V 9 N. 44 Old Photos from the Left Bank

My good friend Jerome McFadden (U. of Missouri 1963 and 4:05 miler, 2nd in Big 8 Conf.) is a frequent visitor to the City of Lights.  See link to earlier article:  Long Live the Past

When he goes there one of his stops is the the booksellers on the Left Bank where he searches out old French "Athletisme" (Track and Field) magazines and books and sends me some of the pictures.  Today there is no message of the passing of a legend, just pictures of legends and a few non legends from those journals.

Mr. McFadden has also recently published a book,  "Off the Rails, A Collection of Weird, Wicked and Wacky Stories".

French Hurdler Mathiotte (right) in front of Iova

Harold Connoly   USA Hammer Thrower

Ira Murchison  USA Sprinter

More Unknown French Hurdlers

Dennis Shore (South Africa), Mal Whitfield (USA), Arthur Wint (Jamaica) and
Herb McKenley (Jamaica) in start position.

Vasily Kuznetsov Soviet Union Decathlete

Baron Pierre DeCoubertin

Parry O'Brien  USA Shotputter.  note the cinder surface

Alain Mimoun in the middle flanked by Chiclet, Duleau and Rhadi in a 10,000

Left Photo:  Barney Ewell defeating Harrison Dillard at 100 meters in Evanston 1948 OT's
Right Photo:  British Sprinter Mac Donald Bailey Polytechnique Harriers qualifying for Bristih team at 100 meters.  He appears to be weraring a U. of Illinois singlet in photo.  

Harrison Dillard Indoors

Jules Ladoumegue  French WR Holder 1500M

If you do not remember Jules Ladoumegue  check the link A Mystery Solved, or Why I Love This Blog


Here is Jerome's new book,   "Off the Rails" and a brief description below.

:

What happens if no one else sees the creatures calling to you from your back yard?

Or your perfect crime is not as perfect as you planned? What if a city-dweller on vacation meets a tribe of head hunters in the middle of the jungle?

Or if the best player on the boys' high school sports teams . . . is a girl?

What happens if everything you thought you understood goes . . . OFF THE RAILS?

In this eclectic collection of twenty-six stories, multi-award winning author, Jerome W. McFadden, takes a warped view of robbers, gang-bangers, killers, cowboys, dead people (who might not know they're dead), and the idiosyncracies of rural life in the mythical town of East Jesus, Texas. These fast-paced tales explore the satirical edges of crime, paranoia, human foibles, and the afterlife. Some of the stories are weird, some are wicked, some are wacky, but all contain the unexpected twists born of McFadden's unique sense of humor and dark imagination. These unpredictable treasures follow in the footsteps of an irreverent O. Henry . . . and Rod Serling.

Life, as you know it, is about to go off the rails.

Jerome W. McFadden came of age in East St. Louis, Illinois, but has lived on four continents. He brings his weird mix of city smarts, country wisdom, international insight, and plenty of skepticism and snark to his stories about life and death, and all that happens in between.

The book is available on Amazon for $14.95.