Frank Verner

Frank Verner (actually William Franklyn Verner; * June 24, 1883 in Grundy County, Illinois; † 1 July 1966 Pinckney, Michigan) was an American middle and long distance runner who in 1904 won two Olympic silver medals.

Life

Verner visited since 1903 Purdue University and was there to be a good runner. In the first year he placed in the mile run at a house record. Even at the usual competitions between the different universities, he called in the ranks of the established runners good performances provoke attention. For the Olympic Summer Games 1904 in St. Louis, there were in the United States no knockouts, the athletes were mainly suggested by the most renowned sports clubs and universities. Verner was a member of the Chicago Athletic Association and was one of the participants chosen for the Olympic Games.

First competition for Verner in St. Louis was the obstacle course over 2590 meters on the track, which was in one run with seven athletes, six of which came from the United States, discharged. Verner played no role in the decision and took fourth place, the residue was not held on the third place. Three days later, Verner started in the 800 - meter race, which was also held in a single run with 13 athletes. Again, Verner was at no time be able to intervene in the battle for first place, and came in sixth.

Another two days later, the 1500 - meter race on the program. Nine athletes were the only decisive run at the start, seven of them came from the United States. This time, Verner was from the beginning the top three runners, but in the end he could not do anything against the home stretch of playing these games towering James Lightbody and took second place.

On the same day was the last competition of athletics instead of a team running over four miles, which is actually concerned a battle between cities runners from Chicago and New York City. The runners from Chicago were announced as the team of the Chicago Athletic Association. It was held a run, which was attended by ten runners ( five for each team ). The team classification was made according to place numbers (1st place = 1 point; 2nd place = 2 points, etc.). Verner started for the Chicago Athletic Association and attended by all ten runners an excellent third place behind winner Arthur Newton from New York and his teammate James Lightbody. However, his team lost the scoring against the team of the New York Athletic Club, statistically they finished despite losing the second place, because other teams were not at the start.

After the Olympics, Verner had to have a number of other remarkable successes, especially winning the U.S. Championship title in 1905 in the course of about five miles. For competitions of the Big Ten Conference he set new records for its university and the state of Indiana over 880 yards and a mile.

1906 Verner was on the short list for the Olympic Games 1906 in Athens between. However, Verner opted not to take part, he would rather support in his final year at Purdue University and his team prepare for its conclusion. In the same year he graduated as a mechanical engineer yet.

Verner finished after his sports career and concentrated on his profession. In 1908 he was a lecturer at the University of Michigan, where he taught descriptive geometry and technical drawing, and finally from 1910 to 1912, he taught classical machine. After he finished teaching, he accepted a position in the Treasury for the Washtenaw County in Ann Arbor.

Placements at the Olympic Games

• III. Summer Olympic Games in 1904, St. Louis 1500 m - silver with 4:06,8 min (Gold to James Lightbody from the USA with 4:05,4 min; bronze at Lacey Hearn from the U.S.)
• 4 miles team - silver with the team Chicago Athletic Association (Gold at New York Athletic Club )
• 2590 m steeplechase - fourth place (Gold to James Lightbody from the USA with 7:39,6 min)
• 800 m - sixth place (Gold to James Lightbody from the USA with 1:56,0 min)