Betty Robinson

Athlete

• Born: August 23, 1911
• Birthplace: Riverdale, Illinois
• Died: May 18, 1999
• Place of death: Denver, Colorado

Sport: Track and field (sprints)

Early Life

Elizabeth “Betty” or “Babe” Robinson Schwartz was born in Riverdale Illinois, a small town south of Chicago, to Harry and Elizabeth Robinson. The youngest of three girls, she attended Bowen Grammar School; Thornton Township High School in Harvey, Illinois; and Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. She married Richard Schwartz, Jr., an upholsterer, in 1939, and had two children, Richard and Jane.

According to Betty, her running career began when Thornton High School’s track coach, C. B. Price, happened to see her running to catch a train and was impressed with her speed. He timed her in a 50-yard run in the school corridor. Three weeks later, in March of 1928, she finished second to Helen Filkey, the 100-meter U.S. record holder, in a meet.

The Road to Excellence

Within only four months, Betty won the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) women’s championship for short-distance running. In September, 1928, she beat Filkey’s record in the 100-yard dash, finishing in 12 seconds, and placed second to compete in the American Olympic trials.

On July 31, 1928, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, at the age of sixteen, Betty became the first American woman to compete in and win an Olympic gold medal for the 100-meter dash. These Olympic Games were the first in which women were allowed to compete, and Betty won only four months after she had begun to train. The Americans sailed to Amsterdam and worked out on a linoleum track on the ship’s deck. Betty was the only American woman to qualify for the finals in the 100 meters. Her winning time was 12.2 seconds, in only her fourth competitive race. She also won a silver medal with the 4 100-meter relay team.

The Emerging Champion

On its return to the United States, the Olympic team was given a ticker-tape parade down Broadway Avenue in were chosen and State Street in Chicago. Betty was dubbed the “Olympic Queen.” On August 28, 1928, in a thirteen-mile parade through Riverdale and neighboring towns, 20,000 people turned out to cheer Betty. She was the first person selected for the local newspaper’s hall of fame. Her high school awarded her a silver cup, and her hometown of Riverdale bought her a diamond ring.

Betty returned to finish high school and began to train for the 1932 Olympics. In 1931, as a student at Northwestern University, she was captain of the rifle team. She was also a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma, a women’s fraternity later known as a sorority, and was the first woman to receive a varsity letter from Northwestern.

In 1929, Betty was the national AAU champion for both the 50- and the 100-meter dashes. She set the world record in the 100-meter race with a time of 11.20 seconds. In 1931, she set a world record at the national AAU 200-meter race, with a winning time of 25.1 seconds.

Continuing the Story

In 1931, Betty suffered a severe injury when a biplane piloted by her cousin crashed. She suffered a concussion, a broken leg, and a crushed arm. The man who found her thought she was dead, put her in the trunk of his car, and took her to a mortuary. When the mortuary employees discovered she was alive, they took her to the Oak Forest Infirmary. Unconscious for seven weeks, she was in a hip-to-heel cast and was told she would never walk again. Doctors inserted a pin in her leg, which ended up an inch shorter than her healthy leg. Betty missed the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics but competed in the 1936 Berlin Games, where the American team soundly outclassed Adolf Hitler’s German team. Betty could not bend her knee for a crouching start in the 100 meters, but she ran the third leg in the 4 100-meter relay, winning the gold medal.

In September, 1936, Betty received a medal from New York City’s mayor Fiorello La Guardia. At the New York parade, which included African American track star Jesse Owens, Betty rode in the third car with the fighter Jack Dempsey. Afterward, she retired from running but continued to be involved in the sport as a coach and motivational speaker.

In 1966, Betty was inducted into the Helm’s Hall Gymnastic Hall of Fame as an outstanding woman athlete of Illinois. She was also inducted into the Roseland-Pullman Area Sports Hall of Fame in Chicago, in 1972, followed by selection, in 1977, to the USA Track and Field Hall of Fame. In 1984, she was a charter inductee of the Northwestern University Athletic Hall of Fame for the pioneer era for graduates of fifty or more years before 1984. On September 19, 1992, the Riverdale Centennial Committee put up a plaque in her hometown commemorating her Olympic medals. She died of complications from cancer and Alzheimer’s disease in Colorado in 1999.

Summary

Betty Robinson’s 12.2-second winning time in 1928 broke the world record. Betty’s natural ability enabled her to win the Olympic gold at a young age, with little training. As the first woman gold medalist in the 100 meters, Betty set a precedent for subsequent generations of women sprinters.

Bibliography

Nitz, Kristin Wolden, and Andy King. Play-by-Play Track. Minneapolis: Lerner Sports, 2004.

Sears, Edward S. Running Through the Ages. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2001.

Tricard, Louise Mead. American Women’s Track and Field: A History, 1895 Through 1980. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 1996.

Wallechinsky, David, and Jaime Loucky. The Complete Book of the Olympics: 2008 Edition. London: Aurum Press, 2008.