Walter Hummel (athlete)

Hummel was born in Portland, Oregon on June 19, 1892,{{cite news |url=http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%205/Brooklyn%20NY%20Daily%20Eagle/Brooklyn%20NY%20Daily%20Eagle%201917%20Grayscale/Brooklyn%20NY%20Daily%20Eagle%201917%20Grayscale%20-%200163.pdf |title=Remarkable Rise of W.A.Hummel, Western Lad Who Won Two Titles |newspaper=Brooklyn Daily Eagle |date=January 7, 1917 |accessdate=November 21, 2014}} and represented the Multnomah Athletic Club. He took up track and field as a school boy and competed in a wide variety of events, including sprints, hurdles, jumps and throws, but he never tried his eventual specialty, the 440 yd (402.3 m) hurdles, until July 1915. He had no coach, but self-developed an efficient hurdling technique resembling that of champion hurdler Robert Simpson.

Hummel was selected as captain of the Multnomah A. C.'s track and field team in 1916.{{cite news |url=http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83025138/1916-03-06/ed-1/seq-12.pdf |title=Hummel Is Captain |date=March 6, 1916 |accessdate=November 21, 2014 |newspaper=The Oregonian}} That year he emerged as a serious challenger to world record holder Bill Meanix, who until then had been America's top 440 yd hurdler.{{cite book |title=Huippu-urheilun historia |year=1935 |publisher=Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiö |author=Jukola, Martti |language=Finnish}}

At the 1916 national championships Hummel first won the junior 440 yd hurdles, running a junior meeting record of 56.4 (the junior championships were not yet limited to athletes aged under 20).{{cite news |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1916/09/09/104690383.pdf |title=Junior Title Meet Easy For N.Y.A.C. |newspaper=The New York Times |date=September 9, 1916 |accessdate=November 22, 2014}}{{cite news |url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1915/08/05/page/8/article/great-interest-shown-in-meets-at-frisco-fair |date=August 5, 1915 |accessdate=November 24, 2014 |title=Great Interest Shown in Meets at Frisco Fair |newspaper=Chicago Daily Tribune |author=Loomis, Jo Gilbert}} The following day he also won the senior title, defeating Meanix; Meanix went out hard and led for much of the way, but Hummel caught him and won by two yards.{{cite news |url=http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%205/Brooklyn%20NY%20Daily%20Eagle/Brooklyn%20NY%20Daily%20Eagle%201916%20Grayscale/Brooklyn%20NY%20Daily%20Eagle%201916%20Grayscale%20-%208195.pdf |title=Bronder Makes Record Heave On First Attempt |newspaper=Brooklyn Daily Eagle |date=September 10, 1916 |accessdate=November 22, 2014}} Hummel's winning time of 54.8 was a meeting record, and only 0.2 seconds off Meanix's world record. Meanix beat him in 55.0 in a rematch the following week; Hummel had been ready to finish his season and asked for the rematch to be canceled, but was eventually persuaded to run.{{cite news |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/massachusetts/boston/boston-globe/1916/09-17/page-15 |newspaper=The Boston Globe |date=September 17, 1916 |accessdate=November 22, 2014 |page=15 |title=Brundage Holds All-Round Title}}{{cite news |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/massachusetts/boston/boston-daily-globe/1916/09-19/page-6 |date=September 19, 1916 |accessdate=November 22, 2014 |page=6 |title=Live Tips and Topics |newspaper=The Boston Globe}} Despite losing the rematch Hummel was named by the AAU as the year's top 440 yd hurdler, ahead of Meanix.{{cite news |url=http://cdsun.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/cornell?a=d&d=CDS19170102.2.42&e=--------20--1-----all# |newspaper=The Cornell Daily Sun |date=January 2, 1917 |accessdate=November 21, 2014 |title=All-American Field And Track Team Is Selected}}

United States joined World War I in 1917, and Hummel enlisted in the United States Army.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/68100948/ |title=Enlisted Man at American Lake Asks Furlough to Save Record |newspaper=Tacoma Times |date=August 2, 1917 |accessdate=November 22, 2014}} Like a number of other top athletes, he obtained a leave of absence to compete in the 1917 national championships;{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/28833720/ |date=August 24, 1917 |accessdate=November 21, 2014 |title=Kelly Is To Compete In The A.A.U. Games |newspaper=The Washington Post}} he was one of three favorites for the 440 yd hurdles title, the others being Meanix and newcomer Floyd Smart.{{cite news |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/massachusetts/boston/boston-evening-globe/1917/08-31/page-7 |title=New England Will Have Five Champions In Fight For National A. A. U. Titles |date=August 31, 1917 |accessdate=November 21, 2014}} However, he was sick before the meet and his training had been very limited,{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/chronologicalhis00bins |page=[https://archive.org/details/chronologicalhis00bins/page/11 11] |title=Chronological History of the 364th Field Hospital Company |author=Binswanger, Alvin Otto |year=1921 |publisher=364th Field Hospital Publication Committee}}{{cite news |url=http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83025138/1919-03-31/ed-1/seq-13/ |date=March 31, 1919 |accessdate=November 21, 2014 |title=Multnomah May Be Represented Abroad |author=Goodwin, Earl R. |newspaper=The Oregonian}} and he placed third as Smart equaled his meeting record.{{cite magazine |url=http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/index.php/tafn-presults?list_id=36&sex_id=M&event_id=15 |title=A History Of The Results Of The National Track & Field Championships Of The USA From 1876 Through 2011 |author1=Mallon, Bill |author2=Buchanan, Ian |author3=Track & Field News |author3-link=Track & Field News |magazine=Track & Field News |accessdate=November 21, 2014}}{{cite news |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/massachusetts/boston/boston-globe/1917/09-02/page-13 |page=13 |title=B. A. A. Third in Senior Events |newspaper=The Boston Globe |date=September 2, 1917 |accessdate=November 21, 2014}} During the war he was a sergeant with the 364th Field Hospital Company{{cite news |url=http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83045782/1918-04-07/ed-1/seq-28/ |title=Hard Training Soon |date=April 7, 1918 |accessdate=November 21, 2014 |newspaper=The Oregonian}}{{cite news |url=http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83045782/1919-02-09/ed-1/seq-63/ |date=February 9, 1919 |accessdate=November 21, 2014 |title=Oregon Boy Tells Of Adventure In Crossing The Piave |newspaper=The Oregonian}} and assisted Simpson as a military track and field coach at Camp Lewis.{{cite news |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/california/bakersfield/bakersfield-morning-echo/1918/03-10/page-12 |page=12 |title=Bayonet Combat Soldiers' Sport |newspaper=Bakersfield Morning Echo |date=March 10, 1918 |accessdate=November 21, 2014}}

Hummel later ran a hardware store in Eugene, Oregon, with baseball player Joe "Flash" Gordon as one of his business partners.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/57669467/ |title=Joe Gordon Lands Steelheads |newspaper=Santa Cruz Sentinel |date=February 7, 1947 |accessdate=November 21, 2014}}{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1310&dat=19481007&id=vetXAAAAIBAJ&sjid=i-gDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5206,284579 |title=Meet Joe (Flash) Gordon, Eugene's World Series Vet |author=Strite, Dick |date=October 7, 1948 |accessdate=November 21, 2014 |newspaper=Eugene Register-Guard}}

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Category:1892 births

Category:1978 deaths

Category:Track and field athletes from Portland, Oregon

Category:American male hurdlers

Category:United States Army personnel of World War I

Category:United States Army soldiers

Category:20th-century American sportsmen