Austin Menaul

James Austin Menaul (March 26, 1888 – October 17, 1975) was an American athlete who came fifth in the 1912 Olympic pentathlon.

James Menaul
Personal information
Full nameJames Austin Menaul
NationalityAmerican
Born(1888-03-26)March 26, 1888
Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States
DiedOctober 17, 1975(1975-10-17) (aged 87)
Menlo Park, California, United States
Sport
SportAthletics
Event(s)Pentathlon, Decathlon, Shot put, High jump
ClubChicago Maroons

Menaul was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico where his father, also named James Austin Menaul (1843–1897), was principal of Menaul School.[1] After his father's death his mother, née Sara M. Foresman,[1] moved the family to Chicago, where Menaul attended Englewood High School and in 1908 enrolled in the University of Chicago.[2] Coached by Amos Alonzo Stagg, Menaul represented the Chicago Maroons in track and field and college football (1909 and 1910).[3] In 1909 he moved into the Delta Kappa Epsilon frat house.[4] He was 1911 Big Ten champion in shot put, despite being relatively small.[5] He also competed in the high jump and sprint hurdles.[5] He was lead runner on the 4 × 440 yards relay teams that won the 1910–11–12 Drake Relays and the 1911 Penn Relays, the last in 3:21.8, 1.2 s outside the world record.[6]

In 1912 Menaul competed in the Central regional U.S. trials for the Stockholm Olympics.[7][8] Stagg complained that the trials interfered with the intervarsity schedule.[9] On 16 May he finished second (of two) in the pentathlon, behind Avery Brundage;[7][10] in the decathlon on 22–23 May he finished first, ahead of Brundage and two others.[7][11] The Amateur Athletic Union scored the results by sum-of-placings rather than the IAAF's newly devised scoring tables; Menaul's decathlon performance would have been a world record using the tables, though this was not realized until 1987.[7][12]

At the Olympics Games, Menaul narrowly missed out on a medal in the pentathlon: he finished fifth on 30 points, one point behind third and fourth places, which were promoted to second and third when winner Jim Thorpe was disqualified (and kept their medals when he was reinstated in 1982).[13][14] Menaul had injured his shoulder practicing for the javelin throw, a discipline not part of the Big Ten program, and by far his worst score at the Olympics.[15] Lingering effects of the injury prompted him to withdraw from the Olympic decathlon.[16]

Track and field results of J. Austin Menaud
EventCompetitionDatePlacingPerformanceRefs
Shot putBig Ten outdoors19091st42 feet 10 inches (13.06 m)[17]
Shot putBig Ten indoors19111st42 feet 8 inches (13.00 m)[18]
PentathlonCentral U.S. Olympic Trials19122nd[7]
DecathlonCentral U.S. Olympic Trials19121st7414.555 (1912 tables) / 5867 (1984 tables)
100m 11.4 — LJ 6.06 m (19 ft 11 in) — SP 12.70 m (41 ft 8 in) — HJ 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) — 400m 53.8 — 110mH 16.6 — DT 33.00 m (108 ft 3 in) — PV 2.89 m (9 ft 6 in) — JT 40.48 m (132 ft 10 in) — 1500m 4:37.2		[7]
PentathlonOlympic Games19125th[14]

After graduation, Menaul enlisted and fought in World War I.[19] Later he worked for publishers Scott Foresman (founded by his mother's brother[1]) and then as a livestock buyer for Swift and Company.[20] He married Della Patterson in 1922 and had four children, retiring in 1951 and moving to Menlo Park, California, where he died in 1975.[20]

References

Sources
  • Griffith, John L. (1929). The "Big ten" book of athletic events : a complete record of scores in major sports : Chicago, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio, Purdue, Wisconsin. Chicago: [C.D. Hobson.
  • Zarnowski, Frank (1996). "J. Austin Menaul". Olympic glory denied : a final opportunity for glory restored. Glendale, Ca: Griffin. pp. 30–58. Retrieved January 17, 2019.
  • Zarnowski, Frank (2005). All-around Men: Heroes of a Forgotten Sport. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810854239. Retrieved January 17, 2019.

Citations
  1. Zarnowski 1996 pp.31–33
  2. Zarnowski 1996 pp.33–35
  3. Zarnowski 1996 pp.38–40
  4. Zarnowski 1996 p.39
  5. Zarnowski 1996 pp.40–41
  6. Zarnowski 1996 pp.41–42, 57
  7. Zarnowski 1996 pp.46–47, 58; Hymans, Richard. "The History of the United State Olympic Trials – Track & Field" (PDF). USATF. pp. 3, 49. Retrieved January 17, 2019.
  8. Zarnowski 1996 pp.43–46
  9. Zarnowski 1996 p.43
  10. Zarnowski 1996 p.44–45
  11. Zarnowski 1996 pp.45–46
  12. Zarnowski 2005, p.242; Hymans, Richard; Matrahazi, Imre (2015). "Decathlon". Progression of IAAF World Records (PDF). p. 210. Retrieved January 8, 2019.
  13. Zarnowski 1996 pp.49–50
  14. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "James Menaul Olympic Results". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 18, 2020. Retrieved January 29, 2018.
  15. Zarnowski 1996 pp.43, 49
  16. Zarnowski 1996 pp.49, 50
  17. Griffith 1929, p.25
  18. Griffith 1929, p.27
  19. Zarnowski 1996 p.51
  20. Zarnowski 1996 p.52
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