28 Facts About Tom Longboat

Thomas Charles Longboat was an Onondaga distance runner from the Six Nations Reserve near Brantford, Ontario and, for much of his career, the dominant long-distance runner.

Tom Longboat was known as the "bulldog of Britannia" and was a soldier in the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the First World War.

When Tom Longboat was a child, a Mohawk resident of the reserve, Bill Davis, who in 1901 finished second in the Boston Marathon, interested him in running races.

Tom Longboat began racing in 1905, finishing second in the Victoria Day race at Caledonia, Ontario.

Tom Longboat collapsed in the 1908 Olympic Games marathon, along with several other leading runners.

Tom Longboat won this race, turned professional, and in 1909 at the same venue won the title of Professional Champion of the World by defeating Dorando Pietri and Alfred Shrubb in front of sell-out crowds.

Tom Longboat's coaches did not approve of his alternation of hard workouts with "active rest" such as long walks.

Longboat's former manager, Tom Flanagan, spread false rumours that Longboat trained infrequently, contributing to this public attitude of sportswriters towards Longboat.

Regardless of the intentions behind such coverage, not a month later Tom Longboat won two major races at Hanlan's Point Stadium, setting a personal best in the 12-mile race.

Tom Longboat was twice wounded and twice declared dead while serving in Belgium.

However, Tom Longboat himself debunked that particular myth in an interview with Lou Marsh in 1919.

Tom Longboat grew up in a poor family who lived on a small farm.

Tom Longboat's father died when Longboat was three years old.

Tom Longboat was enrolled at the Mohawk Institute Residential School at age 12, a legal obligation under the Indian Act at that time.

Tom Longboat hated life at the school, where he was pressured to give up his Onondaga beliefs in favour of Christianity.

News of Tom Longboat joining this branch of the military generated numerous American newspaper stories, which were illustrated by photographs of Laplante, who looked nothing like the real Tom Longboat.

Antilles, a debate raged in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle regarding whether the real Tom Longboat was in France or serving with the US Army Transport Service.

When erroneous reports reached America that Tom Longboat had been killed in action while serving with the CEF in France, the consequent American newspaper stories were often illustrated by photos of the imposter, Edgar Laplante.

Tom Longboat later married Martha Silversmith, with whom he had four children.

Tom Longboat retired to the Six Nations reserve and died of pneumonia on January 9,1949.

In 1951, the Tom Longboat Awards were instituted by Jan Eisenhardt.

Tom Longboat was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, the Ontarian Sports Hall of Fame and the Indian Hall of Fame.

Tom Longboat is commemorated annually by the Toronto Island 10km race.

Tom Longboat was inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 1996.

Tom Longboat was the first person of Native American descent to win the Boston Marathon, and one of only two Native Americans ever to win it.

Google's 4 June 2018 Doodle celebrates the life and legacy of Tom Longboat, and was distributed across Canada and the United States.

Tom Longboat appears as a character in Zoe Leigh Hopkins's 2021 film Run Woman Run, portrayed by Asivak Koostachin.

Tom Longboat was portrayed by Canadian actor of Oji-Cree descent D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai.