Myer Prinstein

Early life Prinstein was Jewish and was born in Szczuczyn, in Russian-ruled Congress Poland. His parents, Jacob and Julia Prinstein (born Jankiel Prinsztejn and Judes Rubinsztejn), emigrated to New York City. In 1883, when Myer was five, the family moved to Syracuse and resided at 724 Orange Street, currently McBride St., in the predominantly Jewish neighborhood of the 7th Ward, on the East side of downtown. Myer began competing in track and field while he attended the public Syracuse High School, which later became Central High, and he was a member of the local YMCA team.

Enrolling in 1897, Prinstein was captain of the Syracuse University track team, and graduated with a law degree in 1902. After graduating college, he moved to Jamaica, Queens, New York to practice law, where he was a member and competitor for the highly accomplished Irish American Athletic Club. However, the record was soon broken, first by William Newburn of Ireland on June 18, 1898, and then by future rival Alvin Kraenzlein on May 26, 1899.

On April 28, 1900, Prinstein set a new world record of 7.50 m (24 ft in) at Philadelphia's Penn Relays.

Competing as a member of the Irish American Athletic Club in the St. Louis Olympics in 1904, he won both the long jump (setting an Olympic record) He also came 5th in both the 60 m and 400 m dash.

In Athens 1906 he again won the long jump competition, beating the world record holder, Peter O'Connor. The only judge for the competition was Matthew Halpin, who was manager of the American team. O'Connor protested, but was overruled. He continued to protest Halpin's decisions through the remainder of the competition. The distances were not announced until the end of the competition. When they were, Prinstein had won with his very first jump. Malcolm Ford, a sportswriter who had once been a long-jumper, wrote in the New York Mail and Express, "The great feature of his (Prinstein's) jumping is the rise which he gets after leaving takeoff...He has an unusually pretty style and impresses one that he always knows what he is doing." By 1904 he had a stationery business, a real estate company, and a business selling legal forms to lawyers, in addition to his law practice. On February 10, 1911, Prinstein was officially disbarred for a period by the Appellate division of the Supreme Court as a result of fraud in connection with a $200 payment he was given by a client to close a real estate transaction. Prinstein provided a bank statement verifying he deposited the $200 on September 19, 1907, but it was later found Prinstein had spent the money. A six-month suspension was recommended by ex-Justice Gildersleeve. Several sources claim he was a lawyer in good standing prior to the incident. After his temporary disbarment ended in the summer of 1911, Prinstein may have continued to practice law or as a Syracuse University website claims, he focused more on his businesses.

Honors Myer Prinstein was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1982. In 2000, he was inducted as a member into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame, in New York City, and in 2008 he was inducted into the Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame.