Lyon, George S.
Golf
b. July 28, 1858, Richmond, ONT
d. May, 1938
Lyon set a Canadian record in the pole vault and also played baseball, cricket, and tennis before taking up golf when he was thirty-eight. He then won eight Canadian amateur championships.
At forty-six, Lyon competed in the St. Louis Games in 1904, the only time golf was actually on the Olympic program. A colorful figure, he told jokes, sang songs and occasionally did handstands while going around the course in the match-play elimination tournament.
After beating Chandler Egan of the U. S. in the final, Lyon walked on his hands to the ceremony at which he was presented with a $1,500 silver trophy.