V 11 N. 15 Ed Cook, A Look Way Back in Time

 

                             Ed Cook,  1908 Olympic Gold medal in Pole Vault

                            photo taken almost 30 years after his London victory

Today a friend sent me a link to an archives  to do some research.  Archive.org   It took about five minutes of browsing on this site to realize that it would take a lifetime to even look at all the titles of newspapers, books and music that can be found here.  So with a bit of spare time I typed in Dayton, Ohio public library to see what I would find.  Dayton, Ohio was my hometown and where I lived until moving back to Canada 8years ago.  One thing that popped up was a 1937 high school yearbook from a neighboring suburb, Oakwood, Ohio the upper crust end of town that bordered on my blue collar area  Belmont.  I remembered  that a former Olympic gold medalist Ed Cook had been on the faculty at Oakwood HS between the wars.  By 1937 he was also serving as the track coach.  Ed had shared the pole vault gold medal of 1908 with A. C. Gilbert the inventor of The Erector Set in London that year.  Not only that but Cook also was credited with a fourth place in the broad jump which occurred simultaneously with the pole vault, and he had qualified for the broad jump finals but had not been allowed to take his final jumps by some sanctimonious British official who didn't think he should be allowed to do both events and slow things up.  So I looked through the yearbook and found Ed Cook  (pictures below) and as an extra reward for my diligence there was a picture of my paternal aunt who was the school nurse at Oakwood at the time.  She would go on to be an army nurse in the South Pacific and be part of the battle in Okinawa.  

There is more about Ed Cook to be seen and another website turned up valuable information on the Chillicothe, Ohio athlete who would go to Cornell.  In the early 1900's Ohio high schools could compete against university and in open competitions.  Cook was such a precocious high school athlete that he won multiple events in these high school/college competitions around Ohio.  He would often compete in the Pole Vault, Broad Jump, 100, 220 , High Jump, and 4x220 relay in most meets.  

                           Coach Ed Cook on far right in suit and tie

Looking a bit further and if you are interested there is a good account of his high school and collegiate career  on  oh.milesplit.com   written by Shawn Conlon   which follows.

Ed Cook, High School Years

Ed Cook, College and Olympic Years

He had PR's of 12' 5" in the pole vault with an ash pole with a spike in the end.  No vaulting boxes in those days.  And no landing pits.  The world record holder in 1908  W. R. Dray of Yale did not compete in the Olympics, because his mother was afraid he would get hurt due to lack of  a soft landing surface.   Cook also had a 9.8 100 yards,  21.6, 220, 6'3" HJ, and was over 23' in the broad jump.  It is also noted that he did not graduate from Cornell but did find his way onto a very well educated faculty at Oakwood HS.  He eventually left coaching and returned to Chillicothe to become a bank president and a gentleman farmer.  He died in 1972.

Here is a brief account of the Olympic result by Shawn Donlon:

The Olympic trials began soon after the season in Philadelphia. Ed won the long jump going 23-02.5. He did not place in the top three in the pole vault. He was selected for the 1908 London Olympic team in both the long jump and the pole vault. The games were marred by numerous controversies. Plant boxes were becoming standard by 1908 and even hay bales were used for landing pads at numerous meets. 

The Olympic Games of London had neither. Dray from Yale even withdrew due to safety concerns. The pole vault had six rounds of competition, plus finals. In the finals Cook and A.C. Gilbert of Yale tied at 12-02. By some accounts there was no jump off due to the controversy of the marathon finish. Dorando Pietri of Italy finished first in the marathon, but upon entering the stadium due to extreme fatigue and dehydration he ran in the wrong direction. He fell to the ground five times in the stadium and was help up by an official each time.  He finished about thirty seconds ahead of American Johnny Hayes. The American team immediately filed a complaint. 

In the end Pietri was disqualified and Hayes was awarded the gold medal. Due to time constraint from this event, officials declared a tie in the pole vault and both Cook and Gibert were awarded gold medals. Both athletes also set the Olympic record with their vaults. Controversy followed Cook in the long jump as well. Cook was in fourth place after the prelims but was not allowed to participate in the final even though he was supposed to receive a spot. He finished fourth with a jump of 22-10.

   I had never heard of Ed Cook but his marks were truly impressive, all of them.  I never cease to be amazed by the ignorance and haughtiness of administrative officials in all walks of life including athletics.  Those 1908 decisions were consistently wrong.  I guess it takes mistakes like those to realize how to eventually get things right.

   Oakwood HS has had a long history of excellence in T&F, as has Chillicothe HS.  However, it takes research like yours to unearth these gems.  Thanks for doing so.

   Bill Schnier

George: Another great article.   I was not aware of vaulting without boxes.   Chillicothe is just 40 miles east of my hometown and the was the original Capital of Ohio which was later moved to Columbus to be more central.

 

Also my best was 12 feet with a fiberglass pole that I could not bend.  But of course we had boxes.  In high school we landed into sawdust pits.  Thanks for the research.  Joe Rogers