Title/Author:
“The Greatest Athlete (You’ve
Never Heard Of): Canada’s First Olympic Gold Medalist” by Mark Hebscher
Tags:
Track and Field, Summer
Olympics, biography, ice hockey
Publish
date:
March 12,
2019
Length:
240 pages
Rating:
4 of 5
stars (very good)
Review:
George Washington
Orton was paralyzed by an accident until he was 10 year old, but once he gained
use of his limbs, he rarely stood still again as he became a world-class
athlete, winning a gold medal in the 1900 Summer Olympics held in Paris. His
event was the steeplechase, which is no longer an Olympic event. He was competing
at the University of Pennsylvania at the time, and was mistaken as an American
competitor even though his native country was Canada. His life story, including his life outside
track and field, is a fascinating read and journalist Mark Hebscher brings it
to life.
Orton achieved
much of his success in track while attending Penn, becoming an elite runner and
setting many records in several events.
He did participate in other sports and yet was able to keep his amateur status
and participate in the 1900 Olympics. This drew comparisons by the author to
Jim Thorpe, who later had to forfeit his Olympic medals because he played semi-professional
baseball. Orton had no such issues with his Olympic amateur status, but instead
he won his gold medal in a shroud of confusion. Was he American since he
competes for Penn (and was instrumental in founding the world famous Penn
Relays) or was he Canadian since that was the nation of his birth?
Along
with this confusion, there was the matter of the lack of publicity for the
Olympics at this time. The 1900 edition was only the second time the modern
games were held and they took second fiddle in Paris to the World’s Fair. Because of this, most fans and people who
were interested in the Olympics did not obtain the information as they would
later when the Olympics grew in size and stature.
While
just the story of Orton’s rise in the world of track and field would be an
interesting topic by itself, the complete life of the man is captured by
Hebscher as he discusses many of the sports innovations inspired by Orton, such
as putting numbers on the jerseys of football players. Orton was a tireless
promoter, especially of hockey, as he was continuously working on making the
sport popular in Philadelphia. He was instrumental in getting indoor rinks
built in the city and even ran the Philadelphia Quakers, the first professional
team in the City of Brotherly Love. While the team struggled in its only
season, Orton is given credit for planning the seeds of interest in hockey as
the Philadelphia Flyers are a very successful franchise in today’s professional
game.
Orton’s
accomplishments both in athletics and in other occupations such as teaching,
writing books and sports business are all noted in fine detail in the book. All
of this information came about because the author wanted to produce a documentary
on the life of Orton as many Canadians did not know of his legacy and
historical importance in the Olympics. This
was the only drawback of the book and only because the description of the
author’s endeavors were scattered throughout the book. All of this information would read very well
in a foreword or afterword as it was important to the telling of the story. It
just was inserted in places that interrupted the important information and that
story – the story of George Washington Orton – is one that everyone with any
interest in athletics should read.
I wish to
thank Dundurn Publishing for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in
exchange for an honest review.
Book Format
Read:
E-book (Kindle)
Buying Links:
Thanks for the honest review. Glad you enjoyed the story.
ReplyDeleteReview? Really?
ReplyDeleteIt was really just a synopsis of the book with just a smattering (approx. 6 lines) of true critique.