As the slender and lean young man stood on the starting line, no one in the crowd knew who he was.
On either side of him were athletes who had spent their lives becoming elite runners.
They were the best of the best.
The official said “On your mark…”
The men crouched down, fingertips touching on the dirt track.
“Get set.”
The bodies tensed up ready to spring into action…
Then… silence until the gun went off and the young man’s surroundings faded.
He saw the finish line, 100 metres in front of him.
And he was determined to be the first one to cross it.
I’m Craig Baird and this is Canadian History Ehx.
This month, I’m focusing on Olympic history.
In this episode, I bring you details of a reluctant champion who was forgotten too soon.
This is the story of Percy Williams!
Percy Williams was born on May 19, 1908, in Vancouver.
He was a first generation Canadian.
His father Frederick, immigrated from England, and his mother, Charlotte, was from Newfoundland, which if you remember from my episodes on the province, was a separate colony of Britain at the time.
The couple separated when Percy was a young man and from then on, his mother became the most important person in his life.
And thankfully he had sports to turn to.
From an early age, Percy had excelled at sports.
But he was born with a gift for speed and easily outpaced his classmates on the track.
In his early teens he was already competing around Vancouver and had earned the honour of being the person to beat every time he stepped behind the starting line. But by 15 years old, something was wrong.
He had recovered from a streptococcal infection in his throat, but his body felt like it was turning against him.
Each step made his joints hurt.
His heart felt like it was beating out of his chest.
He had never struggled before, but now after a run he had trouble catching his breath and felt out of shape. A rash had developed all over his body, his stomach hurt and he seemed to always be tired.
A doctor confirmed that he had rheumatic fever.
Today, the condition is treated with anti-inflammatory medication and antibiotics.
But in the late-1910s, the only thing doctors could recommend was rest.
Percy needed to stay away from strenuous activities.
Which meant…. No more running.
Percy likely would have adhered to the suggestion but his school wouldn’t let him.
His high school required all male students to participate in athletic competitions.
His school coach also wanted his best runner on the track, and he encouraged Percy’s friends to peer-pressure him into competing.
Percy had little choice but to take part and hope his heart could handle it.
He said,
“You got pushed into these things. You had to help the school. You were a bum if you didn’t try out.”
Despite worrying for his heart, he gave it his all in every race he took part in.
At 18, he accepted a challenge from Wally Scott, the top sprinter in the city and ran him in a dead heat.
A few weeks later, he won the 100-yard dash and the 200-yard dash at the Brockton Point Meet and set records for King Edward High School that lasted for 35 years.
A janitor who loved athletics took notice His name was Bob Granger, and he was about to change Percy William’s life.
[PAUSE MUSIC TRANSITION – Could be midroll]
Bob Granger may have been a janitor at the time, but he was deeply dedicated to running.
He watched the scrawny kid, standing just 5’6” and weighing 110 pounds run and saw potential because in his words Percy violated every known principle of the running game. Nothing Percy did was right, except for his sheer speed.
Quote
“Never had I ever seen, in all my years of watching track races, such a pair of legs! They moved like the pistons of a gasoline engine with somebody opening the throttle wider all the time.”
Bob Granger was a running coach and far ahead of his time.
He took Percy under his wing and taught him visualization techniques before races.
He encouraged Percy to conserve energy before a race and not to deplete it.
Before each race, nearly to the point when everyone had lined up, he had Percy sit in a locker room under blankets to build a light sweat.
Granger also knew that Percy was a running prodigy who was fueled by spite and seemed to do best when he was running against perceived enemies.
Before a race, he would tell Percy that the other runners had been talking trash about him.
His methods may have been unorthodox, but Granger got results.
In 1927, Percy ran the 100-yard dash in Seattle in 9.9 seconds and set another record.
He was the best runner in British Columbia, and likely Canada, but could he be the fastest man in the world?
He was about to find out.
Canada was hoping for Olympic glory at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam.
69 athletes, including seven women, would compete in eight sports.
It was the most athletes Canada had sent to the Games since the 1908 Olympics in London.
To qualify, Percy Williams had to race at the Olympic trials in Hamilton, Ontario.
His coach Bob Granger didn’t have the money to make the trip.
To be there for his protégé he became a server on the Canadian Pacific Railway dining car as it made the transcontinental trip east at the qualifiers, Percy and Granger watched other racers to learn their techniques and conserved energy by laying on the grass instead of training.
The media called Percy lazy and didn’t expect him to do well.
He proved them wrong.
He won the 100 by running an Olympic record time and won the 200 metres as well Sam Hawley, author of I Just Ran: Percy Williams, World’s Fastest Human says that the wins took everyone by surprise.
SAM CLIP [1:46 – 1:54] 8 seconds
Percy would be representing Canada at the Olympics and by the time he set sail for Europe he had bulked up to 125 pounds However, Bob Granger wasn’t on board because he wasn’t an official coach and had no place on the ship.
To get to Europe, Granger worked his way across the Atlantic on a cattle boat.
He then rented a room on the edge of Amsterdam’s red-light district, near Percy’s hotel.
To prepare Percy for competition, Granger coached him on his starts by using a mattress shoved up against the wall in the hallway.
Meanwhile, the official coach of Canada’s Olympic team, J.R. Cornelius hated the pair’s training methods.
He believed in the concept of no pain, no gain. He tried to push Percy, but the only man the runner ever listened to was Granger.
Percy wrote to his mother,
“The coach here is one of the Scotch men who believe in the Big “I” and little ‘u,’ and he was dead set against the method of training I use. Bob figured out that he was trying to give me 20 times too much work to do, so I just loafed all the time I have been here.”
Percy Williams was going into the Amsterdam games an underdog.
Not just because of his size but because since the Modern Olympics began in 1896, an American had won the 100 metres five out of seven times.
In 1904 and 1912, the United States won all three medals in the competition.
The closest Canada ever got to gold was Robert Kerr’s when he came in third in 1908.
In the 200 metres, the Americans had been gold medalists at every Olympics except in 1908 when Canada’s Robert Kerr stunned the world.
Naturally in Amsterdam, the Americans were once again expected to dominate the competition.
They were led by the president of the American Olympic Committee, Major General Douglas MacArthur.
20 years later he would lead the United States forces in the Pacific during the Second World War and would be on hand to accept the Japanese surrender aboard the USS Missouri on Sept. 2, 1945.
But for now, he was pushing for athletes to win it all.
Author, Sam Hawley says MacArthur’s sprinters appeared to be unbeatable.
SAM CLIP [4:02 – 4:24] 22 seconds
Almost no one thought the slender” man from Vancouver would do anything special at the Olympics.
There was only one man who believed in Percy Williams.
And that was Bob Granger.
Percy raced in Heat 12 against runners from Canada, Czechoslovakia, France, Portugal and Lithuania.
Granger told him to only run fast enough to qualify.
He wanted Percy to save everything for the final.
Percy didn’t listen.
He always raced to win and won his heat with a time of 11 seconds.
In the fourth quarterfinal, Percy was told again to conserve his energy.
Instead, Percy won with a time of 10.6 seconds and set and Olympic Record.
Now in the semifinal, Percy tied for first with Robert McAllister from the United States and Wilfred Legg from South Africa.
All three men would meet in the final.
As Percy walked up to the start of the 100 metres, he was wearing three track suits, four sweaters and had a blanket wrapped around him.
Granger wanted his protégé to be loose and warm and, in his words, “hot to trot.”
Granger told Percy,
“You’ve been here before. It is just another Brockton Race.”
When he took off all his layers, Percy stood at the starting line wearing the number 667 over his Maple Leaf uniform.
On either side of him were the best runners in the world.
Men like Jack London from London, England, arguably the top runner in Europe, and Frank Wykoff of the United States, who was destined to be the first man to win three Olympic relay gold medals.
The men lined up.
“On your mark”
They crouched.
“Get set.”
They tensed up.
[BRIEF BREAK]
But then Wilfred Legg and Frank Wykoff jumped the gun.
A False start!
They all lined up again.
The silence in the stadium was palpable.
Everyone was ready to burst off the start line.
False start again!
Once again, Legg and Wykoff were to blame.
Percy paced angrily.
His body was vibrating with anticipation.
Each false start shot his adrenaline up a little bit more.
He was a rocket ship ready for takeoff.
The runners line up a third time.
They got on their mark.
Got set.
BANG!
The six men took off, in a dead heat.
Helmet Koering of Germany and Percy Williams were neck-and-neck for the first 50 metres.
But then, Percy put on the afterburners and widened the gap.
When he crossed the finish line, he had done something no other Canadian had done before,
Percy Williams, the man no one expected to even make the final, won the 100 metres and became the fastest man in the world.
He won the gold medal with a time of 10.8 seconds and set an Olympic record.
Jack London from England and Goerge Lammers of Germany took silver and bronze with times of 10.9 seconds.
The Americans, for the first time ever, were shut out of the podium.
Percy’s win in the 100 metres was so surprising that Olympic officials didn’t have a Canadian flag ready, or even the national anthem prepared, which caused a delay.
After the race, Percy was asked what his secret was to win.
He said,
“I just ran.”
For his part, Major General Douglas MacArthur gave credit where credit was due and said,
“In my opinion, the Canadian Percy Williams is the greatest sprinter the world has ever seen.”
In 10.8 seconds, Percy had made history and gone from total obscurity to international fame.
Or at least his name was famous.
Outside his hotel, people came to see the Canadian gold medalist, but he was so unknown that Percy was able to walk out and stand in the crowd waiting to catch a glimpse of him.
He said,
“I stood around, waiting for ‘him’ too, and talking to people. It was more fun.”
In his diary that night, Percy felt melancholic by his accomplishment and what that meant for his future.
He wrote,
“So, I’m supposed to be the world’s 100 yards champion. Crushed apples. No more fun in running now.”
He may have believed running was no fun now, but he still had one more race at the Olympics.
The 200 metres.
From July 29 to 30, Percy Williams had run in four races to win the 100 metres gold.
Now on July 31, he was preparing to run again and double the distance.
In his first heat of the 200 metres, Percy won with a time of 22.6 seconds.
In the quarterfinals, he finished second for the first time, .2 seconds behind Helmut Kornig of Germany.
But he had qualified for the semifinal, which he won with a time of 22 seconds.
In the finals he was joined by fellow Canadian John Fitzpatrick on the starting line/.
The Americans, who typically dominated the event, only had Jackson Scholz representing them.
This time there were no false starts.
As soon as the gun went off, time slowed down for Percy as he burst out of the starting blocks.
He had won the 100 metres, and proved he was the fastest man in the world.
Now he was going to show that the win was no fluke.
21.8 seconds.
That is how long it took for Percy to make it to the finish line and into the history books. He became the first non-American to take double Olympic gold in the 100 and 200 metres.
It was a feat no Canadian had ever done before or since.
Behind him was Walter Rangeley of Great Britain who took the silver, and
Helmut Kornig of Germany and Jackson Scholz finished so close that judges couldn’t determine who won the bronze.
They suggested a run-off, but Scholz refused to participate and Kornig was given the medal.
That night, Percy went to his hotel, opened some telegrams and ate salad for dinner and washed it down with mineral water.
Then he promptly went to bed.
Katie Fisher with Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame say said what he did was remarkable.
KATIE CLIP [3:43 – 3:59] 16 seconds
News traveled to Canada, and the nation was bursting with pride.
Percy said years later the wins were for a much more selfish reason “I always thought it was a lot of hogwash to say that you ran for your flag and country. I was out there to beat the guy beside me.”
Regardless, he knew to share the credit because without Bob Granger he wouldn’t have achieved his Olympic dreams.
And by the time Percy touched down in Halifax and made his way across the country he was the most famous man in Canada.
Along the way he was accompanied by the two most important people in his life… Bob Granger and his mother.
When Percy’s train finally pulled up to the CPR station on Granville Street in Vancouver, a huge crowd was there to greet him.
Mayor L.D. Taylor and Premier Simon Tolmie were also there to hurry him to a waiting car to take him to a giant parade being held in his honour.
25,000 people, one-sixth of the city, lined the sidewalks to cheer him as his car made its way through the streets.
The entire event was broadcast and by the time he reached the end the City of Vancouver presented Percy with a Graham Page luxury car, $500 in gold and a shotgun.
Katie Fisher from the hall of fame says his win came at a time Canadians were trying to prove themselves on the world stage.
KATIE CLIP [5:48 – 6:02] 14 seconds
After being a part of the Olympic sized nation building event, Percy briefly attended the University of British Columbia but then quit to compete in the indoor track circuit in the United States.
Author Sam Hawley says he may have left because of all the attention he was receiving.
SAM CLIP [6:08 – 6:24] 16 seconds
Throughout 1929, Percy competed in indoor races around the United States and Canada,
How did he do?
In 21 days, he traveled to nine cities, ran 22 races and won 21.
Percy called those wins, not his Olympic golds, his greatest triumph.
And he would get a chance to defend the title as the fastest man in the world in 1932 but first he would compete in a new event that was inspired by his feat in Amsterdam. [PAUSE MUSIC TRANSITION – MIDROLL TWO?]
In 1928, Bobby Robinson was the manager of the Canadian track and field team.
He was Hamilton Spectator sportswriter and after witnessing Percy Williams’ incredible wins in Amsterdam he was inspired to create an Olympics-type event but only for the British Empire.
Two years later on Aug. 16, 1930, the British Empire Games, now known as the Commonwealth Games, opened in Hamilton.
400 athletes from 11 nations sat in the city’s Civic Stadium and listened to Percy Williams give the Athlete’s Oath.
The shy man from Vancouver hadn’t put up his cleats.
Five days before the opening ceremony, he had set a world record in the 100 metres with a time of 10.3.
So, he was ready for the British Empire Games.
He won his heat with a time of 9.6 seconds.
In the final, he raced against fellow Canadian John Fitzpatrick, Ernie Page and Stanley Engelhart of England, and Wilfred Legg and Werner Gerhardt of South Africa.
As soon as the starter’s pistol went off, Percy easily took the lead and by the 50-meter mark he almost two metres ahead of the closest competitor.
With victory in sight, Percy’s foot came down on a soft spot on the track.
He stumbled, tottered and limped back up to finish the race.
He won, but it came at a cost.
Macleans wrote,
“His fighting spirit carried him over victory. Yes. Determination, courage, fight, can sometimes make champions.”
But the misstep on the track would have far reaching consequences because he had seriously strained a tendon.
And for the next two years, Percy tried to regain his speed.
It was a long road, and no matter what he did, he wasn’t the same as he prepped for the 1932Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
Percy was named the captain of the Canadian track team and was given $10 to cover his expenses and a one-way train ticket to California.
At the games he lined up for his first heat, but he knew something was off.
He qualified but finished third.
In the quarter finals, he once again finished third but qualified for the semis.
Percy ran his heart out in the semifinal, but his leg wasn’t up to it.
He finished fourth and would not compete for gold in the finals.
Author, Sam Hawley says it was a quiet end to a great athletic career,
SAM CLIP [11:32 – 11:54] 22 seconds
This time, when he returned to Vancouver, there were no crowds, no parades.
And soon after he retired from running.
By then the relationship with Bob Granger would begin to deteriorate and the men slowly drifted apart without training to unite them.
Granger left coaching and became an insurance agent.
Percy never ran again and rarely gave another interview.
Years later he said he was glad to get out of it and added that he never liked running and owed all his success to his coach.
quote
“Anything I accomplished I did because of the determination of Bob Granger, my track coach.”
Then… Percy followed Bob Granger’s footsteps and became an insurance agent.
By 1935, the public had forgotten all about him and he went to live with his mother, the most important person in his life.
After the Second World War, there was renewed interest in Percy’s achievements.
In 1949, he was one of the inaugural inductees into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame.
A year later, he was voted Canada’s greatest track athlete.
Around this same time, Vancouver was preparing for the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, and a new stadium was built.
Originally, they were going to name it in honour of Percy Williams, but some felt he had turned his back on the spotlight and instead the park was named Empire Stadium.
Percy was there when they broke ground on it, but Sports columnist Eric Whitehead said,
“He wanted to be left alone. The first time he came out a little bit was for the sod turning.”
This was one of the very few public appearances he had made and did it on the behest of his mother.
Katie Fisher says 1n 1955, he became one of the first inductees into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame.
KATIE CLIP [10:15 – 10:40] 25 seconds
Meanwhile Percy continued to live a quiet life and gave his Olympic gold medals to the BC Sports Hall of Fame in 1966 when he was inducted.
And so, he soldiered on in relative quiet anonymity until his world was rocked on Nov. 29, 1972.
Percy had been sitting at home when the phone rang.
He picked it up and was shocked to hear it was Bob Granger on the line He had not talked to his former mentor in THIRTY years.
But the man on the line quickly corrected him.
This was not the Bob Granger he knew. It was Bob’s nephew who had the same name and had. the unpleasant task of telling Percy that his former coach was dead.
Percy said of his coach.
“He was a quiet, enigmatic fellow with a tremendous knowledge and understanding of running and the rare knack of getting his ideas across. At the time he came to me, I much preferred team sports such as rugby, and I was a reluctant pupil.”
The rest of the decade was hard for Percy.
He fell into alcoholism to deal with increasing loneliness.
He was kicked out of the Capilano Golf Club when he was caught stealing alcohol from other members.
Author Sam Hawley says that his later years Percy was in pain.
SAM CLIP [18:10 – 18:43] 33 seconds
Despite the troubled times Canada continued to bestow honours on him.
In 1972, he was voted Canada’s all-time greatest Olympic athlete.
When Montreal hosted the Summer Games in 1976, Percy was invited by the federal government to attend.
He refused and was the only living Canadian Olympic gold medalist not in attendance.
By July 1980 he received Canada’s highest honour, the Order of Canada.
But that would be the highlight of a year that started with his gold medals being stolen from the BC Sports Hall of Fame.
Gold prices were high at the time, and the thieves likely melted the medals down.
Percy did not seem to care, and no replacements were made for another 43 years.
Then came the crushing blow when his beloved mother died that same year at 92.
Now completely alone, with arthritis limiting his movements, Percy spent his time alone in the home he had shared with his mother for decades.
By late-October 1982, he had suffered a serious stroke.
Three weeks later he had another one.
On Nov. 30, 1982, Percy had a scheduled doctor’s appointment but never arrived.
Worried about Percy his doctor had the police do a wellness check Inside, they discovered his lifeless body.
Percy Williams died by suicide
He had used the shotgun he received as a gift from the City of Vancouver for his Olympic wins in 1928.
He left no note.
His death came exactly 12 years to the day of Bob Granger’s passing.
Because he had no living relatives there were no funeral services for Percy Williams.
Ed Saba. one of his few friends, said,
“He was the type of person who didn’t like a lot of fanfare. He couldn’t understand why people had funerals.”
A memorial service was held on Dec. 4, 1982, and was attended by 125 people.
The organist played the theme to Chariots of Fire; the film had been released the previous year and told the story of two British runners at the 1924 Summer Olympics.
Percy’s Olympic teammate, Harold Write, called him “Canada’s most reluctant athletic hero” in his eulogy.
Today, a life-sized statue of Percy Williams, crouched in a sprinter’s stance, is located outside British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame in Vancouver.
Percy remains in elite company with his double sprint gold.
Only eight other athletes, including the legendary Jesse Owens and Usain Bolt, share that honour.
Donovan Bailey was the first Canadian to win gold in the 100 meters in 1996.
Andre De Grasse became the first Canadian since Percy Williams to win gold in the 200 metres in Tokyo 2020
Author, Sam Hawley says that while other athletes are well remembered, Percy has faded into history.
SAM CLIP [9:18 – 9:36] 18 seconds
But did you know Percy’s greatest legacy may be the Canadian flag?
[TRANSITION]
There is a famous photo of Percy Williams from the 1928 Summer Olympics.
He is smiling looking to the side as if he wants to avoid the direct gaze of the camera lens.
In that photo, no one can doubt where Percy was from.
On his chest was the Maple Leaf with Canada printed in large letters below it.
You likely saw that same shirt on Ryan Reynolds when he wore a replica of it at the premiere of, I Like Me, the documentary about John Candy in late-2025.
Many people remembered that famous photo of Percy, and it had a long-lasting impact.
In 1964, Canada was going through the Great Canadian Flag Debate.
Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson promised to create a new and unique Canadian flag to replace the Red Ensign.
Hundreds of designs came in from Canadians, but the one from George Stanley really stood out.
Partly inspired by the flag of the Royal Military College, Stanley remembered that photo of Percy Williams and the Maple Leaf that appeared on his shirt.
He said,
“I was so impressed with a picture of Percy Williams winning a gold medal in the 1928 Olympics that it always stayed in my mind and inspired me when I was designing the flag. As Williams breasted the tape, you could see the large maple leaf on his jersey and there was no doubt everyone knew he was from Canada.”
When he designed his flag, that same Maple Leaf was front and centre in the middle.
So, if you’re watching the Olympic and you see the flag being raised to honour one of our Olympic champions, remember the man who helped inspire it with his stunning Olympic wins nearly 100 years ago in Amsterdam.
Remember…. Percy Williams
