Harry Jerome

Personal information
Birth name	Henry Winston Jerome
Born	(1940-09-30)September 30, 1940 Prince Albert, Saskatchewan
Died	December 7, 1982(1982-12-07) (aged 42)
Sport
Sport	Track and field
Medal record Men's Athletics Competitor for  Canada Olympic Games Bronze 1964 Tokyo 100 metres Pan American Games Gold 1967 Winnipeg 100 metres Commonwealth Games Gold 1966 Kingston 100 yards

Henry "Harry" Winston Jerome, OC (September 30, 1940 – December 7, 1982) was a Canadian track and field runner. He was the grandson of John Howard, a railway porter who represented Canada in the 1912 Summer Olympics.

Born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, he moved to North Vancouver at age 12. In 1970 he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. Harry Jerome died of a brain aneurysm in December 1982, at the age of 42. His sister, Valerie Jerome, was also an Olympian who competed for Canada at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.^[1]

Athletic career[edit]

He competed at the university level for Bill Bowerman at the University of Oregon. He competed for Canada in the 1960, 1964, and 1968 Summer Olympics, winning 100 metre bronze in 1964. He also won the gold in the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games and the 1967 Pan American Games. During his career, Jerome set a total seven world records, including tying the 100 metres in 10.2, 10.1 and finally 10.0 seconds in 1960, tying a record established a month earlier by Germany's Armin Hary. The 1960 world record "tie" by Jerome was hand timed (as all events were prior to electronic timing, beginning in 1972) at 9.90 at the Canadian Olympic trials held in Saskatoon, SK Canada but track officials refused to believe the time, so it was rounded to 10.0 to match the previous month's world record set by Hary. Later he set the world record for the 100 yard dash at 9.2, making Jerome the only athlete to own both the 100 yard and 100 meter world record simultaneously. He was a member of the University of Oregon 4x100m relay team that tied the world record of 40.0 seconds in 1962. In 1966 he again tied a world record with a 9.1 time in the 100 yard. From 1963 to 1966 he held or equaled 4 world records concurrently.^[2] He continued to sprint successfully until the late 1960s, despite suffering an injury so severe at the Perth Commonwealth Games in 1962 that doctors initially believed he would never walk again.

Post-athletic career[edit]

Jerome earned a Masters degree in Physical Education (University of Oregon). After retiring from athletics in 1969, he was invited by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau to help create Canada's new Ministry of Sport. Jerome held a number of senior positions in the ministry but resigned over the government's cancellation of a large-scale public-private partnership he had negotiated with Kellogg's to promote youth participation in athletics. During the 1980s Jerome headed the Premier's Sport Award program in British Columbia, Canada.

Tributes[edit]

In 1984, the Labatts International Track Classic Pre-Olympic meet was renamed the Harry Jerome International Track Classic. It has become a prestigious track and field meet held annually at Swangard Stadium in Burnaby, British Columbia - is named in Jerome's honour. The Harry Jerome Sports Complex in North Vancouver, a block from North Vancouver High School where he first went out for track in 1958 and the Harry Jerome Sports Centre, home to the Burnaby Velodrome, in Burnaby, British Columbia is named after Jerome, as are the weight room at his Alma Mater the University of Oregon and the track and field stadium in Prince Albert. The Stanley Park sea wall in his native Vancouver is graced with a 9-foot bronze statue of him. The annual Harry Jerome Awards, the national awards dinner for Canada's black community organized by the Black Business and Professionals Association (BBPA), is named after him. He was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1970, and inducted to the Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 1971. In 2001 he was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame, and in 2010 was named a Person of National Historical Significance (to be eligible, with the exception of Canadian Prime Ministers, the nominee must be deceased a minimum of 25 years).

Mighty Jerome[edit]

Production began in April 2009 on a feature-length biographical documentary about Harry Jerome, entitled Mighty Jerome. Directed by Charles Officer and produced by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) in Vancouver, the film was inspired by Fil Fraser’s book on Jerome, entitled Running Uphill.^[3]

NFB producer Selwyn Jacob had approached Officer — along with four other directors— in 2007 with idea of making a documentary about Jerome. Officer's proposal was selected by Jacob and the NFB, despite the fact that he had never directed a documentary before.^[4]

This black and white film uses archival footage, interviews and dramatizations to explore the life and career of the Canadian track legend. Officer recreated museum installations in Toronto, Edmonton and Vancouver to interview Jerome's contemporaries and family members. His sister Valerie refused to participate in the film, however, due to objections over his portrayal in Fraser’s book. The film features a score by Schaun Tozer. The film premiered at the Vancouver International Film Festival on October 8, 2010.^[4][5][6][7]

Achievements[edit]

• 1960 World Record 100 m: 10.0 (tied record of Armin Hary)
• 1960 Olympic Games 100 m Canadian team member
• 1961 World Record 100 yds: 9.3
• 1962 World Record 100 yds: 9.2
• 1963 World Record 60 yds Indoor: 6.0
• 1964 Summer Olympics 100 m: 3rd 10.2 / 200 m: 4th 20.7
• 1966 World Record 100 yds: 9.1
• 1966 Commonwealth Games 100 yds: 1st 9.4
• 1967 Pan American Games 100 m 1st 10.2
• 1968 Summer Olympics 100 m: 7th 10.2

References[edit]

1. ^ http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/je/valerie-jerome-1.html
2. ^ http://www.sportshall.ca/accessible/hm_profile.php?i=19
3. ^ "Charles Officer begins production on NFB Harry Jerome documentary". AfroToronto. 2009-04-19. Retrieved 2009-04-21. 
4. ^ ^{a b} Eisner, Ken (September 23, 2010). "VIFF 2010: Mighty Jerome a stylish portrait of one of Canada's greatest athletes". Georgia Straight (Vancouver). Retrieved April 16, 2011. 
5. ^ Zacharias, Yvonne (8 October 2010). "VIFF: The story of Harry Jerome is a moving piece of sports history". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved 12 January 2011. 
6. ^ Schaefer, Glen (8 October 2010). "REVIEW: Mighty Jerome". Vancouver Province. Retrieved 12 January 2011. 
7. ^ Anderson, Kelly (30 September 2010). "VIFF Preview: "Mighty Jerome"". Realscreen. Retrieved 12 January 2011. 

• "Harry Winston Jerome". Canada's Walk of Fame. Archived from the original on August 26, 2006. Retrieved July 13, 2006. 

External links[edit]

• Harry Jerome International Track Classic
• Mighty Jerome, Playlist, National Film Board of Canada (Requires Adobe Flash)
• Harry Jerome on Find-A-Grave
• University of Oregon [1]