Published July 18, 2021
By Phil Reyburn
There was a
stir among the local athletic crowd when news broke on Tuesday, March 31, 1925,
that current track and field coach and former University of Illinois standout
baseball player, “Cap” Crossley, had resigned and was being replaced by
two-time Olympic middle-distance runner Ray Watson.
In their
Daily Journal
sports column for April 1,
1925, writers Haley and Jacquin overheard two high school boys talking while
hanging out at a local cigar store. “’Dja sees where Ray Watson is going to
coach the track team. Yeah. Wonder how
they come to get HIM? Musta been an accident. It couldn’t ‘a happened-on
purpose. But he won’t be here long, somebody else will get him away from
Quincy.’”
Ray B. Watson was born in Garden City, Kansas in 1898. A
hunting accident at age 14 cost Watson his right hand but the handicap never
stopped him. He graduated from Kansas State Agricultural College (now Kansas
State University) in 1921. That same year he became the school’s first NCAA
track champion, winning the mile run in a time of 4:23.4. More significant is
the fact that Ray Watson holds the distinction of being the first Kansas State
Olympian. In the 1920 Antwerp Olympics, Watson placed seventh in the
3,000-meter steeplechase.
Reporter Edwin N. Jacquin wrote in the April 1, 1925 Quincy Daily
Journal: “I had seen Watson in competition many times. . .. He had dazzled the
Missouri Valley conference for three years by his spectacular performances in
the half mile and mile and his great ability had been the reason for many
invitations to compete in . . . meets all over the country. . ..” Jacquin
noted: “His fame was made more remarkable by the fact that one arm was off at
just above the wrist, the result of an unfortunate accident in youth.”
Jacquin continued…“Came the Olympic meet of 1920, Watson was
selected for the American team. He was again selected for the Olympic team in
1924, the greatest ambition of every track and field athlete.” Jacquin went on saying,
“And this is the same gentleman who has come to Quincy to teach chemistry and
higher arithmetic and of more importance . . . to teach the high school students
the fundamentals of track and field work.”
The 1981 film
Chariots of Fire
is based on the true
story of two British track athletes at the 1924 Summer Games in Paris. Undoubtedly
Ray Watson crossed paths with Eric Liddell, the Scottish Christian who ran for
the glory of God, and Harold Abrahams, an English Jew who ran to overcome
prejudice.
Eight months prior to accepting a teaching position in
Quincy, Ray Watson was in the men’s 1,500 meters Olympic finals. Twelve
runners, three from the United States, started that day. Paavo Nurmi, known as
the Flying Finn, and the world record holder in the event with a time of 3:52.6
was the favorite. The July 11, 1924
Daily Herald
carried an Associated
Press article that reported: “Ray Watson, the American star, provided the chief
thrill when he stuck gamely to the heels of the flying Finn until 300 meters
from the tape. Watson wilted near the end and was unplaced.” He finished
seventh out of field of 12. Nurmi took home the gold medal.
On September 2, 1925, Watson confided to the
Daily Journal
sportswriter, Harry C. Haley,
that he was done with track and wished
to concentrate on teaching. Haley broke
the news to the J
ournal’s
readers with this headline: “Ray Watson,
famous runner, now Q. H. S. instructor, has retired from track game.” Haley
noted that Watson was the American record holder for 800 meters. Watson
informed Haley that “’the old shoes were hanging on a nail, and they are there
to stay.’” He also told Haley: “’I have found that teaching and participating
in various races about the country do not go hand in hand and for this reason I
have decide to give up the sport.’”
Fred Gray in his May 20, 1928,
Herald-Whig
sports
column wrote: “Ray Watson’s decision to try for a place on the 1928 Olympic
team has pepped up the interest of the Quincy sport followers in this
outstanding event of the athletic world. The Q. H. S. track coach has been a
member of two Olympic teams and stands a dandy chance of making his third
Olympic entry—this time in the 800-meter race.”
In 1927, Watson had returned to competition and became the
national American Athletic Union 800-meter champion. At the Olympic 800-meter trials
he finished third and was named to the 1928 team, which traveled to Amsterdam,
Netherlands for the Summer Games.
The 800-meter run preliminaries were held on July 29 with the
finals on the 31st. “Watson Among
Qualifiers for The Semi-Finals Of 800 Meter Event Monday,” was the
Herald-Whig’s
sports page headline for July 30, 1928. Having finished third in his heat, Ray moved
on to the semi-finals where he ran a time of 1:56.8 coming in second in his heat
and made the finals.
What started out as 49 runners from 24 countries was down to
nine men and six nations. Douglas Lowe of Great Britain, the 1924 Gold Medalist
claimed the medal again while setting an Olympic record of 1:51.8. Unfortunately
for Ray Watson, it was not his day as he finished a disappointing ninth in 2:03.
Prior to the Olympics Ray ran a personal best 800 meters of 1:51.6.
The young chaps at the cigar store were wrong. Ray Watson
stayed in Quincy; and after 39 years of teaching and five years as track coach,
retired in June 1964. He passed away September 7, 1974 and is buried at Quincy
Memorial Park cemetery.
For a decade Raymond Bates Watson, the one-handed runner from
Kansas and later Quincy, Illinois High School teacher and track coach, was one
of America’s leading middle-distance runners. And three times, he represented
the United States in the Olympics, where he ran against men like himself—the
best in the world.
Sources
“American Athletes Again boost Point Total in Olympics,”
Quincy
Daily Herald,
July 11, 1924.
Athletics at the 1924 Paris Summer
Games: Men’s 1,500 Meters
.
www.sports-reference.com/Olympics/summer/1924
.
Crawford, Anthony R. “Wildcat
Olympians,”
K-State Keepsakes
. Manhattan, Kansas: New Prairie Press,
2015.
Gray, Fred, “THIS ‘N THAT IN SPORTS,”
Quincy Herald-Whig,
May 20, 1928.
Haley and Jacquin,
“Sport—Pot-Pourri—”
Quincy Daily Journal,
April 1, 1925, 9.
Haley and Jacquin,
“Sport—Pot-Pourri—”
Quincy Daily Journal,
April 2, 1925, 13.
Jacquin, Edwin N. “Ray Watson, Record
Holder, Olympic Star, Quincy Coach, and Idol of His Classmates,”
Quincy
Daily Journal,
April 1, 1925, 9.
K-State Athletics Hall of Fame-Ray
Watson (1991)
https://www.kstatesports.com/honors.k-state-athletics-hall-of-fame/ray-watson/21
.
“New Athletic Coach Was On Olympic
Team,”
Quincy Daily Herald,
March 31, 1925.
Ray B. Watson (1898-1974)-Find A
Grave Memorial.
“Ray Watson, 75, dies; teacher,
Olympic runner,”
Quincy Herald-Whig,
September 8, 1974,12.
Ray Watson Bio, Stats, and Results
/Olympics at Sports Reference.com
“Ray Watson, Famous Runner, Now
Q.H.S. Instructor, Has Retired From Track Game,”
Quincy Daily Journal
September 2, 1925.
Ray Watson-Quincy Blue Devil Sports
Hall of Fame. Quincybluedevilsportshalloffame.com/ray-watson.html.
“Ray Watson To Be honored At Quincy
Relays,”
Quincy Herald-Whig,
April 16, 1964.
“Ray Watson To Compete In The Olympic
Finals,”
Quincy Herald-Whig,
July 2, 1928.
“Victory In Third Heat of 800 Meter
Event Sends Ray Watson Into Olympic Final,”
Quincy Herald-Whig,
July 7,
1928.
“Watson Among Qualifiers For The
Semi-finals of 800 Meter Event Monday,” July 30, 1928.
“Watson Finishes Third in 800 Meter
Run; Qualifies for U. S. Olympic Team,”
Quincy Herald-Whig,
July 8,
1928.
“Watson Officially Named To Olympic
Team,”
Quincy Herald-Whig,
July 9, 1928.
Watson, Ray B.
The 1921 Royal
Purple
. Manhattan, Kansas: Senior Class Kansas State Agricultural College,
1921.
