Robert Simpson

1915

Simpson's first major race in the 120 yd hurdles was at the April 1915 Penn Relays. Still little-known outside his native Missouri, Simpson faced a strong field that included Fred W. Kelly, the 1912 Olympic champion and world record holder at 15.0. The following week he won a hurdles double at the Western Conference meet, again running 15.0 in the high hurdles and a meeting record 24.6 in the low hurdles. At the 1915 national championships Simpson placed fourth in the low hurdles He then broke the record in a dual meet against Iowa State on May 6, running 14.8; he also won the low hurdles, the 100 yd dash and the long jump. The following week Simpson equaled his new record in another dual meet; this time, he won four additional events, with his long jump mark of 23 ft in (7.18 m) being a new Missouri Valley record. His hurdles rivals were also in strong form, however;

Simpson regained sole hold of the world record two weeks later at the 1916 Missouri Valley Conference championships, which Missouri hosted. He won the high hurdles in 14.6, improving his own world record by another fifth of a second, and equaled Alvin Kraenzlein's world record of 23.6 in the low hurdles; in addition, he won the long jump. These times would remain his best. He faced Thomson, Kelly (who had also run 14.8) and Murray, although the New York Times wrote that it "did not produce the sensation everybody expected" due to Simpson winning too comfortably; he was never behind and defeated Kelly by about two yards. In the fall Simpson toured Scandinavia with four other American athletes, including Murray; in Stockholm, he won the 110 m hurdles in 14.8,#tag:ref|Timed with -second accuracy, and accordingly cited as 14 (rather than 14 , like his other 14.8 races) when fractions and not decimals were given. 110 meters is 27.2 cm (about 10.7 in) longer than 120 yards; in other respects, the metric and imperial hurdles races were identical. although the International Amateur Athletic Federation never ratified it as one.

By the end of the year Simpson had run under Kelly's old world record of 15.0 seven times, Sporting Life'''s Daniel Ferris named Simpson and Ted Meredith, who had broken the world records for both 440 yards and 880 yards, the leading American track and field athletes of 1916, while Lou Handley singled Simpson out in his Pittsburg Press'' recap of the year.

1917

Simpson was named captain of the Missouri Tigers track and field team for 1917. He led the Tigers to another Missouri Valley Conference title, winning the long jump and both hurdles races. He also won all three events at the Western Conference meet; his winning time in the 220 yd low hurdles was 24.2, a world best for that distance around a curve. #tag:ref|Simpson's earlier 23.6 had been run on a straight track; for a long time, it was common in the United States to run both the flat 220 yards and the 220 yd low hurdles entirely on straights. He missed the 1917 national championships, but was still named as the top high hurdler to both the All-American athletic team and the All-American collegiate team of the year.

Later career

After the 1917 season Simpson joined the United States Army and attended the officers' training camp at Fort Sheridan; he became a lieutenant and track and field instructor for the 91st Division. He resumed hurdling after World War I was over, winning both the high hurdles and the low hurdles at the 1919 Inter-Allied Games in Paris; in the low hurdles he had lost to his own cousin, William Sylvester, in the American tryouts for the meet, but defeated him at the Games themselves. On September 7, 1919, Simpson won the 120 yd hurdles at the Knights of Columbus Olympics, an Armed Forces meeting held at Camp Dix, defeating former national champion Harold Barron; Simpson's time of 15.0 was the fastest in the world that year. A week later he won his second national championship title in the high hurdles, running 15.2 and beating Kelly and Barron; he also won the low hurdles in 24.4, his only national title in that event.

Coaching career

Simpson became the University of Missouri's head track coach after the 1919 season; the move ended his career as an athlete in his own right, as track and field was in the era of amateurism and university coaches were considered professionals. He stayed at Missouri until 1926, his star pupils being Olympic champion Jackson Scholz and Olympic silver medalist Brutus Hamilton; he had worked with and guided Scholz even before officially becoming a coach. He also coached his own younger brother Chauncey, who later became a track, football and golf coach at Missouri. Simpson's Tigers won the Missouri Valley Conference team championship twice, in 1920 and 1925.

After the 1926 season Simpson moved to Iowa State University, coaching the track team there until 1937; his students there included NCAA mile champions Ray Conger and Ray Putnam. In 1939 Simpson became a coach and athletic director in Hungary, where he stayed for the next years despite World War II.

Later life

Simpson re-enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1942 with the rank of captain, gaining promotion to major in 1944. After the war he served as the Army's track and field director in Europe; Simpson remained active in track and field as a meeting official after leaving the Army in 1950.

Personal life

Simpson married Meryl Leavell , women's tennis champion at the University of Missouri, in May 1918 after a short engagement. They had a daughter named Phyllis and a son named Robert.

Legacy Simpson is a charter member of both the National Track and Field Hall of Fame and the University of Missouri Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 1963.