Paddock, "Charlie" (Charles W.)
Track and Field
b. Aug. 11, 1900, Gainesville, TX
d. July 21, 1943
The title "World's Fastest Human" was coined for Paddock, who held the world records for the 100-yard and 100-meter dashes through most of the 1920s. He was a frail infant who weighed only 7½ pounds at seven months of age and his parents moved from Texas to California in 1907 to help improve his health. As a youth, he enjoyed distance running but was persuaded by his father to focus on sprinting because of his great natural speed.
He first won notice as a lieutenant in the Army, when he won the 100- and 200-meter sprints at the 1919 Inter-Allied Games in Paris, setting a world record in the 200-meter. After leaving the service, he attended the University of Southern California.
Paddock's trademark was his flying finish. He would leap when about twelve feet from the finish line, arms spread wide, and break the tape with his chest while gliding through the air. That unique finish helped him win the gold medal in the 100-meter at the 1920 Olympics, when he edged Morris Kirksey by about a foot. Paddock also won the silver medal in the 200-meter in 1920 and 1924 and he was on the U. S. 400-meter relay team that won the gold medal in 1924.
On April 3, 1921, Paddock set four world records and tied a fifth. He ran the 100-meter dash in 10.4, the 200-meter in 21.6, and the 300-meter in 33.8 seconds. While running the longer metric distances, he was timed in 9.6 for 100 yards and 30.2 for 300 yards.
A journalist, Paddock was sometimes accused of professionalism for writing about track and field and several times he was involved in controversy with the AAU. In 1923, he competed in Europe after the AAU had forbidden athletes to participate in overseas meets. Paddock declared that the AAU had no jurisdiction over him because he was competing under the auspices of the NCAA. His amateur status was suspended, but it was restored in time for him to compete in the 1924 Olympics.
He was briefly suspended again in 1928 both for writing articles about meets in which he'd competed and for promoting a movie in which he'd appeared as himself. Again, the suspension was lifted before the Olympics, but G. W. Wightman resigned from the American Olympic Committee as a result.
Paddock retired from competition after the 1929 season. He became a newspaper executive until 1942, when he entered the Marine Corps. He was killed in the crash of a military plane near Sitka, Alaska.