History of Triangular Track Classic Antedates America's Entrance in War

The following is the first of two articles dealing with the history of the Triangular track meets in which the University team first competed in 1917 against Dartmouth and Penn State. The war intervened and when the meet was revived in 1920 Cornell replaced Penn State on the schedule. Since that year the Triangular classic has been an annual feature of the winter track season.

The second and concluding article will appear in an early issue of the Crimson.

With the 1928 track season well under way and one of the outstanding meets, the Cornell-Dartmouth-Harvard Triangular classic, just a few days off, a rapid summary and review of Triangular meet history will serve both to recall some of the greatest of Crimson track athletes and to reveal the brilliant record established by the immediate successors of the present team which faces one of its severest tests on Saturday evening, February 25. For when the University track team meets its two traditional foes, Cornell and Dartmouth, in the tenth Triangular meet in the Arena, it will bear the responsibility of maintaining the impressive row of successive victories chalked up against the Red and White and the Green invaders in 1925, 1926, and 1927.

War Malts Track Affairs

First, by looking at the comparative scores of the nine previous Triangular meets, an idea may be obtained of the progress which the Crimson track team has made in the last three years. The origin of the classic goes back to the year 1917, when the University runners trailed the Hanoverian spikemen while Penn State, at that time the third party in the meet, made a miserable showing, accumulating only 11 1-2 points. In 1918 the World War intervened and it was not until 1920 that the next Triangular meet was held. Cornell now took the place of Penn State on the schedule and from that year the meet has been an annual institution. The supremacy of Dartmouth in the beginning first gave way to Ithacan prowess, but the most consistent bid for laurels has been made by the Crimson track men during the past three years. The scores for the nine meets are significant:

Ithacans Supreme in 1922

Six years ago, in 1922, Cornell, as may be seen above, repeated its 1921 victory, showing its heels to the Crimson and Green teams for the second successive year in the annual meet. Entering the evening's contest a heavy favorite, it emerged on the long end of the score with a safe ten-point margin over the University. The Hanover runners were a good third, being nine and one half points behind the Crimson team which had amassed 38 1-2 points. During this year W. J. Bingham '16, now Director of Athletics in the University, was head track mentor and while his team was strong in the dashes, field events, and the mile run, it was no match for the well-balanced team strength which the Ithacans displayed. Cornell took five first places, six second places, tying once with Dartmouth for second place in this meet, The University, however, supplied two of the stars of the meet. J. W. Burke '23 won the mile in the fast time of four minutes 27 1-5 seconds, while Captain J. F. Brown '22 captured the 35-pound weight event. Coach Bingham's relay team lead Cornell and Dartmouth throughout the races, winning in three minutes and 12 seconds. The establishing of a new world's indoor high jump mark went to Dartmouth. Captain L. T. Brown of the Green squad cleared the bar at six feet four and three fourths inches.

Bingham Bids Team Farewell

The following year was more or less of a transitional period for the University track team and while its results were barren in the way of victories, the foundation for great teams was being laid. On December 1, 1923, nearly 100 track men crowded the Varsity Club to hear W. J. Bingham '16 make his last speech as head track coach. "In the last two years," he said, "we have learned many things--first and foremost, that in order to assure the success of a track team it is necessary to develop not stars but a large body of runners, taking men who perhaps have never run before and, overcoming their initial discouragements, bring before them the motto of the Harvard track team--Progress." Following Mr. Bingham, C. W. Martin, his successor as head track coach, made a speech in which he stated his intentions of carrying out his predecessor's policy and of concentrating on team work rather than on individual brilliance.

Coach Martin was head track mentor for one year. While both his winter and spring seasons were disastrous as far as winning meets were concerned, he and his assistant, Coach Farrell, were starting at the bottom and working up. They stuck to the policy of past authorities, but laid even greater emphasis on teamwork.

1923 Runners Trail in Classic

The 1923 Triangular clash found the University on the short end of the score. Dartmouth had come to the fore and turned the tables on an inexperienced Cornell aggregation. The Green runners were heavy favorites before the meet and lived up to expectations. The Ithacans suffered from both inexperience and the graduation of the previous year. Harvard suffered most of all through injuries and illness. R. L. Hyatt '24, star high jumper, due to an injured back, was lost for the season. Percy Jenkins '24 was eliminated from the dashes by an attack of grippe. The Hanover invaders were generally powerful, scoring 50 points to Cornell's 38 and Harvard's 28. The Indians accumulated six firsts, but by no means provided all the stars of the meet. Captain J. W. Burke '23 entered both the 600 and 1000-yard runs in this meet and in winning these events, he scored over a third of the University's total, became the only double winner of the meet, and proved beyond a doubt that he was the best middle distance runners of the three colleges. C. A. C. Eastman '24 in the shot put and John Marshall '25 in the weight throw were the other Crimson winners.

Farrell Becomes Head Track Coach

It was before the 1923-1924 track season that Coach Farrell assumed the position of head coach of the University runners and weight men. He immediately set to work with the promising material at hand J. N. Watters '26, C. A. C. Eastman '24, B. R. Cutcheon '25, R. L. Hyatt '24, R. G. Allen '26, H. T. Dunker '25 and Jefferson Fletcher '25 have all played prominent roles in Crimson track history. In the first year of Coach Farrell's teaching they were to be the nucleus of a strong team. Moreover, at this time, one of the major lights of University track affairs began to Twinkle. For when A. H. Miller '27, in the Freshman dash event of the 1924 Triangular meet, led E. W. Goodwillie, Cornell first year sprinter to the tape, he not only equalled the University time of four and four-fifths seconds, but beat a promising dash man reputed to be able to outspeed any of the Cornell University squad.

Year '17  D  37    H  30  1-2  P  11  1-2 '20  D  37    H  31    C  12 '21  C  36  1-5  D  35  3-5  H  26  1-5 '22  C  48  1-2  H  38  1-2  D  29 '23  D  50    C  38    H  28 '24  C  49  1-15  H  37  1-5  D  29  11-15 '25  H  50  1-3  D  27  1-2  C  38  1-6 '26  H  59    C  27  1-2  D  30  1-2 '27  H  54  1-4  C  28  3-4  D  33