Jack Caffery

Jack Caffery (actually: John Peter Caffery; born May 21, 1879 in Hamilton ( Ontario); † February 2, 1919 ) was a Canadian athlete who was one of the world's best marathon runners in the early 20th century. He is known in Canada as the most " most forgotten hero " in the Canadian sport.

Cafferys athletic achievements were his victories in the Boston Marathon in 1900 and 1901. Thus he was the first to have won twice in a row there. Impressive it was his course record from 1901 in 2:29:23 24.5 miles ( 39.42 km ). The attempt in 1902 to achieve a third consecutive victory, failed because Caffery had to cancel his participation because of persistent stomach cramps at night before the start. A renewed attempt in 1903 failed. After 25 km, it had to give up this time because of a sprain.

Caffery was a member of the St. Patrick's Athletic Club of his home city of Hamilton, which was during the turn of the 19th century to the 20th century as a stronghold of the long distance runner, not least because here the oldest long -distance running in North America and one of the oldest long-distance competitions held at all and to date takes place, the Around the Bay Road Race. Caffery won this race twice, in 1898 and 1900. His opponent in this period was his club mate William Sherring. Along with it Caffery wanted to participate in the 1906 Summer Olympics in Athens. After problems in financing Caffery pulled back his participation. Sherring, however, who won the money for the trip in a horse bet, eventually became Olympic champion in the marathon.

Encouraged by the success of his club mates tried Caffery, who suffered temporarily from a lung disease to make a comeback with the aim to participate in the 1908 Olympic Games in London. Although he had to give up in a qualifying race with foot problems, he was inducted into the team's Canadian marathon runner for the Olympics 1908. Coach of this team was William Sherring. With 12 runners they traveled to London, necessarily because they wanted to defend the Olympic title Sherring 1906. It should not succeed. Caffery could finish the race though, but the 11th place and fourth best Canadian was not only for him a disappointment.

Caffery tried for some time as a coach, then moved back but from the sport, especially as his lung disease now often confined him to his bed. The great epidemic of Spanish flu in 1918 was also ill Caffery, of which he could not recover. In the obituary of his companions Caffery would have had the potential to be an Olympic champion and great champion. His lung disease and early death were the reasons that he was able to utilize his or her skills runs only at the beginning of his career and quickly fell into oblivion. Proof of this are the numerous books and newspaper articles, where his name is rendered incorrectly. Even in the official publications on the Boston Marathon, he is " Caftery ", " Caffrey " or even " McCaffrey " and his first name " James J. " or " John J. " mentioned.