L i n
Sports
Running Through History
A lengthy look at local history through sport.
were track athletes who got track schol-
arships to attend college."
For Jewish athletes, urban universities
eith McClellan has corn-
were a magnate. "Schools like City
bined two loves into one vol-
College of Detroit (the forerunner of
ume. The Hero Within Us -
Wayne State University) drew a lot of
A History of Track & Field in
Jewish young men [in the 1920s and
the Twentieth Century from a
`30s] because they were
Michigan Perspective is more
accessible," says McClellan.
than a history of a sport in
Barriers at Ivy League
this state. It also serves as a
schools did not begin to
sociological blueprint for
disappear until the 1950s.
changes in American society.
He says basketball, box-
McClellan is an Oak Park
ing and track, "particularly
resident and a member of
in the 1930s, were an out-
Temple Beth El. A native of
let, a way to prove yourself
Iowa and a graduate of the
when people weren't accept-
University of Chicago, his
ing you" because of race or
Keith Mc Clellan
self-published paperback
religion.
runs 750 pages.
In 1936, at the state
Interspersed with hundreds of
intercollegiate track championship at
famous and not-so-famous names in
Ferry Field in Ann Arbor, Allan
track history are some Jewish athletes
Tolmich of Wayne University and
who blazed a path.
Rosenkrantz of Michigan Normal
They include: Harry Werbin, Abe
College won seven of the 15 track
Rosenkrantz, Allan Tolmich, Sam
events. It was at a time, wrote
Stoller, Bob Luby, and others.
McClellan, when Germany was estab-
Rosenkrantz is one of McClellan's
lishing concentration camps for Jews,
favorite stories. The Bronx Bullet's"
the anti-Semitic Black Legion had
twin brother died at the age of 13
135,000 members in Michigan, and
months and his mother died when he
Royal Oak radio priest Fr. Charles
was 3. He began running as a teenager
Coughlin was at the height of his pop-
in New York, after dropping out of
ularity.
school, while working as an errand boy
It was the same year that University
for a printer. He found that he could
of Michigan sprinter Sam Stoller and
beat the streetcar and save a nickel if he
future sportscaster Marry Glickman
ran back to the printer after a delivery.
were prevented from running at the
Rosenkrantz and Harry Werbin
Berlin Olympics because they were
became friends through amateur races
Jews.
in the early 1930s in the New York
Societal changes after World War II
area. Hearing that Michigan Normal .
also affected track and field. In fact,
College, the forerunner of Eastern
says McClellan, Michigan, for the first
Michigan University, gave its athletes
65 years of the 20th century, had gold
jobs, the two came to Ypsilanti.
medallists at every Olympic Games. A
Rosenkrantz became one of the lead-
major factor in track's decline here, he
ing middle distance runners in the
says, is the emphasis today on year-
nation and missed qualifying for the
round training.
1936 U.S. Olympic team in the half-
The growing popularity of football
mile by a tenth of a second.
and basketball squeezed track events
McClellan says track is the oldest
out of indoor facilities, providing fewer
sport, dating back 10,000 years. But it
places for track athletes in northern cli-
wasn't until the mid-1800s that the
mates to train and less public exposure.
sport was formalized.
The Hero Within Us isn't for every read-
The upper classes in England took an
er. Yet, people who remember the hey-
interest, he says, but their amateur rules
day of the sport in this state, and those
were designed to exclude minorities
who look at the historical perspectives,
and the poor. Less than a century later,
will enjoy the references to a bygone
track and field changed those rules.
era and the heroes of the past. El
"Track was the first sport to allow
The Hera Within Us is available for
Eastern Europeans and African
$24 from Keith McClellan, 14100
Americans to compete," McClellan
Balfour, Oak Park, MI 48237; phone
says. "The first generation of African
(248) 398-3429.
American teachers in the United States
ALAN H ITS KY
Associate Editor
IC
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