December 4, 2023
Last week our cub reporter in Boston Ned Price who continually gets credit each time we send you a note about a new posting, sent this sequence of photos of a young lady sprinter in 1936 named Marguerite Caswell, an aspirant for a place on the 1936 Olympic Team. Marguerite won the West Coast version of the trials then headed East for the final selection in Providence RI. She didn't make it, but she did hook a man, soon to be Olympic champion Earle Meadows in the pole vault in Berlin. Here's the things we've been able to dredge up from Ned's find. It even includes a Pulitzer Prize photo by the man who took Marguerite's picture. Thanks, Ned!
Ned Price sent us a series of photos of a female sprinter taken in 1936. Her name, Marguerite Caswell, rang no bells with me. Did a bit of research and found limited information. She had run 12.4 for 100 meters in L.A. Attended L.A. Junior College. Newspaper scrutiny of the day, declared her to be "pretty" and two movie personalities perhaps inspired by that description paid her trip to the Olympic trials where she failed to get out of the semis.
We found another picture of Margurite again taken by John McCrory at that photo shoot now stored in the UCLA digital collection.
100 meters Women
Heats: first 3 qualify for semi-finals
Here we see that Marguerite made it out of heat six into the semis, but she did not then qualify for the finals. A long train ride home for her.
1/ 1. Stephens 11.7, 2. May Brady (SLAC) 12.0e, 3. Ethel Harrington (IWAC)
2/ 1. Stokes 12.2, 2. Miriam Nelson (BSA), 3. Dunphy
3/ 1. Warren 12.0, 2. Robinson, 3. Beverly Hobbs (Greenwood, Miss.)
4/ 1. Rogers 12.2, 2. Hasenfus, 3. Gertrude Johnson (Mer)
5/ 1. Mary Terwilliger (IWAC) 12.2, 2. Bland, 3. Mary Gipson (Tus)
6/ 1. Marguerite Caswell (LAAC) 12.4, 2. Gertrude Webb (Tus), 3. Edna Gustavson (SLAC)
Semi-finals: first 2 qualify
1/ 1. Rogers 12.4, 2. Warren, 3. Brady
2/ 1. Stephens 11.8, 2. Hasenfus 12.4e, 3. Terwilliger 12.4e
3/ 1. Stokes 12.2, 2. Dunphy, 3. Johnson
4/ 1. Bland 12.4, 2. Robinson, 3. Nelson
Providence, Rhode Island - July 4 100 Meters (Finals)
1. Helen Stephens (Fulton, Mo.) 11.7
2. Annette Rogers (IWAC) 12.1e
3. Harriet Bland (SLAA) 12.2e
4. Olive Hasenfus (BSA) 12.4e
5. Elizabeth Robinson (IWAC) 12.5e
also ran: Louise Stokes (Unat.- Malden, Mass.), Josephine Warren (BSA), Dorothy Dunphy (LAAC)
Helen Stephens was an athlete out of her time. She recounted many years after retiring from track that she ran her first ever race as a 15 year-old sophomore in high school, and in a time trial ran 50 yards in 5.8 (timed with one watch by her coach Burt Moore), and when he didn't believe his watch, ran 5.9 in a re-run. No-one had beaten 6.0 at the time. By the time of the FOT Stephens was clearly the best in the world. She had won both the 1935 AAU 50m (beating Stella Walsh in the only meeting they had before the Berlin Olympics) and 100m, and recorded world 100m bests of 11.6 twice in 1935, and 11.5 at Memphis on May 15 of the Olympic year. In that Olympic year she ran 11.7 or better 10 times including wind-assisted races. Stephens was the biggest ever top class female sprinter at 5'11"/165, and she won the FOT as she pleased, with Rogers heading Bland, Hasenfus and Robinson in a blanket finish. Stephens won the Olympic title in 11.5w by a clear 2m from Walsh, and Rogers finished 5th. They then teamed up with Bland and Robinson to win the 400m relay.
John McCrory , the photographer
Looking around some more we found that John H. McCrory won a Pulitzer for a photo of a police shootout in L. A. And we found a few other photos of Marguerite from that same track photo shoot.
Guess what? She marries an Olympic Champion in Phoenix!
Earle Meadows' Story (link) This biography of Earle Meadows confirms his marriage to Marguerite, but by 1943 he would be taking a second wife. We assume Marguerite was no longer in the picture. Did he get a "Dear John" while he was in the army? This story notes that he also married a third time.
Marguerite was still running as noted in this newsclipping from The Long Beach Sun December 7, 1940, when her 50 meter time was turned down as a record by the AAU rules committee. Paragraph 6 in second column.
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Another link to this saga
John McCrory, the photographer who took the pictures of Marguerite seen above went on to fame winning a Pulitzer Prize for an action photo he took of a police shoot out in L.A. Looks like something out of a gangster movie. Where was James Cagney? Actual story: A cop and someone from housing in L.A, delivered an eviction notice. Both were gunned down by tenant, both died. Police surrounded house and fired tear gas. Tenant survived with five bullet holes in him. Got 10-20 for manslaughter (Hey, it was 1938). Note another photographer in foreground crouched down behind car with his Speed Graphic on his knee. One body in the street.
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