Percy Williams was the world’s fastest human for a time. In these days of super-charged Olympic athletes, he was truly unique.
The following is story is from Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History
King Edward High School:
There’s a young, very thin Percy Williams in a picture of the King Edward High School track team of 1926. Williams had taken up running two years earlier when his gym teacher noticed how much faster he was than the other boys his age and bullied him into joining the track team. Two years later, he brought home two gold medals from the Olympics and became a local hero.
Percy was born in 1908 and spent a good chunk of his life on West 12th Avenue in Mount Pleasant. He was a scrawny kid, standing just five foot six and weighing 110 pounds. He had a bad heart from childhood rheumatic fever.
He was 18 when he was “discovered” while attending King Edward High School.
Coach Bob Granger:
His coach, Bob Granger, later told a reporter that he took Percy on after he tied a race with his sprint champion in 1926. “It violated every known principle of the running game,” he said. “He ran with his arms glued to his sides. It actually made me tired to watch him.”
Granger had interesting training techniques. His idea of a warm up was having Percy lie on the dressing table under a pile of blankets. Another was making him run flat out into a mattress propped up against a wall.
Unorthodox maybe, but Percy kept winning.
By 1928, he’d bulked up to 125 pounds. That was the year he brought home two gold medals for the 200 and 100 metre sprints at the Amsterdam Olympics.
Olympic Hero:
The newspapers dubbed him “Peerless Percy,” and he returned to Vancouver to a welcome from 40,000 people. Kids got the day off school and one firm came out with an “Our Percy” chocolate bar.
He was a reluctant star, and when a leg injury ended his track career in 1932, he seemed relieved. He told a reporter: “Oh, I was so glad to get out of it all.”
By 1935, the public had forgotten all about him, and city directories show him working as a salesman for Armstrong and Laing. Later he ran an insurance business.
Percy held onto his record for the 200-metre dash for 32 years—when another Vancouver boy, Harry Jerome set a new record in 1959.
In 1982, suffering from arthritis, he shot himself in the head in his West End bathtub. He was 74.
Related:
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12 comments on “Percy Williams: World’s Fastest Human”
One query:
I’ve several times passed a memorial plaque on Manitoba, just below Major Matthews Park. I know it’s dedicated to a successful Vancouver athlete… is it Percy Williams? I’ve always intended to photograph it but somehow haven’t.
Hi James: I don’t know the park, so I’m not sure – will check out next time I’m over that way. Hopefully someone can answer that for you, Cheers, Eve.
Fascinating piece Eve. That’s incredible that Vancouverites had back-to-back 200m men’s world records!
Thanks Will! Now if we can just honour our amazing female athletes– Valerie Jerome, Barbara Howard, etc. etc. so many lost to history….
A very interesting story . I’ve heard the name many times but did not know the story behind his success. I enjoy reading your articles.
Thanks so much!
Hello;
Always teach about the Percy Williams “story” in my Undergraduate course in Canadian Sport History at Grande Prairie Regional College. Given his close association with Bob Granger as his coach when he achieved most or all of his athletic accomplishments, are you able to provide any additional information on Granger; post Percy Williams. I’ve heard that Bob Granger died on the same day that Percy Williams shot himself. Is this true?
Regards,
Ray Kardas
Instructor : GPRC.
My grandfather raced against him. He came in 2nd. His name was Ken McOuat. That is a family story we tell. Many do not know who Percy was. Glad to dind this.
That’s a fantastic family story! Hope you have a photo
[…] with Charlotte Sophia (“Dot”) Williams, Percy Williams’ Mom (Percy was the “world’s fastest human” in the 1928 Amsterdam Olympic Games). Whether Howard and “Dot” were romantically […]
[…] The list of King Ed alumni includes an impressive array of Vancouver luminaries. There is philanthropist Cecil Green and broadcasters Jack Cullen and Red Robinson. Other notables to pass through the school’s corridors are Dal Grauer, president and chair of BC Power Corporation and BC Electric; Nathan Nemetz, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of BC; Grace McCarthy, politican; Yvonne De Carlo, actor; Jack Wasserman, newspaper reporter; educator Dr Annie B. Jamieson and Olympic athlete Percy Williams. […]
It was in yards then. Meters came in 1970