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Lon Myers
Laurence Eugene "Lon" Myers (February 16, 1858 – February 16, 1899) was an American sprinter and middle-distance runner.
Myers won 28 national championships. He also set world records at 11 different distances, and held every American record for races 50 yards to one mile Myers set a world quarter-mile record while running the final 120 yards without his right shoe, and finished another race that he won running sideways (in conversation with a runner who had boasted that he would defeat Myers).
Myers was Jewish, and was born in Richmond, Virginia, to Solomon H. Myers, a clerk. He was in the first graduating class of Richmond High School. His father moved the family to Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1875 after he graduated high school, and then to New York City, where he became a bookkeeper.
During his 21-year career, Myers held every American record for races 50 yards to one mile. He won 15 United States national championships, 10 Canadian national championships, and 3 British national championships. From 1880 to 1888, he held the world records in the 100-yard, 440-yard, and 880-yard races.
Myers began running competitively in 1878, for the Knickerbocker Yacht Club. He then ran for the bulk of his career for the Manhattan Athletic Club.
Myers was the first runner to run the quarter-mile in under 50 seconds (49.2), doing so in 1879. On September 20, 1879, he ran the quarter-mile in 49.5 seconds despite running the final 120 yards without his right shoe, setting a world record. At the 1879 U.S. Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) national championships, Myers won the 220 (22.75), 440 (49.2), and 880, setting records in each event.
In 1880, he won the AAU national championship 220, 440, and 880 races and the 100-yard dash, all in the same day. He won the same four races three days later at the Canadian Nationals. That year, he set an American record in the 100-yard dash (10.0 seconds; tying two others), and world records in the 250 (26.25 seconds), 300, 320 (35.125 seconds), 500 (58 seconds), 600 (1:11.4), 660 (1:22.0), 880 (1:56.125), 1,000 (2:18.25), and mile (4:29.50). Unusual distances in some of the races were a product of the fact that tracks at the time varied in length.
In 1881, after a runner in England boasted as to how he would fare against Myers in a 440 race, Myers finished the race running sideways and asking the fellow whether he might not be able to run faster—before beating him by five yards, in 48.6 seconds. That year he also lowered the world record in the 880 to 1:55.5 (beating his nearest competitor by 100 yards), and the world record in the 1,000 to 2:13. In 1881 he also set the world record in the half mile (1:56); he lowered it to 1:55.4 in 1884. He also set the world record in the 350, at 36.8 seconds, and 1,000 yards, at 2:13.0.
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Lon Myers
Laurence Eugene "Lon" Myers (February 16, 1858 – February 16, 1899) was an American sprinter and middle-distance runner.
Myers won 28 national championships. He also set world records at 11 different distances, and held every American record for races 50 yards to one mile Myers set a world quarter-mile record while running the final 120 yards without his right shoe, and finished another race that he won running sideways (in conversation with a runner who had boasted that he would defeat Myers).
Myers was Jewish, and was born in Richmond, Virginia, to Solomon H. Myers, a clerk. He was in the first graduating class of Richmond High School. His father moved the family to Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1875 after he graduated high school, and then to New York City, where he became a bookkeeper.
During his 21-year career, Myers held every American record for races 50 yards to one mile. He won 15 United States national championships, 10 Canadian national championships, and 3 British national championships. From 1880 to 1888, he held the world records in the 100-yard, 440-yard, and 880-yard races.
Myers began running competitively in 1878, for the Knickerbocker Yacht Club. He then ran for the bulk of his career for the Manhattan Athletic Club.
Myers was the first runner to run the quarter-mile in under 50 seconds (49.2), doing so in 1879. On September 20, 1879, he ran the quarter-mile in 49.5 seconds despite running the final 120 yards without his right shoe, setting a world record. At the 1879 U.S. Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) national championships, Myers won the 220 (22.75), 440 (49.2), and 880, setting records in each event.
In 1880, he won the AAU national championship 220, 440, and 880 races and the 100-yard dash, all in the same day. He won the same four races three days later at the Canadian Nationals. That year, he set an American record in the 100-yard dash (10.0 seconds; tying two others), and world records in the 250 (26.25 seconds), 300, 320 (35.125 seconds), 500 (58 seconds), 600 (1:11.4), 660 (1:22.0), 880 (1:56.125), 1,000 (2:18.25), and mile (4:29.50). Unusual distances in some of the races were a product of the fact that tracks at the time varied in length.
In 1881, after a runner in England boasted as to how he would fare against Myers in a 440 race, Myers finished the race running sideways and asking the fellow whether he might not be able to run faster—before beating him by five yards, in 48.6 seconds. That year he also lowered the world record in the 880 to 1:55.5 (beating his nearest competitor by 100 yards), and the world record in the 1,000 to 2:13. In 1881 he also set the world record in the half mile (1:56); he lowered it to 1:55.4 in 1884. He also set the world record in the 350, at 36.8 seconds, and 1,000 yards, at 2:13.0.
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