Today on Oldest Olympians we are finishing our series on missing dates of death for Canadian Olympians born before 1931. Today we have only three individuals to cover, those who competed after the 1948 London Games.
Rosella Thorne – Member of Canada’s athletics delegation to the 1952 Helsinki Olympics
Rosella Thorne, born December 11, 1930, likely holds the distinction of being the first black woman to represent Canada at the Olympic Games. She was entered into four track and field events at the 1952 Helsinki Games, but only competed in three, the 100 metres, the 80 metres hurdles, and the long jump, and was eliminated in the first round of all of them. At the 1950 British Empire Games, she was fifth in the high jump, seventh in the long jump, and eliminated in the heats of the 80 meters hurdles, while in 1954 she just missed the podium in fourth in the long jump. Thorne later moved to California, where we believe that she is still living, but the last time we were able to confirm this for certain was 2008, which lies just outside when we would list someone as living.
Nick Mohammed – Member of Canada’s wrestling delegation to the 1952 Helsinki Olympics
Indian-born Niaz “Nick” Mohammed moved to Canada at a young age and represented his country as a welterweight wrestler after World War II. At the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, he competed in the freestyle category, but was eliminated after his first two bouts. By career he was a welder, although he later worked as a wrestling referee. He was still alive and living in British Columbia as recently as 2002, but we have been unable to confirm what happened to him after that.
Ian Johnston – Member of Canada’s field hockey team at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics
Born in Dublin on March 3, 1929, Ian Johnston represented Canada in the field hockey tournament at the 1964 Tokyo Games, where the nation was eliminated in the preliminary round. He was a notable figure in the British Columbian and Canadian field hockey scene, but we have been unable to trace his ultimate fate.
This concludes our series on Canadian Olympic mysteries for now, although we want to end on a positive note by acknowledging a case from this series that has been solved: Connor Mah was able to find a month of death of October 1996 for rower Charles Matteson. Next week we will have something new to feature, so we hope that you will join us!
Today on Oldest Olympians we are going to move on to part three of our series of missing dates of death for Canadian Olympians born before 1931. Thanks to the thorough research of Connor Mah and Rob Gilmore, one of the cases was solved during in the interim, and we have plenty of details for the remaining five individuals who competed at the 1948 London Games.
Bill Hamilton – Member of Canada’s cycling delegation to the 1948 London Olympics
The only person on this list that may not quite have reached his 90th birthday is cyclist Bill Hamilton, born c. 1930. He was a member of the team pursuit, 4000 metres squad that was eliminated in round one of the event at the 1948 London Games. At the 1950 British Empire Games, he was 13th in the time trial and did not finish the road race. Despite the fact that he is a member of the Oshawa Sports Hall of Fame, we have been unable to uncover more information about him.
(Dick Townsend, pictured on the right)
Dick Townsend – Member of Canada’s Swallow class crew at the 1948 London Olympics
Born c. 1929, Dick Townsend was a member of the Swallow class crew, along with John Robertson, that finished seventh in that event at the 1948 London Games. A relative youngster at the time of the Olympics, particularly for a sailor of that era, he later made more of a name for himself in the athletic world as a skier. Research undertaken in the city directories of Hamilton, Ontario, where he was from, suggests that he may have died in 1982, but we have been unable to verify this for certain.
John Stuart – Member of Canada’s weightlifting delegation to the 1948 London Olympics
Scotland-born John Stuart, born c. 1920, moved to Canada in 1923 and represented that country in lightweight weightlifting at three major international events. In 1947, he won silver at the World Championships, in 1948 he was fifth at the London Olympics, and in 1950 he was again fifth, this time at the British Empire Games. During the 1940s he worked at an office equipment shipping company in Montreal, but although we know the dates of death for most of his family members, we have been unable to confirm one for John.
Vivian King – Member of Canada’s swimming delegation to the 1948 London Olympics
Although also seen with a birth year of 1931, most sources show that swimmer Vivian King was born April 4, 1930. She was entered into three events at the 1948 London Games, but only competed in two: the 400 metres freestyle and the 4×100 metres freestyle relay, not reaching the final in either. Her achievements at the domestic level, both amateur and professional, led to her to be inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame in 1984. The last mention we were able to find of her as alive was in 1990, but as we cannot find mention of her death either, we suspect that she is still alive and retired into private life.
Diane Foster – Bronze medalist in the 4×100 metres relay at the 1948 London Olympics
Diane Foster, born March 3, 1928, is the only individual in this post that we know is deceased. She won a bronze medal in the 4×100 metres relay at the 1948 London Games and was eliminated in the first round of the 200 metres. We know that she was still alive in 1991, but was deceased by 2018, and we suspect that she died in the early 2000s. We have, however, been unable to come up with a precise date, or even a year, for her death.
We still have three more individuals who competed after 1948 left to cover, so we will be wrapping up our series on Canadian Olympic mysteries next week. We hope that you will join us!
Today on Oldest Olympians, we are going to continue our inquiry from last week into missing dates of death for Canadian Olympians born before 1931. One of the cases was solved during in the interim, leaving us with five individuals who competed exclusively in the interwar period.
Ralph Adams – Member of Canada’s athletics delegation to the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics
Ralph Adams, born July 9, 1907, took part in the 100 metres, 200 metres, and the 4×100 metres events at the 1928 Amsterdam Games, but was unable to reach the podium in any of them. He had much more success at the inaugural 1930 British Empire Games, where he won gold in the 4×110 yards relay. He was a contender for the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics, but was not selected for the final team. Research has suggested that he may have died in 1976 and been buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Simcoe, Ontario, but we have been unable to confirm this.
Al Taylor – Bronze medalist for Canada in the coxed eights at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics
A bronze medal mystery, Al Taylor, born in 1911, helped Canada take third in the coxed eights at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics, as well as the 1930 British Empire Games. Despite these successes, there is very little information available on Taylor and his career in contemporary sources. One candidate is police constable Albert Taylor of Hamilton, born May 20, 1911, but he has no known connection to rowing. Another candidate, if the year of birth were incorrect, would be an Albert Taylor born c. 1905 who also lived in Hamilton. Neither individual, however, has a date of death known to us.
Jimmy Bartlett – Competitor for Canada in the marathon at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
England-born Jimmy Bartlett, born December 29, 1907, represented Canada in the marathon at the 1936 Berlin Games, where he placed 15th. He was a top marathoner in the 1930s, but seemed to disappear after World War II. We suspect strongly that he is the James Alfred Bartlett, born May 1, 1908, who died on July 30, 1971 and is buried in Oshawa (link here), but we have been unable to confirm this for certain.
Charles Matteson – Member of Canada’s coxed eights squad at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
We know very little of Charles “Tiny” Matteson, born June 8, 1913, who represented Canada in the coxed eights at the 1936 Berlin Games and was eliminated in the semifinals. Aside from the fact that he was a member of the Leander Boat Club of Hamilton, we have no leads on his later life or when and where he might have died.
Aileen Thomas – Member of Canada’s fencing delegation to the 1936 Berlin Olympics
Aileen Thomas, born June 3, 1907, represented Canada in the women’s individual foil fencing competition at the 1936 Berlin Games, but was eliminated in the first round. We believe that she may have died in 1989 in the Toronto area, where she was from, but we have been unable to confirm this fact with certainty.
Next week we are going to look at the six individuals who competed at the 1948 London Games who are missing dates of death. Only two of these individuals are known to be deceased, leaving four who may still be alive – we hope that you will join us as we delve deeper into this topic!
For the past two weeks we have been looking into Australian Olympians who were born before 1931 and who were not known to be living and lacked a date of death. Today, we are moving on to a somewhat bigger challenge: those from Canada who meet that same criteria. According to our lists, there are 31 Canadians born before 1931 missing dates of death or confirmation of them being alive. We have covered 11 of them in the past – nine members of the 1904 Mohawk lacrosse team, Bob Lymburne, and Ralf Olin (who we have now learned died sometime in the early-to-mid 2000s). That leaves 20 Canadians left to cover, which is far too many for a single post. Today, therefore, we are going to look into the five individuals who competed prior to World War I, all of whom, of course, are definitely deceased.
Jimmy Fitzgerald – Member of Canada’s athletics delegation to the 1908 London Olympics
James Frances Fitzgerald, born November 3, 1883, represented Canada in three events at the 1908 London Games – the five mile, the 1500 metres, and the 3200 metres steeplechase – and was also entered in the 800 metres, but did not start. His best result was finishing seventh in the five mile. He was identified previously as John Ebenezer Fitzgerald, born September 8, 1886 and died in 1963, but this has been proven to be incorrect. Although we have evidence of him being alive and living in Boston in 1955, we have been unable to confirm what happened to him after that.
Eddie Cotter – Member of Canada’s athletics delegation to the 1908 London Olympics
Fitzgerald’s teammate Edward Vernon Cotter, born December 27, 1887, was also entered into the five mile event at the 1908 London Games, but only ended up competing in the marathon, which he did not finish. He was a successful marathoner at the national level during this era, but we have been unable to track his later activities. There is a listing at Find-A-Grave of a grave for an Edward V. Cotter, born in 1887, who died in the Waterloo region in 1973, which seems likely to be him, but have been unable to prove this.
Bruce Williams – Bronze medalist for Canada in sport shooting at the 1908 London Olympics
Bruce Williams, born December 1876 in Nova Scotia, won a bronze medal in the military rifle team event at the 1908 London Games. Aside from the unit with which he served, we know almost nothing about Williams, although one researcher has suggested that he is actually Bertram Mills Williams, born December 18, 1876 and died January 24, 1934. While this seems like a promising lead, we have been unable to verify it.
Mylie Fletcher – Silver medalist for Canada in sport shooting at the 1908 London Olympics
Despite his uncommon name, Mylie Fletcher is the only individual that we will be featuring who lacks even a suggested year of birth. He took silver in the team trap event at the 1908 London Games and also finished joint-seventh individually. We again suspect a misidentification here and that he is actually Hamilton, Ontario firefighter Miles Edwin Fletcher, born August 23, 1868 and died in 1959, but we have been unable to confirm it thus far.
George Beattie – Three-time sport shooting silver medalist for Canada
George Beattie is the only individual on this list who competed after World War I as well as before it and, unsurprisingly, is the one that we know the most about. Participating in 1908, 1920, and 1924, he took silver in the team trap in 1908 and 1924 and individually in 1908. A game warden by trade, we were able to confirm that he was still alive and living in Hamilton in 1946. After that point, however, we have been unable to trace him.
Beattie is a good segue into our topic for next week, when we will look into the six Canadians who competed exclusively during the interwar period. We hope you will join us for this continuing series!
Today on Oldest Olympians, we are going to continue our inquiry from last week into missing dates of death for Australian Olympians. There are nine individuals born before 1931 for whom we are missing a date of death and who are not known to be living (not 11 – we miscounted previously!). Last week, we looked at the five who are definitely deceased, but for whom we do not know the exact date. This week, we are looking at the remaining four, who may still be living.
Ted Allsopp – Member of Australia’s track delegations to the 1956 and 1964 Summer Olympics
Ted Allsopp, born August 15, 1926, represented Australia in three athletics events across two editions of the Games. In 1956 in Melbourne, he was 10th in the 20 km walk and also competed in the 50 km. In 1964 in Tokyo he was 17th in the 50 km. We actually know more about Ted Allsopp than almost any other individual featured as an Olympic mystery, thanks to this detailed biography from the Victorian Race Walking Club. Unfortunately, the one piece of information that eludes us is perhaps the most important one: whether or not he is still alive.
Bryan Harper – Member of Australia’s canoeing delegation to the 1956 Melbourne Olympics
Bryan Harper, born in 1927, represented Australia in two canoeing events at the 1956 Melbourne Games, placing seventh in the C-1 1000 and ninth in the C-1 10000. Although he was among his country’s most prominent canoers, we have been unable to locate information about his later life, aside from the fact that he donated his homemade paddle that he used at the Olympics to the Australian Sports Museum around 1990, when he was possibly living in the Queensland region.
Dave Stephens – Member of Australia’s track delegation to the 1956 Melbourne Olympics
As with Ted Allsopp, we know much about Dave “The Flying Milkman” Stephens, born November 11, 1928. At the 1956 Melbourne Games, he placed 20th in the 10,000 metres, but he had a more successful domestic career and later became a teacher, working in that profession at least through 1980. Unfortunately, while many sources continue to celebrate his achievements, none have been able to shed light on whether he is still living or what his date of death was.
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – MARCH 23: Former 1956 Clay Target Olympian John Bryant poses before the Men’s Trap final on day eight of the 18th Commonwealth Games at the Melbourne Gun Club March 23, 2006 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Kristian Dowling/Getty Images)
John Bryant – Member of Australia’s shooting delegation to the 1956 Melbourne Olympics
John Bryant, born November 26, 1930, would be just a little too young to be considered among the oldest living Olympians were he still alive, but we want to feature him regardless. He represented Australia in the trap shooting competition at the 1956 Melbourne Games, where he placed ninth. Unfortunately, search results for him are clouded by the notorious Australian mass shooter Martin John Bryant, but we did learn that he was still alive and living in Melbourne in 2006. Unfortunately, this falls outside of the range for which we would consider an individual still living, so the quest for more information continues.
As mentioned above, we originally stated that there were 11 uncertain names, but we counted one name twice and missed the fact that another was still alive, which leaves us with nine Australian Olympic mysteries. Next week, we are going to move on to Canada and examine the Olympic mysteries that we have from that country. We hope that you will join us!
Thanks to some dedicated recent work from Connor Mah, as well as generally good data from the country, we know the death dates of most Australian Olympians who were born before 1931. Today on Oldest Olympians, we wanted to see if we could perhaps address the few remaining cases on our list. In total, there are 11 Australian individuals who are missing dates of death, so today we are going to look at the five individuals who are definitely deceased, but for whom we do not know the exact date.
Rusty Cook – Member of Australia’s boxing delegation to the 1936 Berlin Olympics
As a lightweight, Arthur Leonard “Rusty” Cook, born April 20, 1912, won a gold medal in the boxing tournament at the 1934 British Empire Games. He had less success as a welterweight, however, and was eliminated in round two of the 1936 Berlin Olympics by upcoming gold medalist [Sten Suvio]() of Finland. He turned professional in 1938, but gave up the sport less than a year later due to conflicts with his business interests. We have some suggestion that he died October 10, 1991, but have not been able to verify that yet.
Bert Harris – Member of Australia’s wresting delegation to the 1948 London Olympics
Bert Harris, born c. 1916, wrestled for Australia in the flyweight, freestyle event at the 1948 London Games, but was eliminated after losing his first two bouts. He had much better luck at the 1950 British Empire Games, where he won the gold medal in that competition. There is some indication that he may have been born closer to 1918 and died in 1982, but we have not yet been able to confirm this.
Alexander Martonffy – Member of Australia’s fencing delegation to the 1956 and 1964 Summer Olympics
Alexander Martonffy, born May 7, 1919, represented Australia in three sabre fencing events across two editions of the Olympic Games. In 1956, he was eliminated in round one with the team, while in 1964 he had the same result in both the individual and the team tournaments. The height of his sporting career came at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, when he took silver with the sabre team. Although we know that he is deceased, we have been unable to locate an exact date, or even a year.
Charles Green – Member of Australia’s track and field delegation to the 1948 London Olympics
Charles Green, born August 15, 1921, represented Australia in the 110 metres hurdles at the 1948 London Games, where he was eliminated in round one of the competition. He later became a medical doctor and The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners announced his death in 2009. Unfortunately, the notice did not provide an exact date, or even a year, and the document has since been removed from the internet.
Bev Scott – Member of Australia’s wrestling delegation to the 1952 Helsinki Olympics
Finally, we do not know much about Bev Scott, born November 11, 1922, aside from his Olympic participation. At the 1952 Helsinki Games, he represented Australia in the wrestling’s welterweight, freestyle division, where he was eliminated in round three. His Olympic tracksuit was auctioned off c. 2018, which suggests that he is deceased, but we have not been able to confirm this.
That is enough names for now, but we hope that you will join us next week when we look into Australian Olympic mysteries that may still be living!
If we were to say that today’s Olympic Mystery concerned an American Olympic champion, frequent readers of this blog may not be all that surprised, being well aware how much data is missing from early editions of the Games. Yet if we were to say that the individual in question won his prize at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, it may raise more than a few eyebrows. That is exactly the type of case that we will be discussing today, however, as we look into American sailor Everard “Ducky” Endt.
Endt was born April 7, 1893 in Zaandam, Netherlands, but emigrated to the United States and became a citizen in October 1933. A sailor by trade, he served in the United States Navy Reserve, but was best known as a yacht racer. His crowning achievement was winning the gold medal in the 6 metres class at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics alongside, among others, John Morgan, who recently turned 90 and is the grandson of industrialist J.P. Morgan.
There is plenty of evidence for activity in Endt’s later life, and he eventually settled in Florida. He was still alive in 1984 at the age of 91, appropriately enough for being featured on Oldest Olympians, but after that he disappears from the public record. He had a Social Security Number, yet does not feature in the Death Index. He had a rather unique name (and nickname), yet we cannot locate an obituary.
We would love to conclude the story of a great Olympian with a complete record of his life. Our best guess is that he perhaps returned to the Netherlands and died there. Unfortunately, unless and until someone can locate more information about his final years, Endt will remain an Olympic mystery.
Today on Oldest Olympians we wanted to look into a question asked recently by the OlyMADMen: what is the longest Olympic marriage? The discussion was spurred by the discovery of the death of British gymnast Pat Evans, born 1926, on January 19 of this year at the age of 93. Evans represented her country at the 1948 London Games, where she was ninth in the team event. Two months later, she married Jack Whitford, born January 3, 1924, who would go on to represent Great Britain at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.
(Pat Evans)
This means that Whitford and Evans were married for over 71 years. But was it a record? Olympedia has an extensive record of family relations across the Olympics (including through marriage), but exact wedding dates can be elusive. The short answer is, yes, Whitford and Evans appear to have had the longest marriage of any Olympic couple.
(Hans Pfann and Lydia Zeitlhofer pictured at Gymmedia.de)
The next question, then, is who is the living couple that is closest to breaking the record? At first we thought that it might be Hans Pfann and Lydia Zeitlhofer, born September 14, 1920 and February 18, 1931, respectively, with both having represented Germany in gymnastics in 1952 (with Pfann returning in 1956). They were married on August 18, 1953, but unfortunately Zeitlhofer died September 10, 2019 and the age of 88, ending their marriage after 66 years.
(Les Laing)
Eleven days after Pfann and Zeitlhofer married, however, another Olympic duo were wed: Les Laing, born February 19, 1925, and Carmen Phipps, born October 9, 1927. Both represented Jamaica in track athletics at the 1948 London Olympics, but Laing also attended the 1952 Games, winning gold in the 4×400 metres relay. As far as we know, both are still alive and remain married after 67 years, making them the living couple with the longest Olympic marriage.
(Elvira and Louis Barbey)
It would not be an Oldest Olympians blog post, however, without some sort of caveat. This time, it is one case for whom we do not have sufficient information to determine how long the couple was married. Two of Switzerland’s figure skaters at the 1928 St. Moritz Games, Louis and Elvira Barbey, were married at the time of their Olympic participation. Louis was born November 10, 1888 while Elvira was born August 7, 1892. Unfortunately, we know neither the date of their marriage nor either of their dates of death, and thus we cannot rule out that their marriage may have lasted longer than Evans and Whitford’s. As far as we have been able to discern, however, this is the only marriage that has the potential to better the record set by Evans and Whitford.
Over the last two weeks, we have looked at all of the “possibly living” Olympians born before our current Oldest Olympian, Félix Sienra. We now want to complete that list by noting the 12 non-starters that fall into the same category. We do this not only for the sake of completing our previous posts but because, as the example of Dutch 1932 athletics alternate Mien Schopman-Klaver, who died at the age of 107, showed these competitors provide us with important links to Games that are disappearing from living memory and their achievements and sporting legacies are worth celebrating even if they did not actually get to compete at the Olympics. As with our previous posts, we suspect that all of these individuals are in fact deceased, but we simply cannot confirm it to be the case.
Hussein Ezzat, born in 1915, was a member of the Egyptian football squad at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, but did not see any playing time.
[table]
Name,Birthday,Notes
Leonardo Valdés,1912, Alternate for Cuba in the 100 and 200 metres sprints at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics
Renard Perez,December 8 1913,Alternate on Uruguay’s water polo squad at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
José Pescador,December 6 1913, Alternate on Uruguay’s water polo squad at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
Shigeo Takagi,July 28 1913, Alternate on Japan’s water polo squad at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
Masuzo Maeda,June 29 1914, Alternate on Japan’s water polo squad at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
Karel Nejtek,December 14 1914, Did not start for Czechoslovakia in boxing’s heavyweight division at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
Marin Novák,November 5 1914, Did not start for Czechoslovakia in boxing’s featherweight division at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
Martin Baranovič,March 15 1915, Did not start for Czechoslovakia in boxing’s middleweight division at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
Norberto Dick,July 4 1915,Alternate on Brazil’s coxed eight squad at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
Hussein Ezzat,1915, Alternate on Egypt’s football team at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
Bruno Loibl,March 21 1915, Did not start for Germany in boxing’s middleweight division at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
Ángel Machado,October 4 1915, Did not start for Argentina in boxing’s middleweight division at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
[/table]
This concludes our look into the subject of those that might be contenders for the crown of Oldest Olympian. In a few days, we will move on to new topics, and we very much hope that you will join us!
Last week, we looked at all of the “possibly living” Olympians born before the former Oldest Olympian, John Lysak. As we have mentioned in the past, there are approximately 2000 Olympians, non-starters, and demonstration event competitors born between 1910 and 1930 for whom we have no confirmation on whether they are alive or deceased. In addition, there are 427 individuals who participated in the Games in 1928, 1932, and 1936 for whom we have no information on their date, or even year, of birth. Today we want to focus on a small subset of those 2000, the 72 who were born between Lysak and the Olympian currently believed to be the oldest living, Félix Sienra. Seven were non-starters, so to shorten the list just a little, we are going to look at the remaining 65 by year of birth. Astute readers may notice one more omission, that of Jaroslav Volak, who was the oldest Olympic medalist with an uncertain living status. We received information to indicate that he was deceased (albeit without a specific date), and thus we were able to remove him from the list.
It should be noted that discussing these individuals in no way represents any belief on the part of Oldest Olympians that these athletes are still alive; we simply cannot confirm that they are deceased. In fact, we find it highly unlikely that any Olympian who is between the age of 104 and 106 would have somehow escaped our attention completely. It remains, however, an important caveat and is always a possibility: language barriers, poor media coverage of older athletes, and desire for privacy from a generation when the Games were not as big as they are now all contribute to the chance that someone may have eluded our radar. In the past, several Olympic centenarians have reached that milestone with little public, sometimes not being revealed until their death. We feel, therefore, that it is important to share this list to make our research methods a little more public and subject to scrutiny, perhaps solving a case or two along the way.
Santiago Massini represented Argentina in four fencing events across two editions of the Olympic Games, in 1952 and 1956.
Khushi Ram represented India in the gymnastics tournament at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics and was still alive at an Olympic reunion in October 2003.
1916
[table]
Name,Nation,Sport,Birthday
Arno Franzen,Brazil,Rowing,January 14 1916
Khushi Ram,India,Gymnastics,January 15 1916
José Roger,Argentina,Sport shooting,January 20 1916
Abderrahman Sebti,Morocco,Fencing,January 9 1916
[/table]
For our next entry, we will be looking into the non-starter and demonstration event Olympians that we skipped in the last two posts. We hope that you will join us!
