Prince Albert Historical Society
An article in the July 16th, 1976 Prince Albert Daily Herald caught my attention. Headlined “Earl Won Gold For Prince Albert”, it told the story of how Earl Thomson was, perhaps, the closest this city could get to claiming a native son as an Olympic medalist.
Like many Prince Albertans, I had grown up thinking that we had been the home to a bronze medalist in the 1964 Olympics. Certainly, we had been led to believe that Harry Jerome, born in Prince Albert in 1940, had been our local track hero. He won a bronze medal at the 1964 Olympics, and a gold medal at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games. He also set seven world records over the course of his career. The track which circles the Max Clunie Field is named after Harry Jerome. So, who was this upstart Earl Thomson?
A good deal of research was required to discover the limited information available on him. First, the newspaper article had consistently spelled his name correctly as Thomson. Yet other articles and information about him and his family spelled it as Thompson. Was he Earl Thompson, or Earl Thomson as the article stated. Nor did the Thomson (or Thompson) family live in Prince Albert at the time of his gold medal victory, and likely they never had lived in the city. The closest I have been able to get to him having family living in this city was a great-uncle, Angus Thomson, a local area farmer who died in Prince Albert in 1919.
In the community history, Memories We Share – North of Birch Hills, compiled by the New F Historical Club in 1980, Mrs. Margaret Brewster Senior provided some information about the Thompson family (as the book spelled it). She refers to the father as Captain Thompson (we later determined his first name was John, as noted in a September 13th, 1920 Daily Herald article). According to William Larom, manager of the Saskatchewan Marble and Construction Company, the Thompson family were early settlers in the district north of Birch Hills, settling on NW 3-47A-24-W2. Larom, a family friend and longtime member of the Prince Albert Historical Society, indicated that Earl was born around 1893 (actually it was February 15, 1895), likely at their home in that district.
I managed to find only a little more information about the family. It appears that they originally farmed near Davis, and later operated a ranch about three miles across the river from the Puckahn post office. Later, they moved back to the Davis area, where they again farmed until the health of Earl’s mother required them to move to Long Beach, California. Always athletically inclined, it was there that Earl began showing great promise as a track athlete, winning the 120 yard hurdles in 1915 at the CIF California State Meet. He also placed second in the high jump competition, and was fourth in the discus throw. In 1916, Thompson joined the Royal Canadian Air Force, serving throughout the remainder of World War I. He went to the University of Southern California for a year, before winning a scholarship to Dartmouth, an Ivy League college in the state of New Hampshire.
Thomson would liked to have become a member of the United States Olympic team for the Olympiad 7 games which were held in Antwerp, Belgium in 1920. However, the family had retained their Canadian citizenship and, anyway, the United States had promising track athletes, including Harold E. Barron of the Meadowbrook Athletic Club, Philadelphia, and Fred S. Murral of the New York Athletic Club. Still holding a Canadian passport, Thomson chose to leave Dartmouth College and attach himself to the Canadian Olympic team. Why he decided to list Prince Albert as his home town is unknown, although having been born in the Prince Albert Census Division might have been the determinant.
The August 18th wire story from Antwerp reported that “Earl Thompson of Prince Albert, Sask., who is representing Canada in the Olympic games today won the final heat of the 110 metre hurdles”. Not only did Thompson win the heat, but he set a new world’s record, knocking a fifth of a second off the previous Olympic and World record of 15 seconds even. Even better, Thompson beat the two Americans, Barron and Murral, who finished second and third respectively. It was the first time that anyone other than an American had been victorious in that event.
The following day, the wire story reported that the Canadians were “elated over the brilliant performance” of Earl Thompson of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. Although there was little chance of Canada “figuring very prominently in the matter of points” owing to the comparatively small number of entries from this nation, the fact that one Canadian had “made athletic history” had greatly encouraged the Canadian contingent.
Thomson’s record in the 110 metre hurdles remained unbeaten until 1931, although it was equaled a number of times in the intervening years.
After graduating from Dartmouth, Thomson became a track and field coach, first coaching the Dartmouth track team, then the University of West Virginia track team, and finally the team from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland for 36 years. In 1930, he also participated, along with Harold Barron and another individual, in designing a new and safer hurdle which reduced the danger of bad falls and injuries.
Thomson became a member of the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame in 1949, Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1955, the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame in 1974, and the Prince Albert Sports Hall of Fame in 1989.
Thomson died of cancer in Oceanside, California, on May 19, 1971.
