Athletics - Club Championship

St. Louis 1904

As was customary at Athletics Championships in the USA at the time, Athletics Clubs from around the country competed for a Club Championship.
A win gave the club 5 points, second was 3 points, third and fourth gave 2 and 1 points.
There is ample evidence that such a classification was calculated during the Olympic week of 29 August - 3 September.
Both Spalding's Athletic Almanac for 1905 and The Olympic Games by Charles J.P. Lucas give the final standings, and they seem to be consistent with the result calculated during the Games. They are very similar, as they both have grouped together the same competitors in "unattached".

There are however differences between the two tables. I believe that the table in Lucas is correct, and it is this one I reproduce here. The table in Spalding's has two differences, which I consider mistakes:

I believe these are indeed mistakes, since the final close result (60 against 59) by which New York won the competition is recounted as resulting from their win scoring 5 points against 3 and thus overtaking Chicago in the last event, the team race. Moreover, the results and attributions in Lucas are consistent with all data.

The result of the Tug-of-War is doubly interesting in the light of this close finish. Chicago had not fielded a team in this competition, but several athletes from Chicago represented Milwaukee, and won the competition. New York did field a team, and they were drawn bye in the first round. Losing to Milwaukee and forfeiting their last match gave them a fourth place and one point. Chicago protested, but the single point stood and it would mean the final victory for New York.

  1. New York Athletic Club (60 points) (unyna)
  2. Chicago Athletic Association (59 points) (uilca)
  3. Milwaukee Athletic Club (47 points) (uwima)
  4. Greater New York Irish Athletic Association (31 points) (unyni)
  5. Spalding and Lucas have "unattached" in fifth place, with a total of 21 points, but I have listed the individuals in their correct place below (marked with **)
  6. Southwest Turnverein, St. Louis (9 points) (umosw)
  7. Greece, or the Pannelllinios Gymnastikos Syllogos (7 points) (gre)
  8. Louisville YMCA (6 points) (ukyly)
  9. McKinney, Texas (**) (6 points) (utxmi)
  10. New West Side Athletic Club, New York (6 points) (unynw)
  11. Cornell University (4 + 2 ** = 6 points) (unyiu)
    The Almanac counts only 4 points for Cornell University, while Ashburner's 2 points are credited to "Unattached". Ashburner is listed in today's databases as belonging to "Big Red", but that is the nickname of the Cornell University sports teams only after 1905! Since I have no other information about Ashburner, I add his points to Cornell University's total
  12. Cambridgeport YMCA (5 points) (umacy)
  13. Franklin Athletic Club, Cleveland (**) (5 points) (uohlf)
  14. Montréal Athletic Club (5 points) (cquma)
  15. Kansas City Athletic Club (4 points) (cmoka)
  16. Mohawk Athletic Club, New York (4 points) (unynm)
  17. Princeton Tigers (3 points) (unjpt)
    Spalding adds these three points to the tally of NYAAC.
  18. Indiana Hoosiers, Bloomington (**) (3 points) (uinbh)
  19. Ireland, or rather the Gaelic Athletic Association (3 points) (irl)
  20. National Turnverein, Newark (3 points) (unjnn)
  21. Yale Buldogs, New Haven (**) (3 points) (uctny)
  22. Germany (2 points) (ger)
    Presumably, a team called "Germany" could not officially take part in the club championship, as it was not a true "club" but rather a national selection. For the same reason, Germany was not allowed to participate in Water Polo.
  23. Hungary (1 point) (hun)
  24. Cuba (1 point) (cub)
  25. Keokuk YMCA (**) (1 point) (uiaky)
  26. Missouri Athletic Club (1 point) (umosm)
  27. St. Louis YMCA and individuals (**) (1 point) (umosi)
  28. South Africa, or the Boer Team
  29. Tswana Tribe, South Africa
  30. Pastime Athletic Club of New York (unynp)
  31. Cambridgeport Gymnasium (umacg)
  32. Pacific Athletic Association of San Fransisco (ucasp)
  33. West End Pleasure Club, Hamilton, Ont., Canada (0 points) (can)
  34. Melburnian Hare & Hounds, Melbourne
  35. Mott Haven Athletic Club of New York (unynm)
  36. St. Philipps Athletic Association
  37. St. Alphonsus AA of Roxbury, Mass. (umara)
  38. Xavier Athletic Association of New York (unynx)
  39. National Athletic Club of New York (unynn)
  40. Star Athletic Club of New York (unyns)
  41. Brookln YMCA (unynb)
  42. Iowa Blackeyes of Iowa City (uioib)


Written 2019-08-22 - last modified 2023-03-23

This page is part of the site "Full Olympians" by Herman De Wael. See here for a full Introduction.