Charles William Paddock was an American track star who competed for the University of Southern California and was a two-time Olympic sprinting champion. In his professional career, he was a nationally-known sports journalist and eventually managed a string of newspapers. In 1981, he was portrayed in the award-winning film about the 1924 games, Chariots of Fire.
Early life Paddock was born in Gainesville, Texas, to Charles Hurd Paddock and Lulu (Robinson) Paddock. His family moved to Pasadena, California, when he was a child. He attended Throop Polytechnic from the 2nd through 8th grades. When his uncanny running speed became apparent, school officials had to overcome his father's objections to his competing.C. Fred Shoop, "Children Inspired by 'Mr Poly'," Independent Star-News, January 24, 1960.
Paddock attended Pasadena High School from 1915–18. On April 8, 1916, as a freshman, he won the 100 and 220 at the California State Meet. On April 28, 1917, at State, he finished a close 2nd in the 100, and won the 220. On April 27, 1918, at State, as a junior, Paddock won the 100 and 220, and P.H.S. won the team competition.
He skipped his senior year to attend the University of Southern California.
World War I era He interrupted his freshman year at USC to train at Camp Zachary Taylor, Louisville, Kentucky,"C.W. Paddock Leaves for Big Meet", Pasadena Star-News, May 26, 1919. from November 1918 to about January 1919, graduating as an Army 2nd lieutenant from the Field Artillery School. He restarted college in the second semester. He won the 100 and 200 m in the first major sporting event after the war, the 1919 Inter-Allied Games, in which soldiers of the Allied nations competed against each other.
University of Southern California Managed by gifted coach Dean Cromwell, Paddock lettered at USC consecutively from 1920-1923, and captained the team as a senior in 1923. He attended the university aided by an athletic scholarship. During his collegiate years, in 1921, he first set 100-yard dash world record and tied the world record in the 220-yard dash at a Berkeley, California track meet. As a tribute to his collegiate achievements, he was later honored as a member of two All-Century Teams for the Pac-10.
1920 Antwerp Olympics In 1920, Paddock represented his country at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp under Head Olympic Coach John F. Moakley, who coached track at Cornell for fifty years. In Belgium, he had his greatest successes, winning the 100 m final, while placing second in the 200 m event. With the American 4 × 100 m relay team, Paddock won a third Olympic medal. Paddock became well known for his unusual finishing style, leaping towards the finish line at the end of the race.
In 1921 year, he ran the 110 yd dash, which is slightly more than 100 m, in 10.2 seconds. It was not until 1956 that the world record for the 100 m became lower than Paddock's time over 110 yard. Paddock broke or equaled several other world records over Imperial distances.
1924, 1928 Olympics Under the management of Coach Lawson Robertson at the 1924 Paris Olympics, Paddock again qualified for both the 100 and 200 m finals, but he was less successful than four years earlier. Paddock finished 5th in the 100 m and won another silver medal in the 200 m., and was not a part of the American relay team. In Chariots of Fire, the 1981 Oscar-winning film about those races, Paddock was portrayed by Dennis Christopher.
Again under the management of Lawson Robertson in 1928, Paddock participated in his 1928 Amsterdam Olympics, running a 22.1 in the semi-final of the 200m sprint, but did not reach the final. Percy Williams of Canada took the gold with a time of 21.8, Walter Rangley of Great Britain took the silver with a time of 21.9, Helmut Kornig took the Bronze with a time of 21.9.
1932 attempted comeback
In July 1929, Paddock announced his retirement from running in a syndicated news article.Charles W. Paddock, “Why I Have Quit Running”, Kansas City Journal-Post, July 7, 1929. By early 1930, he'd changed his mind and started aiming at making his 4th Olympic team.Alan J. Gould, Sports Slants, Joplin News Herald, January 2, 1930. It didn't work out, and at the Olympics Trials, July 15–16, 1932, he was merely a spectator.
Writing career Paddock aspired to be an author from an early age.“Scott’s Novel Dramatized By Boy”, The Pasadena Star, June 12, 1914. While a 13-year-old 8th grader at Throop Polytechnic, his local Pasadena Star described him as “writing a number of stories that have won high praise from his teachers and friends.” Two of those stories were published in the paper on December 24 and 29, 1913.Charles Paddock, “St. Nicholas; The First Christmas”, Pasadena Daily News, December 24, 1913; Charles W. Paddock, “In the Forest of Mano”, Pasadena Daily News, December 29, 1913. He also edited Throop’s school paper, Elementary Life.“Boy Dramatizes Sleepy Hollow”, Los Angeles Tribune, July 26, 1915.
The following June, he impressed all concerned by dramatizing Sir Walter Scott’s narrative poem The Lay of the Last Minstrel. He also acted in the performance. The News lauded him as “the youngest dramatist in Pasadena, if not the entire state.” He followed up with dramatizations of Scott’s The Lady of the Lake and Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. For these plays he “organized, costumed and drilled companies of boys and girls of his own age and older for the presentation of these dramatizations before audiences of his elders numbering hundreds.”
At Pasadena High, he participated in debate and oration contests. For example, on April 24, 1917, as a sophomore, he won a prize for his speech on “Alcohol and Labor.”“Prize Oration Will Be Given”, Pasadena Star-News, May 12, 1917.
At USC, he wrote for the Daily Trojan, serving as editor-in-chief for the 1920–21 school year.
After attending the Inter-Allied Games, Paris, in 1919, he wrote a 10-part series about the event for the Pasadena Star-News.Charles W. Paddock, How World Honors Were Won Abroad By American Athletes, Pasadena Star-News, September 10–September 20, 1919. He followed up with two 4-part series on postwar conditions abroad.Charles W. Paddock, Since Peace Was Signed, Pasadena Star-News, September 22–September 25, 1919, and The Signing of the Peace, Pasadena Star-News, September 26–October 3, 1919. He continued as an occasional sports reporter for the Star-News. A highlight was his 12-part report on the Antwerp Olympics.Charles W. Paddock, Story of the Olympic Games, Pasadena Star-News, October 2–October 16, 1920. He joined the staff of the Star-News in this period.“Announcement”, Pasadena Star-News, March 13, 1940.
In 1921, he said that “his greatest ambition in life is to become a novelist really worth while.”D. Scott Chisholm, “Paddock’s Record List Great; Has Been Winner Since 1913”, San Francisco Call Bulletin, February 7, 1922. That year, he started a long record of appearing in mass-market magazines like Leslie's, Scientific American, and Physical Culture, generally writing about track and fitness. He eventually appeared in the most popular magazines, like the Saturday Evening Post and Collier's. He never published a novel.
After the first semester of his senior year at USC, in January 1922 he graduated with a B.A. in English. He took a break from running to devote his time to writing.“Charlie Paddock Now a Graduate”, Pasadena Star-News, January 21, 1922. He began producing sports reports for other area newspapers.
His career arc was more or less set. He wrote hundreds of articles and columns for the Star-News, while occasionally appearing in other local newspapers, and national magazines. When his reporting had broader interest, his articles were syndicated nationwide. In the 1920s, his writing was off and on as he traveled extensively to compete; once his running career wound down, he became a more productive writer.
Paddock married Neva Prisk Malaby on December 11, 1930, at the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Charles H. Prisk. Prisk published the Star-News, the Long Beach Press-Telegram, and other local papers. Neva had a son from a previous marriage, Charles Prisk Malaby (1924–2007); Paddock and Neva had one child together, Charles William Paddock, Jr. (1931–2024).
Paddock published his memoirs twice. The first was Flying Feet, serialized in six parts by Sport Story Magazine (March 8–May 22, 1928). The second was his book The Fastest Human (1932). His only other book was Track and Field (1933), a technique manual.
Following the death of the business manager on March 15, 1933, on April 1 Paddock became business manager of Prisk’s Long Beach Press-Telegram.“C.W. Paddock Takes Post at Beach”, Pasadena Star-News, March 31, 1933. In August, he was elected a director of the Press-Telegram Publishing Company.“Charles W. Paddock on Company Boards”, Pasadena Star-News, August 9, 1933. He continued to write regularly for the papers while serving in management.
After Charles H. Prisk died on March 4, 1940, Paddock was elected vice president and general manager of Prisk’s newspapers. He was essentially editor-in-chief though the title was left in Prisk’s name to honor his memory.
Columnist (As an adult, Paddock typically bylined his work Charles W. Paddock or Charley Paddock.)
Sport Sidelights, Pasadena Star-News, August 2, 1921–October 28, 1922 Pasadena Champions, Pasadena Star-News, March 25, 1931–March 19, 1940 Spikes, Pasadena Star-News, January 5, 1931–March 13, 1940 Sports of the Week, Long Beach Sun, Pasadena Post, June 7, 1932–February 25, 1940 Birthdays of Champions, Pasadena Post, Long Beach Press-Telegram, October 1, 1932–December 12, 1934 Youth Speaks, Pasadena Star-News, April 3, 1933–October 7, 1940 Sportorials, Long Beach Press-Telegram, September 10, 1936–March 14, 1940 Thoughts of the Day, Pasadena Star-News, November 27, 1936–July 9, 1942
Selected magazine articles “The Psychology of Running”, Leslie's, June 11, 1921 “The Science of Athletics”, Scientific American, October 8, 1921 “Superstition Helps Me to Win Races”, Physical Culture, June 1922 “Our Super-Swimmers”, Physical Culture, October 1922 “How Did Nurmi Do It?”, Physical Culture, January 1925 The Glory of the Game, Sport Story Magazine, May 8–July 22, 1925 [6-part serial on American sports triumphs] “Douglas the Daring”, Strength, October 1925 [portrait of Douglas Fairbanks] “What Do Athletics Get You?”, McClure's, March 1928 Flying Feet, Sport Story Magazine, March 8–May 22, 1928 [6-part memoir] “A Word to Young Athletes”, Sport Story, July 22, 1928 “Why Athletes Fail in Pictures”, Photoplay, September 1928 “One Out of Ten”, Saturday Evening Post, June 29, 1929 “No Son of Mine”, Collier's, August 17, 1929 “Chief Bright Path”, Collier's, October 5–October 26, 1929 [4-part portrait of Jim Thorpe] “The Record Breakers”, Saturday Evening Post, November 2, 1929 [sprinters] “He Lives to Run”, Collier's, May 31, 1930 [Paavo Nurmi] “Booze Beats Our Athletes”, Collier's, June 14, 1930 “The Boy in Athletics”, Saturday Evening Post, June 21, 1930 “Are Women Good Sports?”, The New Smart Set, July 1930 “S-t-r-e-t-c-h”, Cosmopolitan, November 1930 “All Time All-American Track Team”, College Humor, April 1931 “Douglas Fairbanks at 50”, Physical Culture, May 1931 “We Just Don’t Care”, Sport Story, November 10, 1931 “If You Think You Can—”, Collier's, November 28, 1931 “Pick-Up”, Collier's, April 16, 1932 [acceleration in sprinting] “Big Ben”, Collier's, April 23, 1932 “Falling Star”, Collier's, April 15, 1933 “The Metric Mystery”, College Humor and Sense, June 1933 “Grandstand”, Esquire, Autumn 1933 [why champions fade] “Fleeting Little Fella”, Collier's, September 23, 1939
Selected newspaper articles How World Honors Were Won Abroad By American Athletes, Pasadena Star-News, September 10–September 20, 1919 [10-part series on the Inter-Allied Games]