-meter, 300-yard and 300-meter – while equaling the world mark at 100 yards, made that tiny little San Bernardino County city a mark in international track history.
Paddock was clocked at 9 and three-fifths seconds in the 100-yard dash.
For the close-by 100-meters, he sped 10.40, cracking 1912 U.S. Olympian Donald Lippincott’s mark by a fifth of a second.
Multiple Olympic gold medalist – St. Louis in 1900, Athens, Greece in the original 1896 – Archie Hahn’s 21 3/5-seconds over 200-meters fell to 21 1/5 via Paddock. That was more in Redlands on that April 23 day.
The world’s fastest human, Bernie Wefers’ 300-yard mark of 30 3/5 seconds was broken by two-fifths – Paddock in 30 1/5 at Redlands.
As for the 300-meter mark, held by 1912 Olympian Pierre Failliott of France in 1908 and equaled by Frigyes Mezei of Hungary in 1913 at 36 2/5 seconds was smashed by Paddock’s speed – 33 4/5 seconds.
That 220-yard mark, incidentally, was a mere three-fifths of a second for that world mark.
No, this April 23 field did not include the likes of Abrahams, Wiefers, Hahn, Lippincott, Failliott, Mezei – nor even Yount of Redlands.
IN REDLANDS, PADDOCK WAS WELL-KNOWN
Much-later Ted Runner, the longtime athletic director at the University of Redlands, was careful to point out Paddock’s connection to Redlands. Long before Runner’s time, but as a lifetime devotee of track & field, Runner was aware of Paddock of his lore that preceded him on that venerable university’s grounds.
No less than Guy Daniels, Jr. – whose dad, Guy, Sr. was a Redlands coach of that era – and another ex-Bulldog, Terry Roberts of Yucaipa, who was a student of Olympic history, knew of this Paddock legend. Throughout the years, a few weighed in with me on Paddock’s visit to Redlands.
Of course, neither Runner, Daniels, Jr., nor Roberts were present for Paddock’s 1921 appearance. They were in high admiration, however.
At Redlands that day, there were two races. Bob Weaver, president of the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), was the starter.
No less than a reporter from the old Los Angeles Examiner had shown up that day to record the events. The local newspaper from Redlands was also on the scene. Weaver, president of that AAU, was the starter. That the AAU president, Weaver, was in attendance helped make it official.
Those records were verified.
Those on-the-scene reporters had shown up that day to record the events. They described conditions as “bitter” cold. Overcast, a little wind, some rain sprinkles, but it had died by race time. In other words, it was a likely surprise that Paddock could set any world records.
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Paddock, the racing, the background, some 3,000 to 5,000 attendees, was part of Southern Pacific’s AAU on that April 23 gathering. It was, according to that local paper, “shivering weather and a cold west wind.” Over a 20-minute period, this star-studded sprinter was ready.
This was a typical Charles Paddock finish, turning his left shoulder to the left as he crossed a finish line. This was the scene on April 23, 1921 at the University of Redlands when Paddock, 33 on his jersey, set world records in four events, tying another mark that same day (photo by USC sports information).
That highly significant Olympic sprinter ran two events, each extending events in both meters and yards with dual timers for each point. Familiar leaps across the finish, Paddock pulled off a straightaway siege in that 100-yarder, tying the world record in 9.6-second mark, winning a world mark with 10.4 seconds over 100-meters.
It wasn’t 20 minutes later, call it the 220-yards, then 200-meters, then 300-yards and 300-meters for Paddock – those further events going around a turn of that far different track spot that eventually faced on Brockton Ave.
Sure, Paddock was from Pasadena – close to where the University of Redlands’ top collegiate duelists Occidental and Cal Tech existed – he capped 300-meters in tiring form, described as collapsing into arms of a friend.
Here were the marks: a 21.1-second world mark in the 200-meter, 30.1-second world mark in the 300-yard, then cracked the 200-meter record by more than two full seconds.
That 220-yard mark was a mere three-fifths of a second for that world mark.
Paddock’s main competition came from the likes of Vernon Blenkiron, a 17-year-old from Compton High School, second against Redlands High’s Bob Allen, that year’s 1921 state 220 high school champion. Forrest Blalock, who spent two seasons on USC’s track team, also ran.
Paddock was described as “two yards in front of Blenkiron.” At one point, Paddock was “20 yards ahead of Blalock.”
TRACK & FIELD NEWS REDLANDS ACCOUNTS
According to Track & Field News, “with one jump he passed the 200-meter and 220-yard marks.
“On the sharp turn he ran, he seemed to weaken and slow down. Finally, he reached 300 yards. His sprint was nearly gone. Fighting every inch of the way he raced on toward the last tape, the 300-meter mark. He was now on the straightaway again. Pulling with eyes half shut and mouth open he passed the finish line and fell in a heap into the arms of waiting friends.”
On the shorter run that day, T&F News reported it this way:
“Down the stretch they came, Paddock seemingly unable to increase his lead. Fifteen feet from the tape Paddock gave a mighty bound and fairly flew over the finish line two yards ahead of Blenkiron. He came down heavily. Recovering, he took two quick strides and leaped for the tape at 100 meters.
“His first leap had enabled him again to equal the record for 100 yards. The two together gave him the record for 100 meters. Two such leaps as these made it appear that the boy must have had wings or a kangaroo hoof.”
Three years later, in Paris, it was Jackson Scholz who outdueled the Golden Streak of the Golden West in that for the gold. Paddock took the silver medal back to America – losing only that 100-meter to a fellow American.
There was a third Olympics in 1928 at Amsterdam. No medals. No finals. By 1943 at Sitka, Alaska, Paddock perished in an airplane crash. Nearly 43. Born in Texas, having moved to California as a child. He was a U.S. marine. Thirty-eight years later, his memory flashed forward in “Chariots of Fire.”
By 1976, Paddock was inducted to the National Track & Field Hall of Fame.
It’s curious that Paddock was California’s prep 220-yard champion in 1916, 1917 and 1918 for Pasadena High, then supplanted by Redlands’ Bob Allen in 1919, then again in 1921. By that point, Paddock was USC’s Golden Streak.
It brought back that Redlands Connection.
