Allan Tolmich
{{short description|American hurdler}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2014}}
{{Infobox sportsperson
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| name = Allan Tolmich
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| nationality = American
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| birth_date = {{birth date |1918|03|30}}
| birth_place = Detroit, Michigan
| death_date = {{death date and age|2012|03|20|1918|03|30}}
| death_place = Fishers, Indiana
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| sport = Hurdles
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| collegeteam = Wayne State University
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Allan Tolmich (March 30, 1918 – March 20, 2012{{cite news|title=Allan Tolmich Obituary|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/indystar/obituary.aspx?pid=156946347#fbLoggedOut|access-date=August 1, 2013|newspaper=Indianapolis Star|date=April 12, 2012}} ) was a track and field athlete.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dAq4TGQsWwwC&q=Allen+Tolmich&pg=PA185 |title=Day by day in Jewish sports history |author=Bob Wechsler |year=2008 |isbn=9780881259698 |access-date=October 24, 2011}}{{cite web|url=http://www.jewishsports.net/BioPages/AllenTolmich.htm |title=International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame |publisher=Jewishsports.net |access-date=October 24, 2011}} He set world records in the indoor 45 low hurdles, indoor 50 low hurdles, indoor 60-yard hurdles, 70 high hurdles, and 200m hurdles.
Biography
Tolmich was born in Detroit, Michigan, and was Jewish. He attended Wayne State University, joined its track team as a walk-on in 1934, and was captain of it in 1936 to 1937.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D9KWpkj6XLIC&q=Tolmich&pg=PA356 |title=Famous American Athletes of Today, Sixth Series |author=Harold Kaese |publisher=Ayer Publishing |year=1971 |isbn=9780836922332 |access-date=October 24, 2011}}{{cite web|url=http://michiganjewishsports.org/event-hof-past-inductees.php |title=Past Inductees |publisher=Michigan Jewish Sports Foundation |access-date=October 24, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111002170302/http://www.michiganjewishsports.org/event-hof-past-inductees.php |archive-date=October 2, 2011 }} He was an All-American from 1937 to 1941, and a National Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) Champion in 1937, 1939, 1940, and 1941.
Between 1936 and 1941, he set 10 world and United States indoor track and field records, including the 60-yard hurdles, 110-meter hurdles, and 120-yard hurdles, and tied 5 of them. He was a National AAU Champion in 1937, 1939, 1940 and 1941.
While at Wayne State, in 1937 he twice broke the world record in the 200 meter hurdles at the AAU Championships (running it in 23.4 seconds and 23.3 seconds, on July 3), and won the national 110 meter high hurdles.
In 1939, he won the AAU national indoor 65-meter hurdles in 8.4 seconds.
In 1940, he set a new world record in the indoor 60-yard hurdles at Madison Square Garden, at 8.4 seconds, breaking his own record by .01 seconds, as well as setting world records in indoor 50 low hurdles (6.0 seconds) and the 70 high hurdles (8.4 seconds). In 1941, he set a new world record (5.4 seconds) in the indoor 45 low hurdles, breaking a 40-year-old record, and tied the world record in the 45 high hurdles (5.6 seconds).
In August 1942, he was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Army Air Force, as World War II began to involve the United States.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=rz9FAAAAIBAJ&pg=4512,3716271&dq=allen+tolmich&hl=en |title=Hurlers Enjoy Season's Best Day |work=The Telegraph-Herald |date=August 6, 1942 |access-date=October 24, 2011}}{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Jyk_AAAAIBAJ&pg=3661,5301658&dq=allen+tolmich&hl=en |title=Hank Greenberg Gets Commission |work=The Windsor Daily Star |date= August 5, 1942|access-date=October 24, 2011}}
In 1976, Tolmich was inducted into the inaugural class of the Wayne State University Sports Hall of Fame.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L_ZvYCMtk5oC&q=tolmich&pg=PA354 |title=Reminiscences of Wayne |publisher=Wayne State University Press |access-date=October 24, 2011}} He was also inducted into the Michigan Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1999, and into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2002.{{cite news|url=http://www.jewishpress.com/printArticle.cfm?contentid=13353 |title=American Jewry Today |work=The Jewish Press |date=January 9, 2002 |author= Hadar Avraham |access-date=October 24, 2011}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Footer US NC 110m Hurdles Men}}
{{Footer US NC 200m Hurdles Men}}
{{USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners in men's 60 m hurdles}}
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Category:American male hurdlers
Category:Wayne State University alumni
Category:Track and field athletes from Detroit
Category:United States Army Air Forces officers
Category:Jewish American track and field athletes