29th

Francis William “Dinty” Moore, Canadian Ice hockey player was born on this day in 1900 in Port Colborne, Ontario. A goalkeeper, his first major win came with the Toronto Canoe Club in 1920 when the tean won the Memorial Cup – an annual competition in Canada for juniors. He had been playing with the Port Colborne Sailors of the Ontario Hockey League since 1930 when, in 1935, he was recruited to join the Toronto British Consols and the Port Arthur Bearcats. In the latter case, however, he was recruited not only to join a team, but to represent his country, as the Bearcats were Canada’s choice to represent the nation in ice hockey at the 1936 Winter Olympics. At the Games, where the team eventually took the silver medal, he played in five games. After the Olympics, he played one season with the Toronto Goodyears and between 1942 and 1945 he was the President of the Ontario Hockey Association and also spent time as a referee. Since 1976, the year he died, the F.W.Dinty Moore Trophy has been given annually to the rookie goaltender with the best goals against average. In 1987 he was induced into the North-Western Ontario Sports Hall of Fame and some of his Olympic kit, including his jersey, now resides in Toronto’s Hockey Hall of Fame. He died on 21st January 1976 in Morgan’s Point, Ontario.

30th

German gymnast Ernst Winter was born on this day in 1907, he lived in Frankfurt and represented the Eintracht Frankfurt gymnastics club. At the 1936 Olympics he won gold with the German team. The twelve exercises were held outdoors in front of 20,000 spectators at Dietrich-Eckart-Freilichtbühne (open air theatre), now referred to as the Waldbühne (meaning Forest or Woodland Stage) and individually he failed to win any medals, and his 17th on the pommel horse and 19th on the free exercise being his best results and was placed 58th overall – the last of the German competitors. Ernst won two medals at the 1934 World Championships, bronze in the team event and gold in the parallel bars. He was runner-up in the German All-Round Championship four times in five years, 1931-32 and 1934-35. He was declared missing-in-action in 1943 near Stalingrad. It was assumed he died in a Russian POW Camp.

31st

Charles Ernest Whistler “Christopher” MacKintosh, Scottish rugby union international, athlete, skier and bobsledder was born on this day in 1903 in Heidelberg, Germany. After winning the Public Schools lawn tennis doubles in 1921 went to Oxford where he represented the University at athletics, rugby and skiing. In the 1924-5 season he won the long jump event for Oxford in the varsity athletics match, clearing 23 feet (7-01m). After graduating he joined Sir Henry Lunn’s Alpine Travel business (now the Lunn Poly group) where he served as Chairman between 1931 and 1944. Chris was also President of the amateur Inter-Ski Club and the Kandahar Ski Club. He played rugby for Scotland in1924 and was a member of the British crew that won the 4-man bobsleigh at the 1938 World Championships. His skiing career ran between 1923 and 1933 and he also competed at the 1924 Olympics where he finished 6th in the long jump with a leap of 6.90m. His four children, Sheena, Vora, Charlach and Douglas are all past Great Britain Olympians in skiing. Chris died aged 70 in Haddington, East Lothian on 12th January 1974.

1st

Japanese swimmer Yoshiyuki Tsuruta was born in Ishiki Village, Kagoshima, Japan in  1903. He went to work for the Japanese Government Railways in 1920, but volunteered for the Japanese marines at the Imperial Japanese Navy’s Sasebo Naval District in 1924. He competed in the 2nd Meiji Shrine Games in 1925, winning the 200m breaststroke in 3:12.3 secs. Selected to be a member of the 1928 Japanese Olympic team, he set a new PB in the semi-finals with a time of 2:50.0 secs, winning gold in the final in a new WR time of 2:48.8 secs, becoming only the  second Japanese competitor to be awarded with a gold medal (after Mikio Oda in the Triple jump). On returning to Japan, he enrolled in the law school of Meiji University and continued to swim, setting a new WR for the 200m breaststroke (2:45.0) in 1929 in a competition in Kyoto. On his graduation from Meiji University, he was employed by the South Manchurian Railway, who sponsored his participation in the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. Although teammate Reizo Koike had set a new world record in the semi-finals, Tsuruta defeated him in the final, becoming the first Japanese to win gold medals in two consecutive Olympic games. In 1934, Tsuruta was employed by the city government of Nagoya as physical education director. He was recalled to active duty service with the Imperial Japanese Navy in 1943. Following the end of World War II, he joined the Ehime Shimbun, a newspaper company based in Ehime Prefecture. From 1948, he was on the Board of Directors of the Ehime Prefecture Athletic Association, President of the Matsuyama Swimming Association swimming, and advisor to the Japan Swimming Federation and the Japan Amateur Sports Association. From 1949, he strove to introduce swimming as a required activity in schools. In 1962, Tsuruta was honoured with the Medal with the Purple Ribbon by the Japanese government and was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1968. He was also awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, 4th class, by the Japanese government in 1974. Tsuruta died in 1986 of a stroke at age 82.

2nd 

Florence Chambers, American swimmer, was born in Boston, Massachusetts on this day in 1907.  Her family moved to San Diego when she was a small child and she was affiliated to SDRC in the town. Later she was referred to by her married name Florence Newkirk.  She competed in the 100m backstroke at the 1924 Paris Olympics, where she finished 4th in the final. She taught swimming after her competitive career ended, with English Channel swimmer Florence Chadwick numbering among her pupils. In 1970, Florence was inducted by the San Diego Hall of Champions into the Breitbard Hall of Fame, honouring San Diego’s finest athletes both on and off the playing surface. She lived on a ranch with her husband just south-east of Escondido, she worked for many years as the Farm Bureau representative to the County Board of Supervisors, being named Lady of Agriculture for San Diego County in 1971. She and her husband were philanthropic supporters of the Boy Scouts and Brigham Young University, and shortly before her death, on 27th September 1979, she bequeathed their ranch to BYU.

3rd

Edward Vaughan Bevan, British rower, was born on this day in 1907, in Chesterton, Cambridge. He competed for the Trinity Boat Club in Cambridge and was educated at Bedford School and Trinity College. He was one of four brothers, all of whom were educated at Bedford School.  He and his brother Owen both played for the School 1st XV.   Younger brother Owen went on to coach the 1st XV and to be the Vice Master of the School. At Cambridge, Edward rowed three years for First Trinity Boat Club, winning the Ladies’ Plate at Henley Regatta, in 1927.  In 1928, his crew won the Visitors’ Cup but lost the final of the Grand Challenge Cup to Thames Rowing Club, who were selected to represent Great Britain in the Amsterdam Olympic Games.  In 1929, First Trinity won both the Ladies’ Plate and the Stewards’ Cup. Despite rowing at bow in the coxless four, at the age of 20, winning the Olympic title at Amsterdam in 1928, Edward was unable to command a place in the Cambridge boat. On leaving Cambridge, Bevan qualified as a doctor at St. Mary’s Hospital after which he returned to Cambridge where he joined a practice with the Olympic shot putter, Rex Woods. He maintained his link with rowing – on the wall of his consulting room was a blue oar. He was also senior treasurer of the Cambridge University Boat Club for many years, and was actively involved in coaching the crew, as well as being President of Rob Roy Boat Club from 1946 until 1980. He was a frequent correspondent to the British Medical Journal. Bevan was doctor to the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein whilst he was in Cambridge. After Bevan diagnosed Wittgenstein with prostate cancer, Wittgenstein moved in with Bevan in Storey’s Way, Cambridge in February 1951, where he stayed until his death in 1951. Bevan died at the age of 80 on 23rd February 1988.

4th

James Harper Poynter “John” Campbell, British athlete who was born in Queenscliff, Australia on this day in 1901. After placing second at both the 1924 Oxbridge Sports and the AAA Championships he was selected as Britain’s only representative in the pole vault at the 1924 Olympics, where he matched his personal best to that time with 3.20 (10-6), which placed him in 15th position. After Cambridge, John Campbell worked in the wine trade and in World War II he was in charge of raiding operations in the Eastern Mediterranean. With Patrick Leigh-Fermor he plotted the kidnapping of a German general from Crete, an incident on which the highly successful film, III Met by Moonlight, was based. His gallantry was recognized by the award of the DSO and DSC. Later in life, osteoarthritis restricted his physical activities and, when well past his 50th birthday, he enrolled at an art school and produced fine works of sculpture and ceramics.  He died aged 73 on 2nd July 1975 in Dublin.