I want to open this week's quest log with a huge thank you, because once again, the blog has broken its record! In June I had more than 14,000 views, according to Blogger's metrics, and that was the all-time high. But as of this writing, I'm just shy of 17,000, which has me absolutely gobsmacked. So thank you to everyone who has liked and shared and commented on my posts over the years, because every little bit of interaction goes a long way!
Speaking of interaction, I've never used Instagram in my life. I don't entirely understand it, to be honest. But after speaking with one of my much-younger coworkers who has a better grasp of such things, she's helped me to see that it could be beneficial for the blog to have an Insta account and, thereby, an Insta following. So I've downloaded the app onto my phone (baby steps) and will be taking a few days to give myself a learning curve, and the plan is to debut the official MQ Instagram with the first August post.
The trick, as always, is to pretend I know what I'm doing.
Meanwhile, today we're going to make our first visit to scenic Wyoming County, where Kevin and I spent a little time during last week's trip. Shout out to the delightful Tioga Bistro in Tunkhannock, where we stopped for lunch - best grilled cheese sandwich I ever had that wasn't made by my mother. We also stopped on the grounds of the high school, to collect the marker for someone who didn't have to pretend he knew what he was doing. Well, maybe he did, I can't say for sure. But it got him all the way to some Olympic medals, so whether or not he faked it, he certainly made it.
Walter Beardsley Tewksbury was the only surviving child of Dr. Anderson Dana Tewksbury and the former Mary "Molly" Beardsley. He was born March 21, 1876; he had an older brother, Homer, who died in infancy, and a younger sister, Lucy, who died at the age of six. The family lived in Tunkhannock all throughout Walter's youth, although he was actually born in the community of Ashley - for this reason, both Wyoming County and Luzerne County regard him as a native son.
Of course, that wasn't all he did at UPenn. During his junior and senior years, he participated in track and field, and won titles in both the 110 and 220 yard sprints. The boy was fast, and at some point was known as "the sprinter without a peer." I'm not sure who called him that. Also, somehow he had "John" added to the front of his name, but apparently this was just something to do with his fraternity membership. It was never actually part of his name.
The competition in the men's athletics was fierce, but it could be said that Walter was fiercer. By the time the dust settled, he walked away from the City of Lights with no fewer than five medals around his neck. He took third place in the 200 meter hurdle, second in the 60 and 100 meter sprints, and first in the 200 meter sprint and the 400 meter hurdle. His achievement in the hurdles was considered especially noteworthy, since it wasn't like the hurdle races we know these days; hurdles were made from telegraph poles, and the race included a 16-foot jump across a water hazard just before the end. The 1900 Olympiad was also the first time that the 400 meter hurdle actually became an Olympic event, so for a while, Walter's time of 57.6 seconds was the world record. Even when this was beaten, he remained in the worldwide top 25 for a very long time.
Do note, however, that Walter did not take home any gold medals for his first-place finishes. The 1900 Games didn't have gold medals - instead, first prize was silver, second prize was bronze, and third prize was nothing at all. It was only later that the International Olympics Committee added gold medals to the lineup. Those who won events prior to this had their records retroactively fixed, so that they get acknowledged by the modern scoring system, but as far as I can tell, they didn't get medals sent to them after the fact. Most of the winners at the 1900 Games didn't get medals at all, but rather took home trophies.
I include that information to explain what happened to Walter next. At the end of the Olympics, during a banquet to celebrate their conclusion, Walter happened to meet with one of the men from the British royal family, although sources don't specify which one. Queen Victoria was still on the throne at that point, so it could have been any of her sons or grandsons. Whoever it was, he was of the opinion that Walter deserved more of a prize than a mere trophy. Walter said that he would love to have "one of those French motorcycles," and the royal promised to make sure that he got one. Whether or not Walter believed him, I don't know (I'm not sure I would have), but it turned out to be true, and Walter's request was granted. He recalled later in life that "I got more enjoyment out of that motorcycle than anything else. There were almost no cars around at the time, and I could make that cycle go close to 40 miles an hour."
Returning to Pennsylvania, Walter hung up his racing shoes and put on his dentist's coat to make use of his degree. He once again resided in Tunkhannock, opening his own dental practice in 1913. He married Marian Metcalf, a fellow Tunkhannock native, and they had several children - Pamela, Mary, Terry, Rowland, and Lucy. Rowland, the only son, became a dentist like his father. Despite his brief time of celebrity, Walter's post-Olympic life was very quiet and modest. He was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Tunkhannock and of Blue Lodge 248 of the Freemasons, and a founding member and sometime president of the Tunkhannock Rotary Club. When he died in 1968, he was the oldest surviving United States Olympian, and the last known surviving participant in the 1900 Games.
Walter and Marian, who died four years earlier, are buried in Tunkhannock's Sunnyside Cemetery, not too far from his parents and siblings. His headstone identifies him as an Olympic Champion, but just beneath an urn of flowers there is a second epitaph. I wish we could learn the reason for it, because it intrigues me.
BORN TO BE
ADMIRED
DIED TO BE
REGRETTED
Except where indicated, all writing and photography on this blog is the intellectual property of Laura Klotz. This blog is written with permission of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. I am not employed by the PHMC. All rights reserved.
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