William John Sherring (September 18, 1877 – September 5, 1964) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

athlete of English and Irish descent, winner of the

marathon race The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road running, road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also w ...

at the

1906 Intercalated Games The 1906 Intercalated Games or 1906 Olympic Games was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated in Athens, Greece. They were at the time considered to be Olympic Games and were referred to as the "Second International Olympic Games i ...

(or 1906 Olympic Games, as they were at the time considered to be). Spyridon Louis, The Olympic Marathon (National Historical Museum, Athens)

During the decade of the early 1900s, Sherring, from

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of T ...

was acknowledged to be a world class marathoner. He had won a second place behind a fellow countryman Jack Caffery at the

Boston Marathon The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon race hosted by several cities and towns in greater Boston in eastern Massachusetts, United States. It is traditionally held on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897, the event was i ...

in 1900. He also had won the Hamilton

Around the Bay Road Race The Around the Bay Road Race (ATB) is a long distance road race annually in Hamilton, Ontario. The event currently features a 30 kilometer race, a 5 kilometer race, relay races, and virtual races. First held in 1894, it is the oldest long dist ...

on two occasions. In 1906, Sherring – an athlete of St. Patrick's Athletic Club – was chosen to represent Canada in the Athens Olympic Games. However, it was left up to him, a working man with meager resources (he was a brakeman at the

Grand Trunk Railway The Grand Trunk Railway (; french: Grand Tronc) was a railway system that operated in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario and in the American states of Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The rai ...

), to finance his journey to

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. Sherring managed to collect an amount claimed to be between $45 and $90 (a clearly insufficient amount to travel to Athens), which he then bet on a horse named ''Cicely'' which won with good odds. He arrived to Athens seven weeks before the Olympic Games and started to work as a porter at the Athens railway station. At the marathon race, the Sherring proceeded at a steady pace, at one point a half-mile behind the leaders, before taking the lead at about the fifteen mile mark and finishing seven minutes before the next runner.

Prince George of Greece Prince George of Greece and Denmark ( el, Γεώργιος; 24 June 1869 – 25 November 1957) was the second son and child of George I of Greece and Olga Konstantinovna of Russia, and is remembered chiefly for having once saved the life of h ...

ran the last 50 metres of the marathon alongside Sherring. Sherring received a live lamb and a statue of

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress of ...

as a reward. When he returned to Canada, Hamilton City Council awarded him $5000 and the City of

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

awarded him a further $400.

Baron Pierre de Coubertin Charles Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin (; born Pierre de Frédy; ...

wrote a letter to the

Governor General of Canada The governor general of Canada (french: gouverneure générale du Canada) is the federal viceregal representative of the . The is head of state of Canada and the 14 other Commonwealth realms, but resides in oldest and most populous realm, t ...

Albert Grey Albert Henry George Grey, 4th Earl Grey, (28 November 185129 August 1917) was a British peer and politician who served as Governor General of Canada 1904–1911, the ninth since Canadian Confederation. He was a radical Liberal aristocrat and a ...

, protesting the gifts as inconsistent with the Olympic ideal of "sport for sport's sake." So far as is known, Sherring got to keep his money. The province of

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

named two new townships in New Ontario (Now part of

Cochrane District Cochrane District is a district and Census divisions of Canada, census division in Northeastern Ontario in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. It was created in 1921 from parts of Timiskaming District, Timiskami ...

) in honour of Sherring, Sherring twp and Marathon twp (not to be confused with

Marathon, Ontario Marathon is a town in the Canadian province of Ontario, located in Thunder Bay District, on the north shore of Lake Superior north of Pukaskwa National Park, in the heart of the Canadian Shield. Geography Personal residences encompass an area st ...

) Upon his triumphant return from the marathon, Sherring quit athletics and worked as a customs officer in Hamilton until his retirement in 1942. Sherring was inducted into the

Canada's Sports Hall of Fame Canada's Sports Hall of Fame (french: Panthéon des sports canadiens; sometimes referred to as the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame) is a Canadian sports hall of fame and museum in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Dedicated to the history of sports in Canad ...

in 1955. After his death, his original claim-to-fame, the

was renamed to the Billy Sherring Memorial Road Race, and Hamilton has since built a Billy Sherring Park to commemorate their most famous athlete. Sherring is thought to have inspired the founders of

Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos ( el, Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club ba ...

to adopt the

shamrock A shamrock is a young sprig, used as a symbol of Ireland. Saint Patrick, Ireland's patron saint, is said to have used it as a metaphor for the Christian Holy Trinity. The name ''shamrock'' comes from Irish (), which is the diminutive of ...

as the Greek multi-sport club's official emblem in 1918."Five claims to fame: Panathinaikos"
uefa.com.

References

* Jim Smyth, Shamrocks in the Greek Isles: Billy Sheering's Greek Journey, and Mine, New Hibernia Review, Volume 22, Number 4, Winter 2018,9-18.

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sherring, Billy 1877 births 1964 deaths Olympic gold medalists for Canada Olympic track and field athletes of Canada Canadian male long-distance runners Canadian male marathon runners Athletes from Hamilton, Ontario Athletes (track and field) at the 1906 Intercalated Games Medalists at the 1906 Intercalated Games Canadian people of Irish descent Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field)