Track legend Harrison Dillard, four-time Olympic champion, dies at 96

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Harrison Dillard was a huge underdog when he lined up for the 100-meter dash at the Olympic Games of 1948 in London’s Wembley Stadium. A capacity crowd of 83,000, including the king and queen of England, assumed he had little chance to win against an unequalled array of speedsters.

Fans actually felt sorry for him, because he had failed to qualify for the high hurdles, at which he was acknowledged to be the best in the world.

But Dillard pulled off one of the most memorable Olympic Games track victories in history in a skin-tight finish. When he walked into the Olympic dining room for supper that night, the assembled athletes gave him a standing ovation.

That was one of four Olympic gold medals Dillard won in his career, which began at Kennard Junior High in Cleveland and continued through East Tech High and Baldwin Wallace College.

Dillard, 96, died Friday afternoon at the Cleveland Clinic, where he had been hospitalized for a week, suffering from the effects of stomach cancer, said his longtime friend Ted Theodore.

Dillard was the oldest living U.S. Olympic gold medal-winner, and a lifelong Clevelander.

* Related: Dillard funeral Saturday in Cleveland

Dillard is the only male runner in history to win Olympic gold in both a dash and the high hurdles. He took the hurdles in the 1952 Olympics at Helsinki, and ran on winning relays in both 1948 and 1952.

“It is a loss for humanity,’’ Theodore said. “He was an example for all of us, how to live our lives, with never an unkind word for anyone. He was a champion, a true champion.’’

In perhaps his last interview, with Plain Dealer columnist Phillip Morris earlier this month at Dillard’s Richmond Heights home, Dillard proudly recalled his days as a sharpshooter for the famed Buffalo Soldiers, the all-black U.S. Army 92nd Division that fought in Italy during World War II. “Please thank all the service men and women for their service,'' Dillard said a few days before Veterans Day.

In July 2018, six former Olympians, including hurdles great Edwin Moses, gathered with dozens of others to celebrate Dillard’s 95th birthday at picnic in his backyard, at which he gladly posed for photos and shared memories.

“I’m so grateful for the people that showed up,” Dillard said. “There are many people here that meant so much to me over the years. I don’t see them everyday anymore but the chance to see and talk with them and restore the memories.”

Funeral arrangements are pending.

Ties Owens

His four golds tie the record of his idol and fellow Clevelander, Jesse Owens, who dominated the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.

Dillard spent his entire life in Cleveland. After retiring from track, he worked in a variety of jobs. He was business manager of the Board of Education, a Cleveland Indians publicist, a member of the Cleveland Boxing Commission, a sportscaster on WABQ Radio and a Cleveland Press sports columnist.

He won the Sullivan Award, given to the nation’s outstanding amateur athlete, in 1955.

Life did not begin with promise for Dillard. His late mother, Tarah, remembered in 1953 that he was frail and sickly when he was born. “The poor boy suffered from rickets and he couldn’t even stand up until he was 16 months old,” Mrs. Dillard said.

But speed was in his blood. “I inherited my speed from my father, William Dillard,” he said. “When I was 14 and plenty fast, Dad could beat me in a race.”

Dillard grew up on E. 63d St., between Woodland and Beaver avenues, an integrated neighborhood.

A pivotal moment in his life occurred in 1936, when Cleveland held a parade for Owens, fresh off his Olympic triumphs. Dillard was watching the parade with four or five pals and Owens winked at them and said, ‘Hi, boys.’"

Dillard was so thrilled he ran home to tell his mother that one day he would be like Owens. In later years, he said the unlimited patience and support of his mother was the biggest factor in his track success. She scrimped and saved to give the boy carfare to his track practice. “We didn’t have much, but she always seemed to save a few coins for me,” Dillard said.

Early Success

At East Tech, he quickly became one of the best sprinters and hurdlers in high school. He won two state titles as a senior in 1941.

His Tech coach, Ivan Greene, nicknamed him “Bones,” because of his thin build. It was a nickname that would remain with him throughout his life, although he filled out to 158 pounds on a 5-10 frame at his physical peak.

Eddie Finnigan, his coach at B-W, refined his skills as he became the world’s best hurdler. He led the Yellow Jackets to four Ohio Athletic Conference track crowns.

At a 1956 testimonial in his honor at the Hollenden Hotel, Dillard singled out Finnigan and Greene for their help in his career.

Finnigan called him “the finest young man I have ever known.”

Dillard served in the Army for 32 months during World War II.

After the Germans surrendered, he won two hurdles races at the GI Olympics in Frankfurt before a crowd of 25,000 U.S. soldiers.

Gen. George S. Patton called him the best athlete he ever saw.

Dillard’s first major postwar victory came in 1945 at the old Arena, when he defeated Ohio State’s Bob Wright in the 45-yard high hurdles in the Knights of Columbus meet. He would win 11 straight K.C. hurdles races over the years.

Constant Wins

As a B-W student, Dillard became a household name on Cleveland sports pages. In 1947 and 1948, he won 82 straight races, breaking the college mark of 67 held by distance runner Greg Rice.

On April 18, 1948, he set the world 120-yard hurdles record of 13.6 seconds, beating the runner-up, Clyde “Smackover” Scott, by 10 yards in Lawrence, Kan. At his peak, he held virtually every world hurdles mark.

At a civic testimonial in June 1948, Dillard was showered with compliments by Mayor Thomas Burke and other leaders. He was called the city’s top Olympic hope. Finnigan called him the greatest performer who ever participated in track.

Dillard, choked with emotion, said, “I’m going to win the hurdles in London. I don’t want you to feel I’m boasting, but that is the best way I can repay you.”

In retrospect, Dillard felt he might have put too much pressure on himself with that statement. Whatever the reason, he suddenly began to lose. His 82-win streak was broken when he lost twice within 20 minutes in the Amateur Athletic Union championships in Milwaukee on July 3. Bill Porter of Northwestern beat him in the hurdles and Barney Ewell won the 100 meters.

They were his first losses in more than a year.

Stunning Loss

Still, nobody was worried. Dillard was considered a lead-pipe cinch to make the U.S. Olympic team as a hurdler in the Olympic Trials at Northwestern University the next week. All he had to do was finish in the top three.

Unbelievably, Dillard crashed into the hurdles in the final qualifier, hitting the second, fourth and sixth barriers. He finished last as Porter won.

“I was greatly disappointed,” Dillard said in 1998. “I still felt I was the best hurdler in the world but that it was not meant to be in 1948.”

Fortunately, he had qualified in the 100, coming in third on the U.S. team behind Mel Patton and Ewell. But he was given almost no chance to win in London. Patton, the world-record holder, Ewell and Lloyd LaBeach of Panama were the heavy favorites.

Dillard was not giving up. On the ship going to England, he practiced fast starts. He told Ewell, his roommate, he was going to beat him. Ewell said, “You’re crazy.”

The work on the starts paid off. Dillard sprang to a big lead as the gun went off. At 50 meters, he was three to five feet ahead. But Patton, Ewell and LaBeach poured it on in their long-legged fury.

When they hit the tape they were all practically even.

But Dillard knew he had won. It took two minutes for the photo finish camera to confirm his opinion. Dillard had prevailed in 10.3 seconds, tying the Olympic record.

Relay Victory

He picked up his second gold medal in the 400-meter relay. Ewell led off the race, followed by Lorenzo Wright, Dillard in the third spot and Patton anchoring.

A few days later, Dillard was one of a handful of U.S. athletes chosen to attend a reception in Buckingham Palace.

When Dillard returned home, the Indians honored him before a baseball game against Detroit at Municipal Stadium. He and Finnigan emerged from the Indians dugout. Dillard was wearing his Olympic blue sport coat and white flannel trousers.

“Telegrams and well wishes from friends in Cleveland played a big part in my victory,” he said.

In 1949, Indians owner Bill Veeck hired Dillard as a publicist, a job he was to hold for nine years. “I was making as much as some of the ballplayers,” he said of his $125-a-week salary.

Dillard was an excellent speaker, appearing at schools and civic functions and recounting the story of his great victory.

Keeps Going

He continued to run, hoping to get another shot at the Olympic hurdles gold medal in 1952 at Helsinki. He was not satisfied with his 100-meter victory in London. “Sprinters are a dime a dozen, but hurdling is a high art of track,” he said.

However, in a 1998 interview, he said the 1948 victory was the biggest thrill of his career. “Winning the first one is always the dearest,” he said.

A curveball was thrown at him in 1951, when the AAU ruled him ineligible for the Olympics, on the grounds he was no longer an amateur because he had taken a post with the Cleveland Athletic Commission. Dillard was paid $1,200 a year for that position.

Dillard said he would retire from the sport, but the media came to his aid. Franklin Lewis, sports editor of the Press, wrote that he had been stabbed in the back. The AAU backed off and Dillard was reinstated. Today, of course, professional athletes are allowed to participate in the Olympics.

At age 29, still skimming the barriers with impeccable form, Dillard won the gold medal in the hurdles at Helsinki, edging fellow American Jack Davis. His time of 13.7 was an Olympic mark. “This is the one I wanted,” he said. “I wanted it much more than I did the 100 four years ago.”

He added a fourth gold in the 400-meter relay.

More Honors

Dillard was named Cleveland’s outstanding young man by the Junior Chamber of Commerce in 1952. He received the award at a Hotel Allerton fete in early 1953.

Dillard still would not retire from running. He continued to win races all over the world. He toured South America and Central America for the State Department in 1955. That same year he was named to the Helms Athletic Foundation Hall of Fame. The media voters named him the top hurdles Olympian of all time.

When he won the Sullivan Award, he beat out Patricia McCormick, the Olympic diving queen, and Howard “Hopalong” Cassady, Ohio State’s Heisman Award winner in football. ¶

He won his 11th straight K.C. hurdles crown in early 1956, floating over the 60-yard course in 7.2 seconds.

Age finally caught up to him in the 1956 Olympic Trials, when he finished sixth a few days before his 33rd birthday. He went on to be enshrined in the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame.

He and Owens became friends and Owens invited him to his cabin in Idlewild, Mich., where he rubbed shoulders with Muhammad Ali, Count Basie and Sammy Davis, Jr. He also met Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and, last month in Denver, Barack Obama. Dillard congratulated Obama on being the first black president and said he was proud of him. “He said he was standing on our shoulders,” Dillard told The Plain Dealer in 2012. “That made me feel pretty good.”

Dillard maintained his popularity in Cleveland after his track days were over. Aside from his public relations work, he had a daily 15-minute sports report on WABQ, a black-owned station. He was mentioned as a prospective City Council candidate in 1961. He wrote a weekly sports column for several years at the Press. He and his late wife, Joy, whom he had met in Jamaica in 1952, had a daughter, Teri.

He was involved in controversy after taking a job the Cleveland Board of Education. He was promoted to director of purchasing in 1973 and became business chief of the board in 1982. After several years in that post, he was criticized for poor management of funds and was transferred to a public relations post with the board. Dillard sued and won a settlement. He retired in 1992.

“My only regret is I couldn’t help the kids more,” he said.

In 1994, Dillard had successful surgery for prostate cancer.

He remained close to track and field. He was honored at the 2012 London Olympics, and frequently attended high school track meets into his 90s, where he sometimes was recognized, most often by coaches, who made sure to inform athletes about the local legend.

Far away from the races and the noisy throngs, he enjoyed quiet walks around his neighborhood, with happy thoughts of 1948 and 1952 drifting through his head.

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