Today on Oldest Olympians we have decided to delve into a rather specific topic: British Olympians who competed at the 1948 London Games, but for whom we lack a date of birth. Thanks to some great work by Connor Mah and Rob Gilmore, this is a relatively small list, containing only three entries, and they have been able to uncover some good potential leads. Thus, without further ado, let us present what we know.
(#9 Frank Cole and #8 Colin Hunt pictured with the 1948 British Olympic basketball squad at Getty Images)
Two of these individuals were members of the basketball squad that placed 20th overall in the tournament, both of whom played domestically for Birmingham Dolobran at the time of the Olympics. The first, Frank “Tiny” Cole, had been active in the prewar era and was an international representative for Britain as early as 1938. He captained the squad during a 1939 trip to Germany and also competed in Switzerland in 1946. Unfortunately, due to the commonness of his name and the limited attention paid to basketball in Britain during this era, Cole is the only one of the three for whom we have no candidate for his identity.
Mah and Gilmore had a little more luck with the second basketball player, Colin L. Hunt. Like Cole, Hunt was active in the prewar era and also represented Great Britain internationally during the 1930s. One candidate is Lucian Colin Hunt, born 1914 and died 1958, who was a resident of Birmingham during this time, but for whom no concrete connection to the Olympian can be found. If his middle initial were incorrect, then he might also be Colin Marwood James Hunt, born June 7, 1912 and died July 25, 1994, but, again, there is no strong evidence connecting him to the basketball player outside of his place of residence and age being appropriate.
The third individual is sports shooter George A. J. Jones, who was 18th in the small-bore rifle, prone, 50 metres event. Like Cole and Hunt, Jones was an international competitor for Great Britain prior to World War II and remained active through at least 1950, representing the Twickenham Rifle Club after the conflict. He may be George Arthur James Jones, born January 16, 1912 and died in late 1983, but, once again, research has been unable to prove that he and the shooter and one and the same.
That is what we have for today, but we have already got a few more topics in the queue for blog entries, so we hope that you will join us again soon for another post!