The All Time Hall of Fame
Below are profiles of fifteen of the finest legends to have pulled on the
Dark Blue vest of OUAC.
One athlete has been chosen from each of the fifteen complete decades in
which the club has been in existence - dating back to the year 1850.
This list is not intended to represent the fifteen greatest athletes from the
club's all-time membership. It is not a "top 15" chart. Indeed, some
decades produced legends who would have easily qualified for the all time
Hall of Fame in another era.
We do also not purport to claim that our choice of athlete as legend of the decade
is indisputably the right one. Even for those who sat down over a few
pints and picked over the club's history, there was not unanimity in the
final decisions. A number of legends such as Lord Arthur Porritt, Tom
Hampson, Derek Johnson, David Hemery and Lord Jeffrey Archer were
controversially overlooked for selection.
However, what has always distinguished those who were chosen from those who
were not, was the balance that was struck between the athlete in question
not only having competed successfully on the international stage, but also
having contributed significantly to OUAC during their time at University. This is why Roger Bannister is
found in the 1940's and not the 1950's.
The profiles of our 15 greatest OUAC legends are all based on historical
fact. In the spirit of OUAC however, where we have the chance to lambast
the Tabs, or put our tongues in our cheeks, we have not let that
opportunity pass us by.
| Decade | 1850's |
| Name | Halifax Wyatt |
| College | Exeter |
| Event | Two mile steeplechase, 100 yards, most others |
Halifax is firstly worthy of the title "OUAC Legend", just for his
ridiculous name. Hal was one of the great minds behind organizing the
world's first Athletics Sports, back in the hazy summer of 1850, an event
that undoubtedly set a precedent from which the modern day athletics
programme has directly evolved. At the event itself, Hal was on fire. He
first won the two mile steeplechase, running away from two others in the
final straight. Of the flat races held on the same afternoon on Port
Meadow, Hal also won the 100 yards and numerous other short races. His
range of distance and exceptional endurance makes him comparable to a
modern day Aouita or Ovett.
| Decade | 1860's |
| Name | Clement N Jackson |
| College | Magdalen Hall |
| Event | 120 yard hurdles |
By all accounts, Clement Jackson has been one of the greatest influences in
the development of the OUAC. As a young athlete, Jackson was a gifted
hurdler, winning the high hurdles at the fourth Varsity Sports of 1867,
with a time of 17.8s. Jackson improved to 16.0s, a British record and quite
possibly a World record, although no international body existed back then
to ratify such things. A.C.Croome (Magdalen) had this to say of Jackson's
Varsity win:
"Cambridge were represented by two good men, but they caught C.N.Jackson in
his best fencing form and over the last few flights, had a good opportunity
to watch his management of his back leg. Jackson was not so tall as most
hurdlers; indeed he was forced to take four steps instead of three between
his fences; that meant taking off on alternate feet. To do this
successfully implied supreme skill and unwearied practise. To beat record,
as Jackson did on another occasion, in spite of the handicap, is the mark
of genius."
In 1869, following his election as a Don of Hertford and after a year as
Club Auditor, Jackson took over as Senior Treasurer of OUAC, a position he
held for some sixty years! As treasurer, he guided the club towards a
position of international prominence and he himself became renowned as an
authority figure within the sport. Jackson's efforts on behalf of the club
went way beyond his duties as treasurer, being relied upon as a mentor and
coach to the club's members. As a trusted official, Jackson was called
upon to determine who had won in a close finish at the Varsity Sports. It
is estimated that OUAC owes perhaps twenty Varsity match victories to his
dark Blue bias and disdain for Cambridge.
| Decade | 1870's |
| Name | Marshall J Brooks |
| College | Brasenose |
| Event | High Jump, Long Jump |
Marshall Brooks was an excellent sportsman: a Rugby International and a
long jumper of some note. Brooks' greatest talent however was as a high
jumper. At the Varsity Sports of 1876, in his year as President of OUAC,
Brooks jumped a world record height of 6ft 2.5'' (1m89) in front of a
12,000 capacity crowd at Lillie Bridge. His World Record stood for ten
years, his Varsity record for seventy-two. Brooks jumped with his knees
tucked up in front, head first, with a forward jerk and landed on his toes.
His record jump was so impressive that the Scottish professional athlete,
Donald Dinnie wrote to the press, attempting to prove on a priori grounds
that the height Brooks achieved was beyond what was humanly possible.
| Decade | 1880's |
| Name | Frank J. Cross |
| College | New |
| Event | 880 yards, Mile |
Rev. Frank Cross was a tall runner blessed with a wonderful talent for
running. He dominated the Varsity Sports mile during his time at Oxford,
winning for four years in succession from 1886 - 1889. Two of those four
wins improved the Varsity record, establishing a record in his final year
of 4:23.6. In his final two years at Oxford, Cross was president of OUAC.
Cross was unfortunate to be born fifteen or so years too early to compete
in the 880 yards at the Varsity Sports, as it had not yet been granted a
place in the programme. He became world record holder in this event in
1888, running the magnificent time of 1:54.4. H.C.L.Tindall (Christs,
Cambridge) made the following remarks on Cross:
"F.J.K.Cross may justly be described as the best athlete Oxford has
produced. No mean performer over the hundred, he has done a quarter inside
level time (50s), 600 yards in record time, a half in 1:54.4 and a mile in
4:32.4, besides covering over 21ft when he dabbled in long jumping. Such
pace and stamina are rarely combined and he added fine judgement to the
talents nature had already endowed him with. Moving in beautifully easy
style with a fine natural stride, he always appeared to be running well
within himself and with the exception of his first year, when Waters got
within 8 yards of him at the finish, he won all his races against Cambridge
without any apparent effort."
| Decade | 1890's |
| Name | Cecil B Fry |
| College | Wadham |
| Event | Long Jump, 100 yards |
C.B.Fry was a true OUAC legend, a great role model for the youth of today.
Often referred to as Britain's greatest ever all-round athlete, Fry
competed for his country in Football, Cricket and Athletics. Fry captained
all three University teams simultaneously at Oxford and as a point of
principle, listed himself in the OUAC club membership three times: once as
president of OUAC and twice as an honorary member in light of his other
roles. Fry's greatest achievement in athletics was undoubtedly his world
record leap of 23ft 6.5'' (7m17) set at the University Sports in 1892. At
the world's first international match, Oxford v Yale at White City, in
1894, Fry won both the long jump and 100 yards, though his sprint victory
caused some controversy. Whilst the Americans sprinters started in the
crouch position on all fours, the British had not yet adopted this style
and stood poised at the line. Fry insisted that he be allowed to suspend
one foot in front of the starting line, hovering in mid-air, above the
ground. This small advantage appears to have been just enough to allow Fry
to get ahead and win the race. Fry's adult life and career were notorious.
Fry wrote books on cricket, stood for parliament, became a delegate to the
League of Nations, commanded a naval training school and even spent a short
time in Hollywood.
| Decade | 1900's |
| Name | Westley W Coe |
| College | Hertford |
| Event | Shot Put |
Wesley Coe was an American Shot Putter of some renown. In 1902, he won the
Shot at the Varsity Sports with a meeting record of 43ft 10'' (13m36), a
record that stood for 34 years, until beaten by Cambridge's Turkish
international, Irfan. It would have been good to see Coe and Irfan have a
wrestle, as both men were enormous. Coe became OUAC's second ever Olympic
medallist at the 1904 Games in St Louis, where he won silver. The following
year, he broke the world record with a massive throw of 49ft 6'' (15m09).
| Decade | 1910's |
| Name | Arnold N Strode-Jackson |
| College | Brasenose |
| Event | Mile |
Arnold Jackson, nephew to C.N.Jackson (see above) was the first Olympic
Champion to come out of the OUAC ranks. He won the 1500m at the Stockholm
Olympics in 1912, scraping home by the narrowest of margins in 3:56.8, an
Olympic record. His Olympic title came shortly after the first of his three
Varsity wins in the mile. The first was remembered for the greeting he
received from his proud uncle on crossing the line, with C.N.Jackson
waiting by the tape with arms open and aloft. The younger Jackson was not
the first great miler Oxford had produced; far from it, his membership of
the team only reinforced the tradition already established there, a feature
of the team which was to become magnified further still over the next four
decades.
| Decade | 1920's |
| Name | Bevil G D'U Rudd |
| College | Trinity |
| Event | 440 yards, 880 yards |
Bevil Rudd was instrumental in getting athletics at Oxford back on its feet
after a prolonged absence during and immediately following the First World
War. Rudd had already earnt his Blue in the quarter-mile before the war. On
returning to Oxford, he was elected President of the club, a position he
held for two years. As soon as Hilary (spring) term 1919, Rudd had
organized the return of the University Sports and other pre-war fixtures.
Rudd played a pivotal role in renewing the Americas Series and in
establishing the first Varsity Field Events match in 1920. Rudd's crowning
moment came at the Antwerp Olympics of 1920, where he achieved a clean
sweep of medals: gold in the 400m, silver in the 4x400m anchoring home the
South African team and bronze in the 800m; an outstanding performance.
| Decade | 1930's |
| Name | Jack E Lovelock |
| College | Exeter |
| Event | Mile, Three Miles |
Jack Lovelock arrived at Oxford in 1931 as a Rhodes Scholar from New
Zealand. There he was met by the then OUAC President, Jerry Cornes, a
British miler of some pedigree. At the Varsity Sports of 1932, the pair
dead-heated in the mile, making a mockery of the challenge from Cambridge.
Later that season, Lovelock produced a remarkable run bringing him
immediate international recognition. In the club's annual match against
the AAA's, Jackko nailed it from the gun, running the first lap in a
ludicrously fast 57 seconds. Despite following this with two modest laps in
which he was forced to recover from his initial onslaught, Jack was able to
muster another sub-60s last lap to finish with a time of 4:12.0, the third
fastest mile of all time. OUAC coach, Bill Thomas was so frustrated with
his pupil's failure to run even-paced that he stamped on his own bowler
hat. Lovelock's next epic run came the following season, during the
Oxford-Cambridge US tour. In the match against Princeton, Lovelock faced
the mighty American Bill Bonthrom. Both runners finished under the previous
world record, with Lovelock winning with apparent ease in 4:07.6. The
following year, Jackko was elected to President of OUAC and despite
suffering reoccurring knee injuries, led the team to a sound victory over
Cambridge at the Sports. Jackko's greatest run came in 1936 at the Berlin
Olympics. In what was widely recognised as the greatest 1500m field ever
produced, Lovelock achieved an incredible victory, overcoming his opponents
with an extended sprint from home with 300 metres to go, something never
done before. His time of 3:47.8 was a world record. The BBC commentary to
the race was provided by Jack's good friend, Harold Abrahams, winner of
the 100 yards in the 1924 Paris Olympics. Abrahams completely lost the plot
during the race and the transcription of his garbled words are now
legendary.
| Decade | 1940's |
| Name | Roger Bannister |
| College | Exeter |
| Event | Miles |
OUAC's most famous alumnus, Roger Bannister, achieved the seemingly
impossible when he became the first man to run a sub 4 minute mile on May
6th 1954. Paced by his two training partners from Oxford and Cambridge and
staging the record attempt at his beloved Iffley Road in a fixture against
his old club, OUAC, the setting for this phenomenal run could not have been
more appropriate. In 1954, Bannister was finishing his clinical study at
London; his medical studies had started at Oxford back in 1946. His debut
run at Iffley Road in the Freshmen's Sports was not eye-catching; he
finished second to T.P.E. Curry (Oriel) in the mile and was consequently
not picked for the Freshmen's match against Cambridge. Nevertheless,
Bannister trained hard through the winter and was regularly seen brushing
the snow and ice off the track before each session. Bannister first showed
his talent at the Varsity Sports the following term, where having been
picked as only the third string, ran away from the field to win quite
unexpectedly. This was the first of Bannister's four consecutive wins, the
last two revising the Varsity record. Bannister was elected President of
OUAC in 1949 and proved to be an excellent administrator, pushing for the
renovation of the track at Iffley Rd (then still a 3 lap to the mile track,
ran anti-clockwise) and virtually single-handedly organizing the return of
the US Series, leading a victorious Oxford-Cambridge team on their 1949
tour. Despite never winning an Olympic medal (Bannister finished 4th in the
1500m final at Helsinki 1952), Bannister's 1954 season was quite
outstanding. Following on from his record-breaking run at Oxford, Bannister
won the European title, before travelling to the Commonwealth Games in
Vancouver for a show-down with John Landy, by then the world's second four
minute miler and the new world record holder. In this notorious race,
Bannister shadowed Landy who set a relentlessly hard pace, finally
sprinting past the Australian as they came round the final bend into the
home straight. Both men finished under the magical four minute barrier.
| Decade | 1950's |
| Name | Chris J Chataway |
| College | Madgalen |
| Event | Three Miles, Mile |
Chris Chataway is probably most famous for pacing Bannister to his record
run in 1954. Yet Chataway was not only an exceptional runner in his own
right, but also ran some of the most intriguing and brilliant middle
distance races ever seen. Chataway arrived at Oxford in 1950, already known
for his running pedigree. However, OUAC had to work hard to tear him away
from his other love, rugby. In each of his three years, Chataway won the
Varsity mile and the Varsity X-Country, twice revising Bannister's record
at the Sports. In 1952, Chataway went to the Olympics in Helsinki where he
faced an exceptional field in the 5000m, including the great legend, Emil
Zatopek. In the final, Chataway led a group of four round the last lap, but
tripped across the curb on entering the back straight. He scrambled to his
feet but the three other runners had got away. Chataway crossed the line in
fifth, ten seconds inside his previous best, winded and only
semi-conscious. The following year, Chataway was President of OUAC and
doubled up at the Sports to win both the mile and three miles. Like
Bannister, Chataway had a near-faultless year in 1954. It is unsurprising
then that it was Chataway rather than Bannister who was awarded the first
BBC Sports Personality Award in that year. Chataway was narrowly beaten in
the European Championships 5000m by the Russian Vladimir Kutz, both
recording the same time of 13:56.6. After winning the Commonwealth title in
Vancouver, Chataway faced a rematch with Kutz at a special race organized
at the White City stadium. Watched by a 35,000 capacity crowd and 12
million television viewers, Chataway won, again by the narrowest of
margins, both runners ducking under the previous world record. Chataway
later worked in television and as an MP. When Jeffrey Archer became
President of OUAC, thirteen years after Chataway, Archer often referred to
him as being a great hero and someone in whoses footsteps he would like to
follow.
| Decade | 1960's |
| Name | Adrian P Metcalfe |
| College | Madgalen |
| Event | 440 yards, 100 yards, 220 yards |
Adrian Metcalfe was one of the most dominant athletes in the history of the
Varsity match. A tall, rangy and confident athlete, Metcalfe spent most of
his time in OUAC unbeaten. The more races he won, the greater the air of
invincibility that surrounded him, helping Metcalfe to reinforce his
reputation and demoralizing his opponents. In 1962, Metcalfe won a dazzling
triple over the 100, 220 and 440 yards at the Varsity Sports, all in record
time: 9.7s, 21.0s and 47.0s respectively. The following year, Metcalfe was
elected to OUAC President and won his second AAA title over 440 yards.
Metcalfe achieved the greatest number of individual wins recorded at the
Varsity match, with nine wins set over four years. In international
competition, he came 4th in the European Championships final in 1962 and
there won a silver medal as part of the British 4x440 yards team. Metcalfe
won another relay silver at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964, before settling
down as an athletics commentator for ITV.
| Decade | 1970's |
| Name | Julian N Goater |
| College | St Edmund Hall |
| Event | 5000m, 1500m, X-Country |
Julian Goater was one of a host of exceptional middle distance talents in
OUAC during the 70's (others include Craig Masback and Phil Lewis). Goater
had a long and successful career as an international athlete, over
X-Country and middle distance. In his first year at Oxford, he broke the
5000m Varsity record, clocking 13:51.8, a record that still stands today.
In the following two years, the second of which saw him elected as club
President, Goater won the 1500m and 5000m double at the Varsity match, as
well as recording two wins in the X-Country Varsity. Goater's greatest
performances came in the early 80's, when he won the National
Cross-Country title by a record margin of just under 2 minutes. He went on
to finish 4th in the World Cross Country Championships, which in light of
the African dominance of this event was an exceptional performance. In
1982, he won Commonwealth bronze over 10,000m in Brisbane, Australia. His
best times over 5000m and 10,000m (13:15.58 and 27:34.58 respectively)
would place him way ahead of our best British runners today.
Julian's efforts as club president in the 1970s also contributed to the introduction of
womens' athletics to OUAC - and indeed CUAC - through the inaugural womens' varsity match in 1974. During this
time, OUAC also secured the funding and undertook the planning to completely renovate and relay the Iffley Road track, which until 1976 was cinder.
| Decade | 1980's |
| Name | Simon J Mugglestone |
| College | Hertford |
| Event | 5000m, 1500m, X-Country |
Muggsy is another middle distance maestro from the club. Whilst being
another unique talent, what made Muggsy stand out was his status as being
completely mental. Reading through Muggsy's President's reports from the
club newsletter archive, preserved in the Bodleian library, it is
immediately apparent that his approach to the club and to the sport was
highly irregular. Muggsy would begin his report with the welcome, "Hi
smellies!". He referred to the other blues athletes as "punters" and
named his year as president, "The Year of the Stick", encouraging members
of the club to develop a body similar to his own. As an athlete, Muggsy was
outstanding and was unfortunate that an achilles injury prevented him from
achieving more success. On arriving at Oxford in 1987, Muggsy was being
labelled the next white hope of middle distance running. In his first year
at Oxford, he won the X-Country Varsity match and in the summer, the 1500m
and 5000m at the Varsity match, establishing a new Varsity record in the
former. Later that summer, Muggsy defeated the five time world cross
country champion and recently crowned Olympic champion over 5000m, John
Ngugi at an international match in Portsmouth. In each of the three
following years, Muggsy repeated his X-Country Varsity win, and the middle
distance double at the Varsity match. In 1990, the 1500m race was changed
back to the mile, to allow an assault on Bannister's track record at
Iffley Road, still standing 36 years later. Muggsy broke the record,
running 3:43.1 for 1500m, a Varsity record, en route to a 3:58.9 mile. The
record still stands today.
| Decade | 1990's |
| Name | Stephanie Cook |
| College | Lincoln |
| Event | 3000m, 5000m, X-Country, Modern Pentathlon |
Steph Cook studied medicine at Cambridge before moving to Oxford for her
clinical course. At Cambridge, she was a boatie. Steph was clearly in all
kinds of problems. Her arrival at Oxford in 1994 marked the end of the
madness. Steph soon developed a liking for her running. In her second year,
she showed considerable improvement, coming second in the Varsity X-Country
and winning the 3000m at the Varsity Match, the event's final year in the
Varsity programme before being replaced with the 5000m. In her final year,
Steph made more progress, winning the Varsity X-Country and placing an
impressive 7th in the Nationals. Later in the year, she won the inaugural
Varsity women's 5000m. By this time, Steph had developed another love, the
modern pentathlon and she was very good at that too. At Sydney, she became
OUAC's first female Olympic champion and our first since David Hemery in
1968. Her win in the Olympic's first Modern Pentathlon competition was
achieved with a storming run in the last event, lifting her from 8th to 1st
in the overall standings. The following year, Steph retired from the sport
and returned to medicine after winning 3 golds at the Modern Petathlon
World Champs, in the team, relay and individual events.
More details about her success at the Sydney Olympics are in a
BBC News report.
