Fred Arrington Wolcott (November 28, 1915 – January 26, 1972) was an American

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

athlete who was United States champion and world record holder in the sprint hurdles events in the late 1930s and early 1940s.

Track career

After graduating from Snyder High School in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, Wolcott attended

Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranke ...

, where he ran for its track team, the '

Rice Owls Rice University athletic teams are known as the Rice Owls. The name comes from the owls in Rice's crest. Rice participates in NCAA Division I athletics. A member of Conference USA, Rice sponsors teams in seven men's and seven women's NCAA sanctio ...

'. Because of the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Wolcott was denied Olympic glory. However, as well as running world record times (see below), he was AAU (United States national) champion seven times, NCAA (United States collegiate) champion five times, and also won, and 10

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference included schools from Oklahoma an ...

(SWC) college gold medals (see below). At the peak of his career, he was considered the United States premier hurdler.

Championship Victories

Wolcott achieved the following in the AAU (United States national) championships : * champion at the 110 meters hurdles in 1938, 1940 and 1941 (he was also second in 1939 to Joe Batiste); * champion at the 220 yards hurdles in 1938, 1939, 1940 and 1941. Wolcott recorded the following victories at the NCAA (USA collegiate) championships : * champion at 120 yards hurdles in 1938 and 1939 (he was also second in 1940 to Ed Dugger); * champion at 220 yards hurdles in 1938, 1939 and 1940.

World Records

Wolcott achieved the following world records during his track career: * 120 y/110 m hurdles of 13.7 s in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

on 20 June 1941; * 200 m/220 y hurdles (straight course) of 22.3/22.5 s in

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine ...

on 8 June 1940. He also ran the following world best times that were never ratified by the sport's governing body, the

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...

: * 120 y hurdles of 13.7 in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

on 3 May 1940; * 200 m hurdles (with turn) of 22.9 s in

Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln is the capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Lancaster County. The city covers with a population of 292,657 in 2021. It is the second-most populous city in Nebraska and the 73rd-largest in the United Sta ...

on 4 July 1939.

Accolades and awards

In 1970, Wolcott was one of the inaugural group of inductees into the Rice Athletics Hall of Fame. In 2005, Wolcott was induced into the USA Track and Field Hall of Fame. Wolcott has also been inducted into the: *Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 1958; *Big Country Athletic Hall of Fame; *Snyder Athletic Hall of Fame in 2005.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wolcott, Fred 1915 births 1972 deaths People from Snyder, Texas Track and field athletes from Texas American male hurdlers American male sprinters World record setters in athletics (track and field) African-American male track and field athletes Rice University alumni 20th-century African-American sportspeople