May 28, 2024
Welcome Stadium was built in 1949 with donations from the citizens of Dayton and Montgomery County, Ohio. I remember my Dad telling me he had contributed $50, most of a week's pay at the NCR factory, to that project hoping in the future he might see his only kid play football or run track on the site. He and many other parents had their wishes fulfilled over the next 75 years.
Welcome Stadium, named after Perc Welcome, a beloved coach and administrator in Dayton Public Schools, recently underwent some renovations with a new track surface and other improvements. The stadium can hold 11,000 people. But the overall appearance and shape of things has not changed very much. The pole vault and long jump areas have been moved to the infield from outside the two straightaways. The old vault pit was very close to the first row of the spectators' seats and the occasional vaulter ended up in the front row with the fans. The discus was and still is outside the stadium.
When I watched today's high school athletes competing, I was reminded as well that twice in 1953 and 1959 the local sports people in the town were able to entice the officialdom of the Amateur Athletic Union to hold their national championship at the relatively new stadium. It was the first major league sports event in the history of the city. Ticket prices were $2.00 for a reserved seat and $1.25 for general admission. It might be argued that the barnstorming baseball team of Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth putting on an exhibition might have surpassed the national track meet. Even the first National Football League game was held in Dayton between the Dayton Triangles and the Columbus Panhandles on October 3, 1920 with the Triangles winning 14-0, but that tradition faded quickly and is all but forgotten. Dayton has persevered in the track world and produced some world class athletes, the best of which include LaVonna Martin who won an Olympic silver medal in the 100 meter hurdles and of course Edwin Moses with multiple golds and world records in the 400 meter hurdles. Both ran at Welcome Stadium in their formative years.
Dayton also hosted the national women's track and field championships on June 5 and 6, 1969. Our former colleague on this blog, Steve Price, was instrumental in organising that event.
I was able to peruse newspapers.com and find the coverage of the 1953 National AAU meet in our local papers, the Dayton Daily News and the Dayton Journal Herald. Si Burick a beloved Dayton sports editor and Ritter Collett both had articles about the 1953 meet in their columns. I'm including three of Burick's articles and some pictures from those wonderful days. Hopefully I'll be able to gather the stories from the 1957 and 1969 meets for you in the future.
So here are some of the photos and clippings produced by the Dayton newspapers for that 1953 event. A world record in the high jump was set by Walter 'Buddy' Davis at just over 6' 11". Walter, an All American in basketball at Texas A&M would go on to play in the NBA in the 1950's. In Si's article it's noted that Buddy had survived a bout with polio and also that he had to get back to his job in Houston to support his family with three children. No European tour for him. Other greats who appeared in Dayton that year were Horace Ashenfelter, Andy Stanfield, Parry O'Brien, Wes Santee, Don Laz, Sim Iness, Jim Fuchs, Mal Whitfield, J.W. Mashburn, and Jack Davis. The kids who run tomorrow in the Ohio State High School Meet to be held in Dayton this year have probably never heard of these great men, but hopefully we will continue to remember and honor them.
Here is Si Burick's pre-meet column promoting the 1953 AAU Meet.
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Wes Santee pre-meet publicity photo in Dayton paper
Some columns by Si Burick about the meet. Apologies but to get the print large enough we had to expand text and you will have to extrapolate a word or two at the end of each line.
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David Albritton a member of the 1936 Olympic team and silver medallist in the high jump, lived and worked in Dayton for many years coaching at Dunbar High School and serving at a state representative in the Ohio Legislature.
First Day Results (Below)
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