Ralph Metcalfe

Ralph Harold Metcalfe Sr. (May 29, 1910 – October 10, 1978) was an American track and field sprinter and politician. He jointly held the world record in the 100-meter dash and placed second in that event in two Olympics, first to Eddie Tolan in 1932 at Los Angeles and then to Jesse Owens at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany. Metcalfe won four Olympic medals and was regarded as the world's fastest human in 1934 and 1935.[1] He later went into politics in the city of Chicago and served in the United States Congress for four terms in the 1970s as a Democrat from Illinois.

For people with a similar name, see Ralph Metcalf.

Ralph Metcalfe
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Illinois's 1st district
In office
January 3, 1971 – October 10, 1978
Preceded byWilliam Dawson
Succeeded byBennett Stewart
Personal details
Born
Ralph Harold Metcalfe

(1910-05-29)May 29, 1910
Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
DiedOctober 10, 1978(1978-10-10) (aged 68)
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Resting placeHoly Sepulchre Cemetery
Political partyDemocratic
Spouses
Gertrude Pemberton
​
​
(m. 1937; div. 1943)​
    Madalynne Young
    ​
    (m. 1947)​
    Children1 son
    EducationMarquette University (BPhil)
    University of Southern California (MA)
    Military service
    Allegiance United States
    Branch/service United States Army
    Years of service1942–1945
    RankFirst Lieutenant
    Battles/warsWorld War II
    Medal record
    Men's Athletics
    Representing the  United States
    Olympic Games
    Gold medal – first place1936 Berlin4×100 m relay
    Silver medal – second place1932 Los Angeles100 meters
    Silver medal – second place1936 Berlin100 meters
    Bronze medal – third place1932 Los Angeles200 meters

    Track and field career

    Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Metcalfe grew up in Chicago and graduated high school from Tilden Tech in 1930.[2] He accepted a track scholarship to Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and equaled the record of 10.3 seconds in the 100 m on a number of occasions, as well as equaling the 200 m record of 20.6 seconds. He became the first man to win the NCAA 200 m title three times consecutively.[3] At the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, he virtually dead-heated with his rival Eddie Tolan, with the gold medal awarded to Tolan only after extended study of the photograph; both recorded a time of 10.38 seconds in the 100 meters. Metcalfe also earned a bronze medal at these games, in the 200 meters. He competed again at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, and again took silver in the 100 meters, this time behind four-time gold medalist Owens. They won gold in the 4×100 meter relay with Foy Draper and Frank Wykoff; the U.S. won by 1.1 seconds over runner-up Italy, and Germany took bronze. Fierce rivals on the track, Metcalfe and Owens became lifelong friends.[4]

    1932 Olympics

    Metcalfe was convinced to the end of his life that the 100 m should have been awarded as a tie between him and Eddie Tolan: "I have never been convinced I was defeated. It should have been a tie"[5] Film evidence and that of observers of the race seem to support Metcalfe's verdict. The AAU later changed their rules to have the winner being the first athlete to cross the line not merely breast the tape. It was the latter that Tolan was judged to have done first. The AAU went further and awarded the race as a tie but the International Olympic Committee has never agreed to this change. They maintain the result stands because the judges decided in line with the rules at the time that Eddie Tolan's entire torso had passed the finish line on the ground before Metcalfe's.[6] In addition, even though credited with same time as Tolan, 10.3 s, a time that equaled the then world record, Metcalfe's time was never ratified as a world record.

    In the 200 m, Metcalfe was embroiled in further controversy. Observers at the time claimed the marking for his starting holes were 3–4 feet behind where they should have been. Others claimed this discrepancy was the result of an optical illusion because George Simpson in the lane outside cut his holes on the outside of his lane whilst Metcalfe used the inside of his. In any case, Metcalfe was offered a re-run but refused because he feared the United States would not be able to repeat its 1–2–3.[6]

    1936 Olympics
    Metcalfe (center) with Jesse Owens and Frank Wykoff on the deck of the S.S. Manhattan as the team sailed for Germany in 1936

    In the sprint relay, Metcalfe became involved in a controversy not of his own making. Originally the United States chose for the relay the athletes who had come 4th to 7th in the trials. Two of these athletes, Sam Stoller and Marty Glickman, were replaced with Metcalfe and Jesse Owens allegedly because the former were Jewish. Metcalfe and Owens were undoubtedly the superior sprinters but they had not done the relay baton practice and the switch went against established practice.[5]

    Whilst all world attention was on Jesse Owens winning the gold in the 100m it is often ignored that Metcalfe won the silver in an equally outstanding performance. In 2016, the 1936 Olympic journey of the eighteen Black American athletes, including interviews with Metcalfe's son, was documented in the film Olympic Pride, American Prejudice.[7]

    United States Championships

    Metcalfe was United States Champion at 100 m between 1932 and 1934 (and was 2nd in 1935–36) and at 200 m between 1932 and 1936.[8]

    In all he won 16 national titles at the AAU Championships, NCAA Championships and Final Olympic Trials.[5][9]

    World records

    Metcalfe 16 times broke or equaled world record times at various distances. However, only 5 of these were ever officially ratified by the athletics governing body, the IAAF. The ratified times were:[10]

    • equaled the world record for 100 m of 10.3 s on:
      • August 12, 1933 in Budapest, Hungary.
      • September 15, 1934 in Nishinomiya, Japan.
      • September 23, 1934 in Darien, Japan.
    • equaled the world record for 200 m (straight course) of 20.6 s on August 12, 1933 in Budapest, Hungary.
    • broke the world record for the 4 × 100 m relay with 39.8 s on August 9, 1936 (United States 1936 Olympics team of Jesse Owens-Metcalfe-Foy Draper-Frank Wykoff).

    Military and political career

    After earning his bachelor's degree at Marquette in 1936, Metcalfe completed a master's degree at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles in 1939. Metcalfe taught political science and coached track at Xavier University in New Orleans, recruiting athletes to the university like Jimmie McDaniel and Herb Douglas. He served in the transportation corps of U.S. Army in World War II, rising to the rank of first lieutenant and awarded the Legion of Merit medal. After the war, he moved back to Chicago and later headed the state's athletic commission.

    In 1955, Metcalfe won the first of four elections as an alderman representing the South Side of Chicago. He ran for an open seat in Congress in 1970 as a Democrat and was easily elected from Illinois' first district. The seat had been filled for 28 years by William L. Dawson, who was retiring at age 84 due to poor health and then died less than a week after the 1970 election. Metcalfe was a co-founder of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) in 1971 and later was noted for breaking ranks with Chicago mayor Richard Daley after incidents of police brutality.

    Death and legacy
    Metcalfe's grave at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery

    While running for re-election in 1978, Metcalfe died from a heart attack at his South Side apartment on October 10, at the age of 68. He had previously had a heart attack in 1967.[11]

    Metcalfe is interred at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Alsip, southwest of Chicago. A federal office building in Chicago (at 77 W. Jackson Blvd.) was named for him upon its completion in 1991.[12]

    Metcalfe was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1975 and named a member of the President's Commission on Olympic Sports.

    Personal

    Metcalfe married Gertrude Pemberton on June 9, 1937, in Dallas, Texas. They divorced in Los Angeles, California in 1943. Metcalfe married Madalynne Fay Young in 1947 and they had one son.[13] He was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, Alpha Sigma Nu honor society,[14] and the Corpus Christi parish in Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood. He converted to Catholicism in 1932, while an undergraduate at Marquette.[15][16]

    Electoral history
    Illinois's 1st congressional district Democratic primary, 1970[17]
    Party Candidate Votes %
    Democratic Ralph H. Metcalfe 42,575 71.05
    Democratic A. A. Rayner, Jr. 17,346 28.95
    Total votes 59,921 100.0
    Illinois's 1st congressional district general election, 1970[17]
    Party Candidate Votes %
    Democratic Ralph H. Metcalfe 93,272 90.96
    Republican Janet Roberts Jennings 9,267 9.04
    Total votes 102,539 100.0
    Illinois's 1st congressional district Democratic primary, 1972[17]
    Party Candidate Votes %
    Democratic Ralph H. Metcalfe (incumbent) 61,927 99.99
    Write-in 9 0.01
    Total votes 61,936 100.0
    Illinois's 1st congressional district general election, 1972[17]
    Party Candidate Votes %
    Democratic Ralph H. Metcalfe (incumbent) 136,755 91.39
    Republican Louis H. Coggs 12,877 8.61
    Write-in 2 0.00
    Total votes 149,634 100.0
    Illinois's 1st congressional district Democratic primary, 1974[17]
    Party Candidate Votes %
    Democratic Ralph H. Metcalfe (incumbent) 45,789 100.0
    Total votes 45,789 100.0
    Illinois's 1st congressional district general election, 1974[17]
    Party Candidate Votes %
    Democratic Ralph H. Metcalfe (incumbent) 75,206 93.74
    Republican Oscar H. Haynes 4,399 5.48
    Socialist Workers Willie Mae Reid 620 0.77
    Total votes 80,225 100.0
    Illinois's 1st congressional district Democratic primary, 1976[17]
    Party Candidate Votes %
    Democratic Ralph H. Metcalfe (incumbent) 56,101 71.81
    Democratic Erwin A. France 22,028 28.19
    Total votes 78,129 100.0
    Illinois's 1st congressional district general election, 1976[17]
    Party Candidate Votes %
    Democratic Ralph H. Metcalfe (incumbent) 126,632 92.30
    Republican A. A. Rayner, Jr. 10,147 7.40
    Workers' Party Debra Simonsen 211 0.15
    Socialist Workers Andrew C. Pulley 198 0.14
    Write-in 5 0.00
    Total votes 137,193 100.0
    Illinois's 1st congressional district Democratic primary, 1978[17]
    Party Candidate Votes %
    Democratic Ralph H. Metcalfe (incumbent) 26,814 100.0
    Total votes 26,814 100.0

    See also

    References
    1. Bochat, Rel (October 11, 1978). "Marquette track got Metcalfe off 'n' running". Milwaukee Sentinel. p. 1, part 2.
    2. Kuechle, Oliver E. (March 21, 1933). "Ralph Metcalfe set high school records right and left". Milwaukee Journal. p. 4, part 2.
    3. 2006 NCAA Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championships Results and Records . NCAA (2006). Retrieved on May 11, 2022.
    4. Muwakki, Salim (October 18, 1999). "A Father's Life: Ralph Metcalfe Sr". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved March 24, 2014.
    5. Duncanson, Neil, "The Fastest Men on Earth", Andre Deutsch, 2011
    6. Henderson, Jon (June 26, 2012). "Great Olympic Moments: Tolan beats Metcalfe after dead heat at 1932 Games". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on July 18, 2012.
    7. Henderson, Odie (August 5, 2016). "Olympic Pride, American Prejudice movie review (2016)". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
    8. "A History Of The Results Of The National Track & Field Championships Of The USA From 1876 Through 2014". Track and Field News.
    9. "UNITED STATES INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS (MEN)". www.gbrathletics.com. Retrieved January 12, 2015.
    10. Imre Matrahazi (ed.). Progression of IAAF World Records 2011 Edition. IAAF Athletics. p. 500.
    11. "Ralph Metcalfe dead: Congressman, 68, climbed the ranks". Chicago Tribune. October 11, 1978. p. 1.
    12. "Ralph H. Metcalfe Federal Building". U.S. General Services Administration. Retrieved March 24, 2014.
    13. "Madalynne Y. Metcalf". Chicago Tribune. January 21, 1999. Retrieved March 24, 2014.
    14. Hylton, J. Gordon (September 21, 2010). "Another little-known fact: Ralph Metcalfe was a Marquette law student (at least for a while)". Marquette University Law School. Retrieved March 24, 2014.
    15. Metcalfe, Ralph H. (1938). "A Race Well Run". Catholicism.org. Retrieved March 24, 2014.
    16. Rhoads, Mark (November 13, 2006). "Illinois Hall of Fame: Ralph Metcalfe". Retrieved March 24, 2014. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
    17. "Downloadable Vote Totals". Illinois State Board of Elections. Retrieved September 27, 2022.
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