Josiah McCracken
Encyclopedia
Josiah Calvin McCracken (March 30, 1874 - February 15, 1962) nicknamed Joe, was born into a devout Presbyterian family in Lincoln, Tennessee. His earliest known Ulster-Scots
ancestors settled in Pennsylvania before the French & Indian War (Seven Years War). When Joe was 8 years old, his parents moved to Garnett, Kansas, and by the time he reached 17, the family was living in Sterling, Kansas.
In 1896 Joe McCracken left the Cooper College preparatory program (known today as Sterling College
) to attend the University of Pennsylvania
Wharton School of Finance. At the end of his first academic year he transferred to the Penn School of Medicine.
While at Penn, McCracken was an all around student athlete, playing varsity football four years, track four years (captain his senior year) and was a member of the gymnastics team. On May 31, 1898, he set a World Record in the hammer throw with a distance of 46.83m (153–8 ft) at a meet in New Jersey. In 1899 he was named a Walter Camp College Football All American http://waltercamp.org/index.php/teams_and_awards/P100/ at the guard position. He won a silver and bronze medal at the 1900 Paris Olympics http://www.olympic.org/uk/athletes/results/search_r_uk.asp. McCracken was elected president of his class all four years, was president of the Christian Association three years, president of the Houston Club one year and an associate editor of the student newspaper, The Pennsylvanian. A New York Times article of April 11, 1901 described him as "the University of Pennsylvania's best all around athlete and the most popular man at the university..." When Joe graduated in 1901 and while receiving his diploma the whole audience rose to their feet and loudly applauded, an ovation never before given in the history of the University.
McCracken played varsity football at Penn primarily as an offensive fullback and defensive guard from 1897 to 1900. During 1899 he played alongside John Outland (Outland Trophy
) and A. R. Kennedy
, two transfer students from the University of Kansas football program. McCracken, Outland and Kennedy were known around Philadelphia's Franklin Field as the "Kansas Musketeers".
in Paris. During the Paris Olympics, The New York Times reported on July 16, 1900, that the French Olympic Committee had shifted several final events to Sunday and that American athletes including Josiah McCracken from Penn and Robert Garrett
from Princeton University refused for religious reasons to compete in any Olympic events that were scheduled on Sunday. McCracken and Garrett were replaced with athletes from Hungary and Greece. Richard Sheldon
also representing the USA, elected to participate on Sunday and won the gold medal in the shot put. Fortunately, McCracken's and Garrett's Saturday qualifying results in the shot put were good enough to earn them silver and bronze medals respectively in the shot put event. McCracken also received the bronze medal in the hammer throw.
The film commemorates British athletic triumphs that occurred during the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. A scene in the movie depicts Eric Liddell
, "The Flying Scotsman", a member of Great Britain's Olympic team, refusing to race on Sunday for religious reasons. In the film, Liddell learns while aboard ship and crossing the English Channel that his heat for the 100 meter dash was to be held on the Sabbath. Once in Paris, Liddell met with the British Olympic Association and the Prince of Wales, who all wanted Liddell to put Country and King ahead of God. Liddell held his ground and refused to dishonor the Lord’s Day by running on Sunday.
The Wikipedia encyclopedia article for Chariots of Fire
states the film takes liberties with the events at the 1924 Olympics itself, most notably the events surrounding Liddell's refusal to race on Sunday. The article states Liddell knew months in advance of the start of the Olympics that the qualifying heat for the 100m dash would be run on Sunday. Liddell withdrew from the 100m and switched to the 400m dash several months prior to the team's departure for France. Liddell also had been selected to run a leg of the 4x100m relay and 4x400m relay, but declined these events in advance since these heats were also scheduled to be run on Sunday. Ken Wales, the movie producer of Amazing Grace, announced in 2008 that a sequel was planned that will focus on Eric Liddell's life in China after the 1924 Olympics.
Other interesting similarities between McCracken and Liddell, aside from both being Olympic medal winners, are that both were of Scottish descent, Presbyterians and later became foreign missionaries in China. Liddell was a missionary in China from 1925 until his death at a Japanese internment camp on February 21, 1945. McCracken was a medical missionary in China from 1914 until he was expelled by the Japanese in 1942.
McCracken completed his medical internship at Columbia University and his medical residency at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital. In 1906, the University of Pennsylvania Christian Association sent McCracken to China
to establish a Christian medical school in Canton. McCracken served as president of the University of Canton Medical School from 1907 to 1913 and then as dean of the Pennsylvania Medical School of St. John's University in Shanghai
from 1914 to 1942. McCracken spent a total of 36 years in China training Chinese doctors and improving existing medical schools. When the Japanese occupied China in 1942, Dr. McCracken and his family were expelled and placed aboard an Italian ship in Shanghai. Their escape from China required the assistance of the Swiss Consulate. Their passage home took them down the coast of southeastern Asia, across the Indian Ocean to Mozambique
, Africa. In Mozambique they were transferred to a Swedish ship that took them around the Cape of Good Hope
to Rio de Janeiro
, Brazil, and finally to New York. During World War II McCracken served as a Major in the U.S. Public Health Reserves. Joe's wife Helen and his daughter Mary both died in the United States during the war. After the war McCracken returned to Shanghai for another year before having to return to the United States for health reasons. During retirement McCracken continued to raise funds for the hospitals and medical schools in China until the takeover in 1952 by the communist government.
The McCracken's had eight children,seven whom were born in China. A son of Joe and Helen, Dr. Josiah C. McCracken Jr., was a Penn football running back in the 1930s,whose nickname was the "Shanghai Express." During World War II Joe Jr. rose to the rank of Major in the U.S. Army Medical Corp and received the Bronze Star for his service in the southwest Pacific.
In May 1952 Joe Sr. returned to Kansas to visit relatives and the graves of his parents. While in Sterling he decided to sell his parents' farm. He donated the proceeds from the sale of the family farm to Sterling College in appreciation for what the school had done for him and other young people since then.
Joe McCracken Sr. died in Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania, on February 15, 1962, at nearly 88 years of age, and is buried alongside his wife Helen and daughter Dr. Mary McCracken in Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, NY. Also buried in Woodlawn Cemetery are several of his distant relatives who had changed the spelling of the McCracken surname to MacCracken, including Henry Mitchell MacCracken, Chancellor of New York University, who conceived the idea of a Hall of Fame for Great Americans
; and his sons Dr. Henry Noble MacCracken http://vcencyclopedia.vassar.edu/presidents/henry-noble-maccracken.html, President of Vassar College; and Dr. John Henry MacCracken, President of Lafayette College.http://imago.lafayette.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/presidents&CISOPTR=1&CISOBOX=1&REC=9
On May 23, 1956, Joe was elected to the University of Pennsylvania Track Hall of Fame. On November 11, 2000, he was inducted into the University of Pennsylvania Athletic Hall of Fame.
During 2008 the University of Pennsylvania Christian Association established the Dr. Josiah C. McCracken Society http://www.upennca.org/alumnae_i/mccrackensociety/.
In 2009 Joe McCracken was nominated for induction into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame
so he could take his place along side the other two Kansas Musketeers Kennedy and Outland previously inducted.
Ulster-Scots
The Ulster Scots are an ethnic group in Ireland, descended from Lowland Scots and English from the border of those two countries, many from the "Border Reivers" culture...
ancestors settled in Pennsylvania before the French & Indian War (Seven Years War). When Joe was 8 years old, his parents moved to Garnett, Kansas, and by the time he reached 17, the family was living in Sterling, Kansas.
In 1896 Joe McCracken left the Cooper College preparatory program (known today as Sterling College
Sterling College
Sterling College may refer to:*Sterling College *Sterling College...
) to attend the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
Wharton School of Finance. At the end of his first academic year he transferred to the Penn School of Medicine.
While at Penn, McCracken was an all around student athlete, playing varsity football four years, track four years (captain his senior year) and was a member of the gymnastics team. On May 31, 1898, he set a World Record in the hammer throw with a distance of 46.83m (153–8 ft) at a meet in New Jersey. In 1899 he was named a Walter Camp College Football All American http://waltercamp.org/index.php/teams_and_awards/P100/ at the guard position. He won a silver and bronze medal at the 1900 Paris Olympics http://www.olympic.org/uk/athletes/results/search_r_uk.asp. McCracken was elected president of his class all four years, was president of the Christian Association three years, president of the Houston Club one year and an associate editor of the student newspaper, The Pennsylvanian. A New York Times article of April 11, 1901 described him as "the University of Pennsylvania's best all around athlete and the most popular man at the university..." When Joe graduated in 1901 and while receiving his diploma the whole audience rose to their feet and loudly applauded, an ovation never before given in the history of the University.
McCracken played varsity football at Penn primarily as an offensive fullback and defensive guard from 1897 to 1900. During 1899 he played alongside John Outland (Outland Trophy
Outland Trophy
The Outland Trophy is awarded to the best United States college football interior lineman by the Football Writers Association of America. It is named after John H. Outland. One of only a few players ever to be named All-America at two positions, Outland garnered consensus All-America honors in...
) and A. R. Kennedy
A. R. Kennedy
-External links:...
, two transfer students from the University of Kansas football program. McCracken, Outland and Kennedy were known around Philadelphia's Franklin Field as the "Kansas Musketeers".
1900 Olympics
McCracken's previous world record in the hammer throw earned him a spot on the U.S. Olympic team and a trip to the 1900 Summer Olympics1900 Summer Olympics
The 1900 Summer Olympics, today officially known as the Games of the II Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1900 in Paris, France. No opening or closing ceremonies were held; competitions began on May 14 and ended on October 28. The Games were held as part of...
in Paris. During the Paris Olympics, The New York Times reported on July 16, 1900, that the French Olympic Committee had shifted several final events to Sunday and that American athletes including Josiah McCracken from Penn and Robert Garrett
Robert Garrett
Robert Garrett was an American athlete. He was the first modern Olympic champion in discus throw and shot put.-Biography:...
from Princeton University refused for religious reasons to compete in any Olympic events that were scheduled on Sunday. McCracken and Garrett were replaced with athletes from Hungary and Greece. Richard Sheldon
Richard Sheldon
Richard Sheldon was the winner of the gold medal in the men's shot put at the 1900 Summer Olympics held in Paris, France. Sheldon, an American, won with a throw of 14.10 m. He also won a bronze medal in the discus throw. Brother of Lewis Sheldon.-References:...
also representing the USA, elected to participate on Sunday and won the gold medal in the shot put. Fortunately, McCracken's and Garrett's Saturday qualifying results in the shot put were good enough to earn them silver and bronze medals respectively in the shot put event. McCracken also received the bronze medal in the hammer throw.
Chariots of Fire...a McCracken Connection?
Does McCracken and Garrett refusing to compete on Sunday during the 1900 Olympics sound familiar? It would appear the 1981 film, Chariots of Fire, took the story of the refusal of American athletes McCracken and Garrett to compete on Sunday and attributed their story to Great Britain's 1924 Olympic athlete Eric Liddell.The film commemorates British athletic triumphs that occurred during the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. A scene in the movie depicts Eric Liddell
Eric Liddell
Eric Henry Liddell was a Scottish athlete, rugby union international player, and missionary.Liddell was the winner of the men's 400 metres at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris...
, "The Flying Scotsman", a member of Great Britain's Olympic team, refusing to race on Sunday for religious reasons. In the film, Liddell learns while aboard ship and crossing the English Channel that his heat for the 100 meter dash was to be held on the Sabbath. Once in Paris, Liddell met with the British Olympic Association and the Prince of Wales, who all wanted Liddell to put Country and King ahead of God. Liddell held his ground and refused to dishonor the Lord’s Day by running on Sunday.
The Wikipedia encyclopedia article for Chariots of Fire
Chariots of Fire
Chariots of Fire is a 1981 British film. It tells the fact-based story of two athletes in the 1924 Olympics: Eric Liddell, a devout Scottish Christian who runs for the glory of God, and Harold Abrahams, an English Jew who runs to overcome prejudice....
states the film takes liberties with the events at the 1924 Olympics itself, most notably the events surrounding Liddell's refusal to race on Sunday. The article states Liddell knew months in advance of the start of the Olympics that the qualifying heat for the 100m dash would be run on Sunday. Liddell withdrew from the 100m and switched to the 400m dash several months prior to the team's departure for France. Liddell also had been selected to run a leg of the 4x100m relay and 4x400m relay, but declined these events in advance since these heats were also scheduled to be run on Sunday. Ken Wales, the movie producer of Amazing Grace, announced in 2008 that a sequel was planned that will focus on Eric Liddell's life in China after the 1924 Olympics.
Other interesting similarities between McCracken and Liddell, aside from both being Olympic medal winners, are that both were of Scottish descent, Presbyterians and later became foreign missionaries in China. Liddell was a missionary in China from 1925 until his death at a Japanese internment camp on February 21, 1945. McCracken was a medical missionary in China from 1914 until he was expelled by the Japanese in 1942.
McCracken's later life
After graduating from Penn, McCracken remained involved in college football as both a game official and coach. During his medical residency and internship period, McCracken was a football referee, linesman or time-keeper for many Ivy League varsity games, including the Harvard vs. Yale games of 1902 and 1904. In 1903, he returned to Kansas for one season as the Cooper College football coach. McCracken Field at Sterling College's Smisor Stadium is named in his honor. Also in 1903, three Penn 1900 Olympic athletes—Dr. Alexander Grant, George W. Orton and Dr. Joe McCracken—established Camp Tecumseh http://www.camptecumseh.net/about_mission.asp, a residential summer camp in New Hampshire for young men. The camp’s mission now as it was then, is “to make good boys better” through healthy athletic competition.McCracken completed his medical internship at Columbia University and his medical residency at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital. In 1906, the University of Pennsylvania Christian Association sent McCracken to China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
to establish a Christian medical school in Canton. McCracken served as president of the University of Canton Medical School from 1907 to 1913 and then as dean of the Pennsylvania Medical School of St. John's University in Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
from 1914 to 1942. McCracken spent a total of 36 years in China training Chinese doctors and improving existing medical schools. When the Japanese occupied China in 1942, Dr. McCracken and his family were expelled and placed aboard an Italian ship in Shanghai. Their escape from China required the assistance of the Swiss Consulate. Their passage home took them down the coast of southeastern Asia, across the Indian Ocean to Mozambique
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
, Africa. In Mozambique they were transferred to a Swedish ship that took them around the Cape of Good Hope
Cape of Good Hope
The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...
to Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
, Brazil, and finally to New York. During World War II McCracken served as a Major in the U.S. Public Health Reserves. Joe's wife Helen and his daughter Mary both died in the United States during the war. After the war McCracken returned to Shanghai for another year before having to return to the United States for health reasons. During retirement McCracken continued to raise funds for the hospitals and medical schools in China until the takeover in 1952 by the communist government.
The McCracken's had eight children,seven whom were born in China. A son of Joe and Helen, Dr. Josiah C. McCracken Jr., was a Penn football running back in the 1930s,whose nickname was the "Shanghai Express." During World War II Joe Jr. rose to the rank of Major in the U.S. Army Medical Corp and received the Bronze Star for his service in the southwest Pacific.
In May 1952 Joe Sr. returned to Kansas to visit relatives and the graves of his parents. While in Sterling he decided to sell his parents' farm. He donated the proceeds from the sale of the family farm to Sterling College in appreciation for what the school had done for him and other young people since then.
Joe McCracken Sr. died in Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania, on February 15, 1962, at nearly 88 years of age, and is buried alongside his wife Helen and daughter Dr. Mary McCracken in Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, NY. Also buried in Woodlawn Cemetery are several of his distant relatives who had changed the spelling of the McCracken surname to MacCracken, including Henry Mitchell MacCracken, Chancellor of New York University, who conceived the idea of a Hall of Fame for Great Americans
Hall of Fame for Great Americans
The Hall of Fame for Great Americans is the original hall of fame in the United States. "Fame" here means "renown"...
; and his sons Dr. Henry Noble MacCracken http://vcencyclopedia.vassar.edu/presidents/henry-noble-maccracken.html, President of Vassar College; and Dr. John Henry MacCracken, President of Lafayette College.http://imago.lafayette.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/presidents&CISOPTR=1&CISOBOX=1&REC=9
On May 23, 1956, Joe was elected to the University of Pennsylvania Track Hall of Fame. On November 11, 2000, he was inducted into the University of Pennsylvania Athletic Hall of Fame.
During 2008 the University of Pennsylvania Christian Association established the Dr. Josiah C. McCracken Society http://www.upennca.org/alumnae_i/mccrackensociety/.
In 2009 Joe McCracken was nominated for induction into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame
Kansas Sports Hall of Fame
The Kansas Sports Hall of Fame is a museum located in Wichita, Kansas, dedicated to preserving the history of sports in the state of Kansas. The museum provides exhibits, archives, facilities, services, and activities to honor those individuals and teams whose achievements in sports brought...
so he could take his place along side the other two Kansas Musketeers Kennedy and Outland previously inducted.