Penn. As a pistol shot started the 175-yard dash at Philadelphia, Charles Paddock jumped away from the line while the nearest spectators leaned over the brick wall of the grandstand to watch him. Badly made and softened by dampness, the wall broke and onto the track tumbled spectators and debris. One old man fell square into the path of Paddock who jumped over him and then swerved to avoid debris, pounded on to cross the finish line in 17 2/5 sec., a world's record.
Burly Tony Plansky, once of Georgetown, won the Decathlon and a...
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