A Tribute to "Jimmy"  Clark

*  James Michael Clark, affectionately known as 'Jimmy', in Bay State Village, was my g-grandfather.  During his youth Northampton, Massachusetts, he was  a star athlete. This handwritten copy of a newspaper article  from the Daily Hampshire Gazette authored by an unknown   man, identified only as T.F.F., was discovered among some family papers by Andrienne Clark, widow of Jimmy's grandson, John Paul Clark.  Andrienne also supplied me with the original copy- a treasure! Thank-you Andrienne!

                                                                                                                Left: Jimmy Clark; Right: Unknown

                                                                                                                          Here and There

                                                                                                                               with T.F.F.

                                          A  friend and admirer of the late James Clark told us the following: "One of the greatest all-round athletes that ever  

                                          wore a spiked shoe in Northampton passed on with the death of James Clark of Bay State last week. Two decades

                                          ago his fame as an athlete was  known wherever field sports were held, not only in Northampton, but all over New

                                          England and other states where he went and competed. Jimmy Clark, as he was called by his hundreds of friends,

                                          was according to our informant, one of these real sportsmen who were absolutely on the level, his heart was always in 

                                          his work and he was most loyal to his friends.  An idea of how good an athlete he was may be had from his mark of 6 ft.

                                          three inches, which he made in the high jump at Philadelphia, winning the event in a national meet in which were entered

                                          the best men in the country. He was equally good in the broad jump, hop-step and jump and the so-called hitch and kick. 

                                          His fame here in all these sports was great, but it was as a runner that captured the popular fancy and it was as leader of the 

                                          great bunch that composed the never-to-be-forgotten  W.A. Bailey's world's champion hose running team that he will be best

                                          remembered. For five years this Northampton running team swept all before them at fireman's musters wherever they were 

                                          held.  And leading them always was the slender, but sinewy Jimmy Clark. And well he might lead, for he was close to the

                                          ten seconds for the century every time he speeded over the 100 yard distance. According to Maurice Landry, who was a close

                                          second in all-round sports to Clark, and who also was one of the sprinters on the Bailey Team, Clark many times ran the 

                                          century in 10 seconds. The Bailey running team is holder of the worlds record for 800 feet, which they made at Ware, 

                                          Mass., and their mark  has never been beaten. It came to pass at field meets, at least in this section, that when Clark and

                                          Landry  entered the other athletes withdrew to the sidelines  and watched pair from Bay State do their stuff.

                                          The break-up of the Bailey running team was almost tragic when, at a cattle show, the team with such runners as Fred

                                          Britten of Fairview, one of the star sprinters of the day, teamed with Clark and with the then holder of the mile record, 

                                          Tom Carroll of Boston, as well as Maurice Landry, Charlie O'Neil, Tom Keneavy, Billy Chatel, Joe Tichy and other fine 

                                          runners, they swept down the course,  away ahead in time, of any of the others, one of who was the Bailey's greatest rival, 

                                          the  John H. Ashe team of Chicopee Falls. But disaster that they had evaded came to them, for before over 15,000 people, 

                                          the late J.A. Boudway, the fastest man who ever broke a coupling, failed, for the first time in the teams history, to make the 

                                          hitch and the team that for five long years never met defeat, felt it's sting for the first time. How much their heart was in their

                                          work was attested  when many them broke down and sobbed. The team never raced again for various reasons, but to

                                          thousands  the memory will bring back the sinewy boy who so often led them to victory.

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                                                                                                                                                                 Last updated 4/22/09