Walter Dohm
{{short description|American track and field athlete}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Walter Dohm
| image = Walter Dohm 1888.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Dohm in 1888
| birth_name = Walter Charles Dohm
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1869|03|27}}
| birth_place = Princeton, New Jersey
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1894|05|09|1869|03|27}}
| death_place = Denver, Colorado
| nationality =
| other_names =
| occupation = track and field athlete
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
}}
Walter Charles Dohm (March 27, 1869 – May 9, 1894) was an American track and field athlete. Dohm won national and intercollegiate championship titles at both 440 yards and 880 yards and set a world record at the latter distance in 1891.
Biography
Dohm was born in Princeton, New Jersey, on March 27, 1869.{{cite news |url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030193/1894-05-10/ed-4/seq-3/ |title=Walter Dohm Dead |date=May 10, 1894 |access-date=March 17, 2015 |newspaper=The World}}{{cite news |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/ohio/newark/newark-daily-advocate/1889/06-28/ |title=A Famous College Athlete |newspaper=Newark Daily Advocate |date=June 28, 1889 |access-date=March 17, 2015}} He studied at Princeton University, initially playing football; after picking up running, he developed rapidly under the guidance of Princeton's coach Jim Robinson. Originally, he competed mostly at 440 yards, and sometimes at 220 yards; in 1888, he was national quarter-mile champion of both the United States and Canada.{{cite news |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1894/05/11/106904426.pdf |title=Death of Walter Dohm |date=May 11, 1894 |access-date=March 17, 2015 |newspaper=The New York Times}}
In 1889, Dohm repeated as both American and Canadian quarter-mile champion and also won the intercollegiate (IC4A) championship at the distance.{{cite web |url=http://www.gbrathletics.com/nc/ic4a.htm |title=IC4A Championships (1876-1942) |work=Athletics Weekly |access-date=March 17, 2015}} He also started to move up to the half-mile, breaking Lon Myers's American record of 1:{{frac|55|2|5}} with his time of 1:{{frac|55|1|4}}.{{cite news |url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030272/1891-09-20/ed-1/seq-3/ |date=September 20, 1891 |title=Down Went the Records |access-date=March 17, 2015 |newspaper=The Sun}}{{cite web |url=http://trackfield.brinkster.net/RecProg_AllUSA.asp?RecCode=WR&EventCode=MA4&Gender=M&P=F |title=USA Records Progression - Men, 800 m |website=Track and Field Statistics |access-date=March 17, 2015}} One of his leading rivals was William Downs of Harvard, who won the 1889 intercollegiate title at 880 yards;{{cite web |url=http://library.la84.org/SportsLibrary/Outing/Volume_23/outXXIII03/outXXIII03j.pdf |title=Foot-Racing |author=Corbin, John |year=1893 |access-date=March 17, 2015}}{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/athleticsatprin00presgoog |title=Athletics at Princeton: A History |author1=Presbrey, Frank |author2=Moffatt, James Hugh |year=1901 |publisher=Frank Presbrey Company}} in 1890 they met at the middle-ground distance of 600 yards, with Downs winning. Subsequently, they switched distances, with Downs becoming primarily a quarter-miler and Dohm a half-miler; at the 1890 IC4A championships each of them won at their new distance, with Dohm's half-mile time of 1:{{frac|57|1|2}} being a new meeting record. Dohm also won the long jump championship.
Dohm graduated from Princeton after the 1890 season and became a reporter, but continued to race,{{cite news |url=http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC18940527.2.168# |newspaper=San Francisco Call |title=Walter Dohm's Last Article on Running and Breathing |date=May 27, 1894 |access-date=March 17, 2015}} winning the 880 yards at the 1891 AAU championships. On September 19, 1891, he broke Francis Cross's world record for 880 yards, running 1:{{frac|54|1|2}} in a handicap race in New York City; there was some confusion in the United States about what the old record by Cross (an Englishman) had been, with the media reporting Dohm had set a new American record but only equaled or narrowly missed the world best. Cross's actual time had been 1:{{frac|54|3|5}}, a tenth of a second slower than Dohm's.
In 1892, Dohm started to suffer from pulmonary problems, which forced him to retire from running. As his condition worsened, he moved to Denver, Colorado, in the hope his health would improve there, but the move failed to help, and he died from tuberculosis in Denver on May 9, 1894. Many contemporary commentators believed he had damaged his lungs by training too hard and exerting himself too much, and that this had caused or contributed to his condition.{{cite news |url=http://www.mocavo.com/Duluth-Evening-Herald-May-1894-Volume-May-21-1894/151519/36 |newspaper=Duluth Evening Herald |date=May 21, 1894 |access-date=March 17, 2015 |title=The Danger of Overtraining}} Dohm's world record lasted until September 1895, when Charles Kilpatrick broke it.{{cite web |url=http://trackfield.brinkster.net/RecProg_All.asp?RecCode=WR&EventCode=MA4&Gender=M&P=F |title=World Records Progression - Men, 800 m |website=Track and Field Statistics |access-date=March 17, 2015}}
References
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{{succession box|before={{flagicon|GBR}} Francis Cross |title=Men's 880y World Record Holder|years=September 19, 1891 – September 21, 1895 |after={{flagicon|USA}} Charles Kilpatrick}}
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Category:American male journalists
Category:American male long jumpers
Category:American male middle-distance runners
Category:American male sprinters
Category:Princeton Tigers men's track and field athletes
Category:World record setters in athletics (track and field)
Category:Sportspeople from Princeton, New Jersey
Category:Track and field athletes from New Jersey