Laurence Eugene "Lon" Myers was an American sprinter and middle-distance runner.
19 Facts About Lon Myers
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Lon Myers set world records at 11 different distances, and held every American record for races 50 yards to one mile Myers set a world quarter-mile record while running the final 120 yards without his right shoe, and finished another race that he won running sideways.
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Lon Myers was in the first graduating class of Richmond High School.
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Lon Myers's father moved the family to Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1875 after he graduated high school, and then to New York City, where he became a bookkeeper.
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Lon Myers won 15 United States national championships, 10 Canadian national championships, and 3 British national championships.
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Lon Myers began running competitively in 1878, for the Knickerbocker Yacht Club.
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Lon Myers then ran for the bulk of his career for the Manhattan Athletic Club.
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Lon Myers was the first runner to run the quarter-mile in under 50 seconds, doing so in 1879.
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At the 1879 US Amateur Athletic Union national championships, Lon Myers won the 220,440, and 880, setting records in each event.
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Lon Myers won the same four races three days later at the Canadian Nationals.
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Lon Myers set the world record in the 350, at 36.8 seconds, and 1,000 yards, at 2:13.0.
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Lon Myers subsequently was with greater frequency not allowed to participate in some races, as few runners wanted to compete against him.
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Lon Myers set American records in the 50-yard dash, 100-yard dash, 200,300,440,700,880,1,320, and the mile.
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The press in England had cast doubt on Lon Myers' performances, asserting that Americans were deficient in the ability to time races properly, and questioning the accuracy of American watches.
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Lon Myers came out of retirement and became a professional in 1886 to run against English champion Walter George, the world record holder in the mile.
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Lon Myers beat George at 1,000 yards, 1,320 yards, and 1 mile, and received the $3,000 prize.
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Lon Myers won the first event, and George won the other two.
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Lon Myers died of pneumonia on February 16,1899, in New York City.
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Lon Myers was inducted into the USA Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1974 and into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1980.