‘Buffalo Soldier’ became only Olympic champion in both 100m and 110m hurdles
Harrison ‘‘Bones’’ Dillard, who has died aged 96, was the only man to have won Olympic gold medals in the 100 metres and 110m hurdles. Between June 1947 and June 1948 Dillard, then 25, laid claim to be the world’s outstanding competitor in track and field events with an unprecedented streak of 82 consecutive victories in sprints and over high and low hurdles. Though light of build – hence his nickname – he had sublime technique and ferocious pace, and his winning streak would stand until the 1980s, when it was broken by another American hurdler, Ed Moses.
Dillard equalled several world records during his
undefeated year, and accordingly was
the hottest of favourites to win the 110m hurdles,
his best event, at the
Olympic Games in
London in 1948. But at the American trials, the unthinkable happened. He cleared the first hurdle but hit three of the next five and failed to complete the race – the only time he ever did so. Dillard accepted the blame for putting too much pressure on himself.
He had, however, finished in the first three in the 100m trials and so qualified for that discipline. On the boat over, he told training partner Barney Ewell that he was going to win. Ewell told him he was crazy, not least since his opposition included both the more favoured Ewell and their fellow American, Mel Patton, the world record holder.
All three reached the final. Despite being drawn on the lane nearest the stands, usually considered a disadvantage, Dillard made the fastest start. Ewell gradually gained on him, and after crossing the line danced for joy, convinced he had won. Panamanian Lloyd La Beach, who took bronze, disabused him: ‘‘Man, you no win – Bones win.’’
Two minutes later, the result was confirmed by the first photo-finish at an Olympic Games. Dillard was placed first, having tied the Olympic record of 10.3 sec set by his idol, Jesse Owens.
With Ewell and Patton, he went on to win a second gold at the Games, in the 4x100m relay, although only after the reversal of an initial disqualification of the US team.
Four years later, Dillard qualified for the hurdles at the Helsinki Olympics. In those days it was by no means easy for an athlete, especially an African-American one, to earn a living while finding the time to train, and Dillard was almost prevented from going to the Games after a row about his having accepted a paid position with the Cleveland Athletics Commission.
Wise counsel prevailed and, once in Finland, his chief challenger proved to be his fellow American, Jack Davis. Come the final, Davis made a poor start but began to press Dillard hard – only to hit the final hurdle. It again took a photograph to determine the winner. This time it was Dillard who jumped for joy. He again doubled his clutch of golds with victory in the relay, his tally of four in total matching that of Owens.
William Harrison Dillard was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of sharecroppers who moved north. His father worked on building sites, his mother as a housemaid. In his first few years he was a frail child. He suffered from rickets and did not learn to stand until he was 18 months old.
By the age of 8, however, he had begun racing down alleys, hurdling makeshift obstacles made from the springs of abandoned car seats. The next year, he saw Owens, who was 10 years his senior, training in the gym at the school that both attended.
When Owens was given a victory parade in Cleveland after his triumphs in Berlin in 1936, he stopped to speak to Dillard and his friends. The moment inspired Dillard to become an athlete – and Owens became a mentor, giving him the spikes he had worn in Germany. As the London Games were the first held since those in Berlin, the title of the world’s fastest man belonged for 16 years to two athletes from the same school.
Another spur to Dillard was racism. He began to run, he said, ‘‘because whether I won or lost was determined by the stopwatch on the track. It was either ‘I am better than you’ or ‘You are better than me’. Nothing else.’’
In 1943 he was drafted into the 92nd Infantry Division, the all-black unit colloquially known as the ‘‘Buffalo Soldiers’’. He spent seven months on the front line in Italy as a marksman; his abiding memory was of the chilly welcome the division received when it entered Turin.
Unlike in other cities, doors were closed to them and curtains drawn. Only after some time did they discover that the white unit they had replaced had told the locals that the 92nd would be a danger to their womenfolk.
Dillard made his first trip in an aircraft to take part in the ‘‘GI Olympics’’ in Frankfurt. There his performances caused General George Patton to say that Dillard was ‘‘the greatest god-damned athlete I’ve ever seen’’.
In the 1950s Dillard worked for the Cleveland Indians baseball team and then subsequently as business manager of the city’s education department until his retirement in 1992. He also hosted a radio show. Owens remained a friend, and he went on to meet the likes of Muhammad Ali, Count Basie and, recently, Barack Obama.
Endearingly modest about his achievements, Dillard was honoured during the 2012 London Olympics, and last year six former Olympians, including Moses, gathered for a picnic in his backyard to celebrate his 95th birthday. He had been suffering for some time with stomach cancer.
He and his wife, Joy, were married in 1956. She died in 2009 and he is survived by their daughter, Terri.
In his 2012 memoir, Bones, Dillard spoke of hurdling as a metaphor for the gritty determination that defined his ambition as a child growing up in Cleveland.
‘‘The other kids didn’t have the willingness, and they knew that the event was called ‘hurdles’ for a reason. They knew they’d most likely hit them, trip over them, crash to the track over them, and get scratched, get scarred and bleed. They weren’t willing to do that. I, however, was.’’ – Telegraph Group/Washington Post
Racism spurred his running, ‘‘because whether I won or lost was determined by the stopwatch ... Nothing else’’.