June 17 marks the 100-year anniversary of the first NCAA championship. Fittingly, the advent of college sports championships was led by the most unlikely of stories.
The National Collegiate Track and Field Championship, the first championship event sponsored by the NCAA, welcomed 62 teams to Amos Alonzo Stagg Field at the University of Chicago from June 17-18, 1921.
The NCAA was in its infancy. For its first 15 years, the organization, originally known as the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States, primarily had served as a discussion group and rules-making body with the goal of protecting young people from dangerous and exploitive practices. The organization’s president was Palmer Pierce, in his second stint leading the fledgling entity after serving in the role when the group was created in 1906.
About the first championship, Palmer noted during the 1920 Convention, “It is considered that such a national contest would act as a stimulus to field sports and track events throughout the whole length and breadth of the land, and by actual competition determine a national championship.”
It seems the former World War I general foresaw a future where the grand platform of a national championship would provide unparallel opportunities to lift up sports and the athletes who compete in them.
A trailblazer from the start
Leonard Paulu had never run track before he headed off to World War I in 1918. Three years later, after losing an eye and sustaining serious shrapnel injuries to his right leg and hip, he claimed first place in the 100-yard dash at the NCAA’s first championship in any sport.
When the war veteran returned to finish his freshman year at Grinnell, the track coach, who was teaching Paulu’s P.E. class, noticed his talent for sprinting. Paulu won a 100-yard dash during class, and coach Chuck Hoyt persuaded him to run for the team.
Paulu told the Des Moines Register in 1978 that he never would have been able to join the team had he not received education benefits for being an injured veteran. Before the war, he had struggled with working long hours while going to school. He ended up dropping out of Grinnell to try to earn some money but soon enlisted in the war.
What makes Paulu’s victory at the national championship even more remarkable was the fact that his stride was 4 inches shorter off the right leg. Though Paulu was unsure whether it was his war injury or a childhood accident to his heel that caused the unusual stride, it carried him to victory in the 100-yard dash in a time of 10 seconds. He also finished third in the 220-yard dash.
A year later, Paulu added to his national title count, winning both the 100 and the 220 and securing his place in history as the NCAA’s first repeat champion in an individual event.
A year of firsts
Illinois claimed the team title at that first national meet with a score of 20¼ points, edging out second- place Notre Dame with 16¾ points. Illinois won the championship by scoring in 10 of 15 events but did not win a single race, throw or jump.
The 1921 championships also featured at least four medalists from the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp, Belgium: Canadian hurdles gold medalist Earl Thomson (Dartmouth), American hurdles bronze medalist August “Gus” Desch (Notre Dame), American silver medalist in the 800-meter run Earl Eby (Pennsylvania), and American discus bronze medalist Gus Pope (Washington).
Pope was a double titlist at the 1921 championship, winning both the discus and shot put events.
A springboard to bigger things
The NCAA continued to stage the National Collegiate Track and Field Championship in ensuing years, taking a break in 1924 so the athletes could compete in the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris.
That same year, the first National Collegiate Swimming Championships were conducted at the U.S. Naval Academy. The NCAA’s third national championship came in 1928 with the National Collegiate Wrestling Championships at Iowa State.
The 2021 meet was the 99th Division I Men’s Outdoor Track and Field Championship. The 2020 championship was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Today, the NCAA hosts 90 championships in 24 sports across three divisions. But it all started one rainy weekend in Chicago. Now 100 years later, the spirit of competition lives on.