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A century later, daughter of Paris Olympian shares father's story
JASON PEEVYHOUSE
Within the coming weeks, the eyes of the international sports community will be tuned to Paris, France as the 33rd Summer Olympics will begin on Friday, July 26.
Dyersburg resident Mary Whelchel Pierce Todd has a very special tie to the Olympic Games, but one which dates back a century to the last time the games were held in Paris.
In 1924, Homer Whelchel, competed in the javelin throw for the United States at the age of 24.
Todd, who is one of Whelchel’s four daughters, said her father became a javelin thrower in college after being recruited to Georgia Tech for football and track.
“Daddy was the 11th of 12 children,” Todd recalled the story which was passed down to her. “His older sister, who was unmarried at the time, was told by her father that she needed to move to Tipton, Ga. in order for my daddy and is older brother and a younger brother could go to high school there.
“While he was at high school in Tipton, Ga., he made a name for himself in football and in track.”
The connection to Georgia Tech actually came through his older brother, Dan Whelchel, who was part of an All-American team at Georgia Tech.
“Georgia Tech then looked at his brothers to see what they had been doing,” Todd explained. “Daddy had made a record for himself in high school.
“So he was offered a football scholarship to Georgia Tech.”
This is where the story takes an interesting and fateful turn.
“While he was there, he was also on the track team,” Todd said. “His roommate was a javelin thrower on the team.
“He asked daddy one day if he would practice with him. He would throw the javelin and Daddy would throw it back.”
The story which was told to Todd and her family was that, when Homer Whelchel threw the javelin back to his roommate he threw it further than the javelin thrower had ever thrown it before.
“So, he took daddy to the coach and said ‘we have a new javelin thrower’,” Todd said.
As Todd explained, while her father was at Georgia Tech, Whelchel set many records for the school and served as the team’s captain in 1924. Though the records have been broken, Whelchel was enshrined in the school’s Hall of Fame in 1961.
“He made a name for himself in the South,” Todd said. “He ended up being one of the participants in the Boston trials for the Olympics.
“In that trial, he came in third. This group of five fellas represented the United States in the Olympics in Paris, France. What an outstanding experience that was for all of them and just a thrill that they had to represent the United States.”
In the Eighth Summer Olympic Games, Whelchel placed 12th in a field of over 30 athletes.
“Daddy didn’t do as a well as he would have liked in the Olympics,” Todd said.
But, on the way home from the games, the athletes stopped off in England for a meet with the British team which saw Whelchel win the competition.
“The athletes were there and he won that event,” Todd said. “We have a beautiful silver medal with the British flag and the American flag side by side. We are very proud of that medal.
“Prince Henry was the one who awarded the medal to daddy.”
Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester was a member of the British royal family. He was the third son of King George V and Queen Mary, and was a younger brother of kings Edward VIII and George VI.
“That was quite an experience for daddy,” Todd said.
Todd added her father was a quiet and unassuming man.
“He never talked about it to any degree,” she explained about the Olympics. “In fact, he had four daughters – of all things. My oldest sister didn’t find out about it until she was in high school and I was young.
“It just wasn’t discussed.”
Todd added all of Whelchel’s medals he had won during his track career were kept in a box in his dresser.
“We didn’t find that out until later, too,” Todd added. “And, how many there were. Until his death, we started getting these things together.
“There were four daughters and we at least got over ten medals. He had quite a collection.”
Todd said she spread out the medals she got from her father among her grandsons.
“I got each of them a framed picture of him. Then, on the side, I had attached some of the medals,” Todd said. “I divided them out so they could have them. That’s the story of a South Georgia country boy.”