Pedestrianism As A Sport...!

Before baseball became the nation's favorite sport, the main attraction was a sport called pedestrianism was a national pastime.

As in all sports, the leaders quickly became superstars and heroes. Here is the story of one of them from Atlas Obscura.

The ‘Pedestrian’ Who Became One of America’s First Black Sports Stars

In 1880, Frank Hart wowed audiences at New York’s Madison Square Garden by walking 565 miles in six days.

BY DAVID SEIDEMAN APRIL 17, 2018

Frank Hart, taken by an unidentified artist, circa 1880, albumen silver print. NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY, SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION

ON APRIL 10, 1880, NEW York’s original Madison Square Garden was packed with sports fans. Men in the arena roared. Ladies waved their handkerchiefs. A band struck up “Home Sweet Home,” the classic 1823 American folk ballad. They had come to see Frank Hart, one of the best “pedestrians” of his day.

“I’ll break those white fellows’ hearts!” Hart, an immigrant from Haiti, vowed before the race. “I will—you hear me!”

Eighteen men competed in the race. Three of them were African Americans, including Hart. After Hart crossed the victory line, fans showered him with bouquets of flowers. His trainer handed him a broomstick to hold the American flag aloft during his victory laps.

Hart had won a “six-day go-as-you-please” endurance race. “The rules were simple,” explained Mile High Card Company, a sports auction house, in 2010. “Participants, called ‘pedestrians’ were free to run, walk, crawl, and scratch their way around an oval track as many times as possible in the course of six days, sleeping on cots within the oval, and usually for less than four hours per day.” Hart set a new world record by walking 565 miles, or 94 miles per day. His prize was $21,567, including $3,600 he legally betted on himself. It was the equivalent of almost a half million dollars today.

Hart broke racial barriers in sports just 12 years after African-Americans achieved full citizenship with the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. And yet, in the 21st century, he has been largely forgotten. However, the recent discovery of a Frank Hart trading card, now for sale through Heritage Auctions, the nation’s largest collectibles auction house, has illuminated his legacy once more.

The very fact that these guys managed to do that many miles walking or running for 6 days just boggles my mind.You can read the rest of the story right here.

Coffee out on the patio one more time before the weather changes again.

Strange Entertainment For Tuesday...!

Sometimes I do believe that we go way too far in the search for some entertainment. This was particularly true during the Victorian era.

In the days before television, going to a sporting event meant attending one in person. Amazingly some of these events became very popular and had some super stars (their version, anyway ).

Pedestrianism

Photo credit: Joseph Becker.

In the 19th century, competitive walking was the most popular spectator sport in America. The sport, known as pedestrianism, was born out boredom by the people who migrated to the cities after the Civil War and needed a new form of entertainment. In filled arenas, competitors walked around tracks almost nonstop from Mondays to Saturdays in front of spectators. (Sundays were excluded because public amusement was not allowed on that day.) The competitors walked to see who could cover the most distance during the race’s duration. Some of these competitors would reportedly walk up to 160 kilometers (100 mi) in 24 hours.

The sport was so popular that celebrities were known to visit arenas during the event. Future president Chester Arthur was a regular spectator at the arena. As in modern sports, there were rivalries among the stars, who earned a fortune from the prize money and sponsorship deals. There were scandals over fixing games and over drugs.

Pedestrianism was eventually replaced by competitive cycling after the invention of the safety bicycle by John Starley in 1885.

Somehow I have a hard time finding any excitement in watching someone walking around a race track. Doesn't really get my juices flowing, ya know?

Coffee out on the patio this morning. We can watch the grass grow for excitement!