https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Eck
Professional bicyclists, as a rule are not modest men. But Tom Eck is the exception in this case. He Is desirous of being known as the father of bicycling in America.
'Cyclistic. - W. E. Nachtrieb - San Francisco Chronicle, 20 Jan 1885
Tom Eck
To the older alumni, Tom Eck is known largely through the reports in the sporting pages - pages which have long recorded his many and varied activities in the field of athletics. To the younger alumni, however, Tom Eck is so well known a figure on our athletic field that, although he has been connected with the University but seven years, he fully deserves "presentation" in this closing page of our Do You Remember series. According to Sporting Records, Tom is the "Dean of all athletic promoters and trainers." In this article we can merely set forth but part of his fifty-year record as an athlete and trainer; yet that will be sufficient, we guess, to prove that he has certainly earned his title of "Dean."
He was born April 10, 1856, in Prince Albert, Ontario, Canada. Always athletically inclined, he started out when a boy as a rider of running horses. From the age of 16 to 21 he took up the driving of harness horses with unusual success. He then became a noted cricket and lacrosse player, a great ice-skater, and also developed into a "world's record class" all-around athlete, setting records in walking, bicycle riding. and several track and field events. In 1875 Tom ran a record quarter-mile in 52 2-5 seconds at Toronto, Canada. In 1876, using 12 pound dumbbells, he made a world's record of 13 feet - 2 inches in the standing broad jump. In 1878, on a grass track, he walked a mile in 6 minutes, 57 seconds. For a period of ten years thereafter Tom was a champion bicycle rider, and in 1886 was the first to ride 100 miles on a high-wheel bicycle inside 6 hours. [I was unable to find anything about this record. In 1886 he was - MF]
The habit of being "first" in athletic affairs soon fixed itself upon him, especially as an originator of athletic events and as an inventor. Among other things, Mr. Eck originated ball bearing roller skates, the bike-wheel sulky, and the loop-the-loop. He built the first board-banked track for bicycle racing, put up the first rubbing-board for massaging athletes, took the first American bicycle team to Europe, brought the first group of European racers to America, and managed the first six-day bicycle race, which was held at Madison Square Garden, New York
[Hm, this last one doesn't add up, unless he's uncredited for the 1879 six-day race in London's Agricultural Hall. The first mention I could find of six-day bicycle racing involving Tom Eck is five years later. - MF]
As a trainer, his record is unsurpassed, probably not equalled by anyone. He developed, trained and managed a dozen of America's leading skaters and no less than fifty record-holding bicyclists. Tom trained the first bicyclist to ride a mile inside of one minute, the rider being paced, on Long Island, by a railway train. [I could find no mention of Tom Eck, in relation to Charles M. Murphy's ride of 57 4-5 seconds behind a railroad car. - MF] His successful career as a trainer covers, besides horse-racing, skating, and bicycle riding, rowing. cross country, track and field, and many teams in cricket, lacrosse, basketball, baseball, football, and other games. He was the first trainer chosen by the U. S. government for our war aviators, but his age, then 62, disqualified him as an officer.On April 10, 1915, (his birthday), at the hale, healthy and hearty age of 59 years, Tom Eck came to the University of Chicago as trainer and assistant to Mr. Stagg. Among the Maroon champions he has developed and trained are Le Roy Campbell, Joe Stout. Binga Dismond, and Ted Curtis. Eck trained the famous Joie Ray, of the Illinois Athletic Club, for his record-breaking eastern trip made last winter. Tom is a familiar figure on Stagg field, where he has advised and encouraged a great many athletes.His kindly personality and cheerful humor have made him one of our best known "campus characters." He can entertain for hours with his inexhaustible supply of athletic stories. His "Shower-room Philosophy," published in the Daily Maroon, has delighted hundreds of readers. He is always at least a three-base "hit" when talking at alumni club dinners. And because he has constantly done his best for Chicago Tom Eck has won the admiration and affection of the hundreds who knew and will always remember him.
TOM ECK, COACH AT CHICAGO FOR 11 YEARS, DIES
Noted Athlete in His Day; Trained Many Champs.
Tom Eck, for half a century a familiar figure in sporting and athletic circles in this country and abroad, died last night after an illness of four months. The last three weeks Tom had been confined to the Cook county hospital.
Eck spent the last eleven years of his varied career at the University of Chicago, training cross country teams and distance and middle distance runners. At the Midway Tom was known as the Oracle of the Locker Room, because of his sage advice to young athletes and because of the many droll yarns he liked to spin about his experiences in the sporting world, all of which pointed a moral to the listeners.
Born in Canada in 1858.
Tom was born in Prince Albert, Canada, April 10, 1853. He began his career as a jockey and when twenty-one years old was driving harness horses on Canadian tracks. He became noted as a cricket player, ice skater, bicycle rider and walker, developing into a "world's record class" all around athlete. In 1875 he ran a record quarter mile in :52 2-5 at Toronto; the next year, using twelve pound dumbbells, he set a world's record of 13 feet 2 inches in the standing broad jump. In 1878, on a grass track, he walked a mile in 6.57. In the next ten years Tom won numerous cycling championships, in 1886 being the first man to ride 100 miles inside of six hours
Improved Athletic Equipment.
Tom's firsts were not limited to those he won on the track and field. He originated ball bearing roller skates, the bike wheel sulky, the loop the loop. and many improvements in athletic equipment. He built the first board banked track for bike racing, put up the first rubbing board for training athletes, took the first American bike team to Europe and brought the first European team to America, and man. aged the first six day bike race at Madison Square Garden,
Tom did not confine as training or athletes to the boys at the university, but developed a number of girl athletes, including Helen Filley, Nellie Todd, and Mildred Horrocks, and trained a number of outsiders, among them being Hay Watson and Joey Ray.
Few if any trainers have left behind them more of a greater assortment of champions than does Tom Eek. They include runners, skaters, bike riders, walkers, and jumpers,
Tom is survived by his widow and two daughters, Funeral arrangements have not been made.
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