Chapter 2: Track Career

Boston English High, 1893 (click to enlarge)

In September 1895, Arthur entered 10th grade at nearby Roxbury High. During his first semester, Arthur took an application test for the elite, private Boston English High School. They must have seen his academic promise, because they accepted him for the upcoming semester in January.

His track and field career began at this time.  As a budding pole-vaulter, he seemed to keep skinning his elbows and knees when landing in the sawdust pit.  But his track coach saw Arthur’s potential for the sprints and soon turned him in that direction.  Mother Catherine would have been pleased too.  Arthur remained at Boston English until his promotion from 11th grade in June 1897.

Other elite New England prep schools took notice of the developing sprinter, because Worcester Academy offered him a scholarship to attend their school.  He accepted and enrolled in their two-year college prep program.  If he did well, he would have an excellent opportunity to be accepted at one of the nation’s finest universities.  In the fall of 1897 Arthur went off to attend Worcester Academy, home of the Hilltoppers, the nickname of the school’s athletic teams.

Donovan, upper left; Duffey, seated right

This was his first time living away from his family, and there would be few visits because the school was about 50 miles from home.  Along with his studies, Arthur continued sprinting and became the first US schoolboy to run the 100 yards in 10 seconds flat (10.0).

Of his days there, Arthur wrote:

I entered Worcester Academy in the fall of 1898 (1897-98 school year), and under the careful tutelage of Pooch Donovan, the school's efficient trainer, gradually my sprinting ability came to the front, and at the winter games of the Boston Athletic Association, I succeeded in winning the short 40-yard sprints in 4 3/5 seconds, also in winning the interscholastic championship indoors.  In the following spring my most notable performance was my victory in the 100 yards in the dual games with Andover, where I managed to accomplish my first ten seconds flat for the 100.

The 20-year-old headed off to college in the fall of 1899.  Most probably he was wooed by a number of colleges in the area, based upon his track exploits. He finally selected a college in Washington, D.C., Georgetown University. The school had a great reputation in track and field and had recently graduated a marvelous sprinter and current record holder of the 220-yard mark, a man named Bernie Wefers.

So Arthur took the train down to Washington and proceeded on out to Georgetown University, known coincidentally as the Hilltop.  Most probably he resided in the tall tower building, called Healy Hall.  (I would attend the school 61 years later and my freshman dorm was in Healy.)

Again, Arthur wrote:

Entering Georgetown University in the fall of 1899, my reputation as a sprinter became quite broadcast, and though I competed in numerous games, I will not tax the reader's brain by mentioning them.  While at the university, noticing my forte was the century, I eliminated all other

First floor of Healy Hall, similar to basement

forms of athletics and confined my efforts to the 100 yards, a decision, which proved a very wise one to me, I must admit.  Entering the various intercollegiate meetings during the winter, gradually my form became faster, and as the spring approached I entered the relay carnival sports and won my first college sprint in the remarkable time of 9 4/5 seconds.

While at Georgetown, he competed in both winter indoor track meets and spring outdoor meets. During the winter, Arthur practiced his sprints in the Healy Hall basement.  The corridor was more than 100-yards long and there would be few interruptions, especially at night. (In the early 1960s, I too would mimic Arthur’s sprints down the basement corridor.)  As late as 1947, the floor still bore cleat marks from years of winter training.

Arthur with Coach William Foley
(a rather dashing chap)

Unfortunately, in the spring of his freshman year, he was declared ineligible for the 1900 spring IC4A Championships (Inter-Collegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America), because he had run recently in a New York Athletic Club (NYAC) sponsored (i.e., professional) event.  This resulted in Arthur being barred from participating in all collegiate meets until his sophomore year.

However, it did fortuitously open a pathway for him to join the 1900 Olympic team, which was selected by committee.  Officials from eight of the East Coast college track powers (including Georgetown) and the NYAC got together to hand pick the team.  (This process was discontinued beginning with the 1908 games.) Arthur quickly accepted his invitation to join the US sprinters, and the team began its European tour.

His first stop was in England, where he competed in a number of important races.  The tour highlight was winning his first of four British Amateur Athletic Association (AAA) 100-yard Championships. Arthur defeated a very excellent field.  In fact, these same sprinters would also be racing against each other one week later in the 100-meter finals of the Paris 1900 Summer Olympics.

British AAA Championship, 1900

Although the 21-year-old was only between his freshmen and sophomore years, he was favored to win the 100-meter sprint, a most unprecedented situation!  The Games of 1900 took place in Paris as part of the World's Fair.  Organizers spread the competitions over five months and under-promoted their Olympic status to such an extent that many athletes never knew they had actually participated in the Olympic Games.

Conducted on Saturday, 14 July 1900, the Men's 100 Meters was the premier sprinting event on the Olympic program.  Twenty athletes from nine nations competed on a course of uneven grass.  Originally scheduled for two days, some runners complained that they wanted to attend church on Sunday. Officials then changed the schedule so that all races would take place solely on Saturday.  All 'rounds' of the competition were crowded into a time window extending from 10:30 a.m. to 11:15 a.m.  That must have seemed a bit extreme to the competitors.  The first round was comprised of six heats.  The top two runners in each would advance to the semifinals.  Arthur won his heat in 11.4 seconds, about one yard ahead of the second place finisher.

Next came three semifinals, each with four runners.  The top runner in each of the semifinals advanced to the final, while the second and third place runners competed in a second-chance round called a repechage.  The winner of the six-runner repechage advanced to the final as well.

Arthur cut almost half a second from his preliminary heat time and won the first semifinal in 11.0 seconds, beating his closest competitor, Stan Rowley, by five feet.

Interestingly, the finals featured four of the same sprinters who had run so well in the British AAA Championship the previous week.  Arthur got away to an early lead and was slowly pulling away

from the field until he pulled a tendon suddenly at the 50-meter mark.  He fell and could not finish. Frank Jarvis beat Walter Tewksbury by two feet, with Rowley half a yard farther behind.  What a difference one week makes!  This must have been a huge disappointment.  If the races had not been compressed into a single day, one wonders if the outcome might have changed.

The Times, Washington, 20 Feb 1902

His first European summer tour ended abruptly and he returned home.  But he would soon begin to get over it.

By the fall of 1900 Arthur began to make a name for himself in the collegiate track world, winning a number of important races.  In May 1901 Arthur won his first of three consecutive US IC4A 100-yard titles. He tied the record of 9 4/5 seconds in a preliminary heat, but in the finals he ran 10.0 sec on a sloppy track. 

His second summer tour to Britain in 1901 was also very successful.  Not only did he win his second British AAA Championship, but in another big meet, he also lowered the British 100-yard record to 9 4/5 seconds.

Things continued to go well for Arthur through the winter of 1901-02.  It's absolutely stunning how successful he was, having won over 100 sprints with only two defeats.  He had run more 9 4/5-second 100-yard dashes than any other individual.

Some newspaper columnists began referring to him as the “little Georgetown flyer” and “boy wonder” because of his small, slender stature and youthful appearance.  He stood 5 feet, 6 inches tall, weighed 137 pounds and wore a size 6 running shoe.

On 31 May 1902, Arthur achieved his greatest track performance ever:  the world’s record in the 100 yards at the Berkeley Oval in New York City (IC4A Championships), winning by 6 feet.

About the 100-yard final, Arthur wrote:

I went to the mark all in a tremble.  When we drew for positions, I got a bad lane.  The man who had used it in the semifinal had dug holes like graves.  I filled them, but that made loose cinders under my feet and was worse than ever.  I do not remember much about the start; I never do.  I get set, and think of nothing but the pistol.  I suppose I must be in a sort of hypnotic state.  The next thing I remember is that we were going down the track, probably twenty yards from the start, and Schick was leading.  I have known Schick for a long time.  We ran against each other in high school, and I had always beaten him off.  Now I saw he had beaten me.  I thought I must have got a bad start, and it came over me that if he beat me at the start he might win at the finish too.

Start of IC4A race (Arthur 2nd from left, Bill Schick far right)

Every runner has a different way of covering the course.  Schick seems to go like a steam engine from start to finish.  I go in two bursts, or beats.  When I felt that my first burst was over, I could still hear Schick at my side.  I thought at the time he must be about a foot ahead and I was never scared so badly before.  I let out harder and worked as I had never done in any other race.  When a man is frightened and loses his senses he forgets form, throws back his head, and pumps with his arms high in the air.  I felt just like doing that.  It seemed as though something was pulling my head back and my arms up.  But I knew I must hold myself and not let that happen.  So I gripped my palms and shoved my head forward and tried to run harder than ever.  I then pulled away.

Arthur breaking world record for 100-yard dash at Berkeley Oval in NYC, 31 May 1902

Arthur won the championship handily, achieving a world record time of 9 3/5 seconds.  Interestingly, two of the five timers caught Arthur in 9 2/5 seconds; the other three in 9 3/5 seconds.  At the time, stopwatch accuracy was only 1/5^th of a second (0.2 sec).  That changed in the mid-1920s, when it became 1/10^th of a second (0.1 sec).  Amazingly, his record remained unbroken until 1925 when it dropped to 9.5 seconds, using the new stop watch.

Again, Arthur was off to Britain for a 1902 summer of racing.  His third trip was his most successful, winning 13 of his 14 races on the British Isles.  We have recently obtained a video from my cousin Bill Duffey, It features a one minute sequence showing Arthur's sprinting prowess. It was taken at one of his races in Birmingham, England. To see Arthur in action, just click on the link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhCKiU9ggzE

During his 1902 return voyage to America, he participated in a humorously playful Transatlantic race against a young ship steward to entertain the crew and passengers.  Once home, he wrote about his summer adventures for Physical Culture Magazine.

Excerpt from "European Races of an American Sprinter," Physical Culture Magazine, April 1903 (click to enlarge)

The following spring, on 30 May 1903, Arthur again won the 100-yard sprint at the IC4A championship at the Berkeley Oval.  This was his third straight championship victory!  It was an amazing feat that no one had ever accomplished before, and only three others have since: Ralph Metcalfe, Mel Patton, and Charlie Greene!  His time in the 1903 final was 9 4/5 seconds.

Déjà vu: Duffey, Moulton and Schick raced in both the 1902 and 1903 IC4A Championships

Georgetown athletic trainer, Theodore Woodard (click to enlarge)

During all his time at Georgetown, Arthur had a special assistant, friend, and confidante: Theodore "Woodey" Woodard. Hired around 1895, Woodey served as the sole athletic trainer for the Georgetown University sprinters.  He traveled with the team to events around the country and Europe.

Of his 9 3/5 world record, Arthur reported that Woodey was the only man he knew that believed he could "bust that record."  His presence alone seemed to guarantee good luck for Arthur, as he was almost always there when Arthur won and absent when he lost.

Graduation took place 8 June 1903
Gaston Hall, Georgetown University

Out of 275 Georgetown Law School students, Arthur was one of the 64 Class of 1903 graduates to receive a Bachelor of Law degree.  He received high honors and soon enrolled in the school’s Masters of Law program.

Washington Times, 14 September 1903

Later the same month he sailed off to Britain for a third season of racing.  The summer of 1903 was his finest overseas with 18 first-place finishes, 2 seconds, and one third out of 21 starts.  His only two losses were in handicapped sprints, where he started 1-2 yards behind the starting line.

Arthur's leg injury from the Paris Olympics continued to trouble him off and on throughout his career, but each new track meet brought invigoration.

Following his successful summer, he sailed home on the SS Cymric from Liverpool to New York City.  Then it was on to Washington D.C., where he planned to retire from racing and meet up with his fiancée, whom he would marry in the winter of 1903-04.

Arthur met his bride-to-be, a Miss Maude Geneva Hunter (1880-1947), during his days at Georgetown.  One year Arthur's junior, Maude was a native Washingtonian, whose father worked as a federal civil servant clerk at the US War Department.  Her family lived on 35th Street, just a short walk from campus.  By the late summer of 1903, local papers were writing about their upcoming wedding.

Special thanks to "littledelreyed" of Ancestry.com for
passing along info about Arthur's first wife and son

During the following summer, on 7 July 1904 to be exact, Maude gave birth to baby boy, Arthur Francis Jr., in Boston, where they lived with Mother Catherine.  Arthur missed the birth of his first son because, from June to early September of 1904, he was competing in Britain as he did each summer.  Apparently, his retirement proved short-lived.

Several months later, Catherine invited Maude’s mother, Geneva (1857-1928), to visit the Duffey family at their Codman Hill Street tenement.  Geneva accepted the invitation and took a train from Washington’s Union Station to Boston’s South Station, where Arthur picked her up.

Washington Times, 24 December 1904 (click to enlarge)

Maude and son continued living with Catherine until Arthur’s next voyage.  In December, Arthur had accepted an invitation to tour Australasia, to introduce that part of the world to the “Yankee Speed Merchant.”  His travels would last six months and take him 10,000 miles.

The young family returned to Washington prior to his departure, staying with Maude's parents.  Arthur’s near constant absences must have been getting pretty stressful on Maude.  This time, Maude and Arthur Jr. remained with Maude’s family.

He had a most successful trip, winning most of his races. In front of 5000 spectators in New Zealand, he broke another world record by running 75 yards in 7 2/5 seconds in the first heat of the race.  However, in the final race he lost momentum and placed third.

Like the 1900 Paris Olympics, the races in Australia and New Zealand took place on bumpy grass rather than a cinder path racetrack.  This managed to exacerbate Arthur's already injured leg. 

Arthur places third in 50-yard dash, Auckland Weekly News, 6 April 1905

Arthur finally returned to New York on 5 August 1905, having sailed on to the Philippines and then crossed the Pacific.  The final leg of the journey was by train from San Francisco.  A week later he announced his “final” retirement from track.  What would he do now?

During his college days, Arthur participated in a number of stage productions.  According to a 1905 news clipping he appeared to have seriously considered a stage career after his sprinting career, if he could overcome “the opposition of his parents.” But alas he turned away from this opportunity and began a writing career.

His debut was as author and editor of “How to Sprint,” part of the Spalding Athletic Library that promoted sports and Spalding products.  The 1905 book begins with Arthur’s admission about his atypical physique and that his “folks” seriously objected to his proclivity toward sports.  Then it delves into the training he believes created a world-class athlete.  Much of the advice may seem familiar 100 years later:  focus on breathing, do not eat or drink in excess, no smoking, and regulate both sleeping and training hours.  Other passages may remind the reader that the publication was written in an earlier era:

The subject of bathing, a minor but necessary detail in the exercise of running, should be indulged with cautiously.  Some athletes can stand bathing every day, while others, on the other hand, are weakened by daily sprays.  To the majority of athletes, however, I believe it is advantageous to wash daily.

Then it happened.  In November 1905 a great controversy arose over his track exploits.  He had written an article for Physical Culture Magazine in which he stated that he had received more-than-generous expense money for his sprinting endeavors since 1898 while he was at Worcester Academy.  Arthur insisted that many other track stars had also been receiving financial backing but later revised his statement to say that he had overstated his remarks in the magazine and that the covered expenses were actually a part of his Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) contract, just as with other competing athletes.

James Sullivan

Arthur now faced his biggest challenge:  James Sullivan, head of the AAU, had accused Arthur of accepting money and other support during many of his sprinting treks.  This was taboo for a US amateur athlete, of course.  Sullivan was going to take strong action.

This represented one of the first times in American sports that such a severe allegation had been made.  And it was mainly true!  Arthur had so stated as much in several articles, describing how he and fellow amateur athletes had their trips partially funded by various groups.  He stated, “Otherwise, the world would be denied the opportunity to see these famous athletes.”  It should have been of little surprise to the media and its readers that individuals like Arthur could not have possibly financed their trips to the UK and France.  Although he was not unique in this regard, he was the first to spell it out and to be attacked for it.

Washington Times, 24 November 1905 (click to enlarge)

James Sullivan would later rule that Arthur’s many records would be expunged from the record books and so they were.

On 3 November 1905, Sullivan sent letters to the heads of the three major sanctioning organizations — The Amateur Athletic Association of England, the Australasian Association, and the IC4A — condemning Arthur’s admission and seeking “suitable punishment.”

In a public statement, Sullivan stated:

No punishment that can be meted out is too severe for Duffey.  I have this day taken from the amateur records, that I compile, the following records of Duffey’s:

• “40 yards, 4 3/5 seconds, made in Boston February 13 and March 4, 1899, and February 16, 1901
• “50 yards, 5 2/5 seconds, made in Washington, D.C., February 21, 1904
• “60 yards, 6 2/5 seconds, made in New York City, November 30, 1899 and June 7, 1902
• “100 yards, the world’s record, 9 3/5 seconds, made at Berkeley Oval on May 31, 1902

Plus remove his name from the following:

"...wears Spalding Shoes in all his races."

British Championships

1900 AAA:  100 yd. 

1901 AAA:  100 yd.

1902 AAA:  100 yd.

1903 AAA:  100 yd.

US Collegiate Championship

1901 IC4A: 100 yd. 

1902 IC4A: 100 yd.

1903 IC4A: 100 yd.

Decades later, the two-time Olympic champion sprinter and Arthur’s friend, Charles Paddock, asserted that the precipitating event why Sullivan attacked Arthur was that he refused to wear Spalding track shoes, the largest sporting-goods manufacturer in the country.

Washington Times, 22 March 1906

Arthur had an existing contract with Spalding that required him to wear the shoes for certain track competitions.  Arthur refused.  The Spalding Company’s owner, A.G. Spalding, and his close friend, none other than James Sullivan (president of the AAU, officer at Spalding, and nemesis of Arthur) were both infuriated.  This, said Paddock, triggered the censure.

The press had a field day with the story, but in general was rather sympathetic with Arthur’s position.

New York Sun, 2 April 1906 (click to enlarge)

The real problem was that amateur sport regulations were now antiquated and needed revising, but it would take years.  Arthur had, however, started the process.

Arthur understandably, felt unhappy with Sullivan’s decision, and in February 1906 he and his attorney served papers on Sullivan to show cause why the AAU should not recognize the records. The association refused to change its decision, and Duffey’s series of appeals would continue for more than two decades.

Finally on 15 November 1926, at its annual convention in Baltimore, the AAU refused to consider Duffey’s final appeal.  A large contingent of Boston-area supporters attended the conference to plead Duffey’s case, but the agenda item was tabled, thus closing the case forever.

Jim Thorpe

A similar fate also befell Jim Thorpe, who saw his 1912 Olympic gold medals in the decathlon and pentathlon taken away by the AAU, because he had accepted money in 1909 and 1910 while playing semipro baseball.

During the first decades of the 1900s, the sports world was far different than today in that the so-called “major” sports were baseball, horse racing, boxing and track & field.  Arthur said that there was upwards of 20,000 spectators at his major overseas races and that enormous sums of money were wagered, just like horse racing.  Sports like football, basketball, and ice hockey were not 'big time' in the early 1900s.  That is why so much focus was drawn to this topic.

The professional issue was not fully resolved until 1978 when the US Olympic Committee took the reigns away from the AAU.  Henceforth, both amateur and professional athletes would be able to compete in the same races.