Proceedings of the Fourteenth International Symposium For

"Western Influence" Investigating Allegations of Discrimination at the 1948 Montreal Womens Olympic Athletic Trials Ornella Nzindukiyimana St Francis Xavier University, Canada In anticipation of the first post-WWII Olympics, Canadian female track and field athletes headed to Montreal in July 1948 for the national Olympic trials. Athletes travelled from as far as British Columbia to give their best performances and expecting to become a part of the national team that would soon sail for England. However, the Women's Amateur Athletic Federation's (WAAF) selection of the seven- athletes team was not exclusively based on their Montreal results. According to a WAAF representa tive on the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC), certain athletes did not just require a winning per formance at the trials, but also competitive world-level results. However, several daily newspapers reported that there were ulterior motives to why some athletes were not chosen. Although the WAAF denied the allegations, some reporters claimed that bias and racism were behind the selection com mittee's choices, which indeed did not favour the best athletes in all cases. For instance, there were claims that athletes from British Columbia were selected because of a " Western influence" by the Vancouver-based WAAF. Reports also suggested that Rosella Thorne, a Black 80m hurdles sprinter from Montreal who won her event, had been robbed of a place in favour of Elaine Silburn, a White long jumper from Vancouver who underperformed at the trials. After the team left for London, Toronto's Globe and Mail columnist Bobbie Rosenfeld maintained that "certain quarters" were convinced that Thorne had been a victim of the colour line. Yet, the 'truth' of the trials and the choices of the WAAF selection committee are difficult to garner from the newspapers alone. Yesterday like today, the kind of allegations leveled against the Federation are diffi cult to fully ascertain. But, whether some reporters got carried away, as one columnist suggested, or whether there was truth to the allegations, the reports indicated that there were several individuals who were ready to denounce bias and discrimination in Canadian sport. One must also ask what prompted the allegations. I conclude that further research is needed to investigate such discrimina tion within the COC and the WAAF prior to the latter's disbandment in 1953. In the summer of 1948, allegations of regional bias and racial prejudice emerged against the Cana dian Women's Amateur Athletic Federation (WAAF). On the eve of the first post-WWII Olympic Games, as athletes were returning from the Montreal athletic trials, Bobbie Rosenfeld firm ly sug gested in her Toronto Globe and Mail column that at least two coaches from Toronto had leveled accusations of discrimination against the Federation.1 The heaviest of these was an accusation of bla- tant racism against a young female Black athlete from Montreal. The national team selection, it was reported, was not fair to all. Although publicly made and explicitly formulated, there is speculation as to whether these accusations were well founded. Nevertheless, whether some reporters got carried away, as one Montreal Gazette sport columnist suggested,2 or whether there was truth to the allega tions, the reports indicated that a) there were several individuals who were ready to denounce rac ism, bias, and discrimination in Canadian sport, and b) one must question the circumstances in which such allegations could be brought forth. The series of incidents that prompted reports such as Rosenfeld's suggested that Black athletes stood on uncertain grounds. I argue that the outrage against what only amounted to speculations raises enough questions to warrant a historical investigation of racial prejudice within Canadian sport federations. Untangling the various threads of the Montreal trials episode is made difficult by the muddled details about what transpired. Coverage of the trials began early, and there was great anticipation for it, as seen through the lens of the Globe and Mail columnist who would make the first reports of alle gations— Bobbie Rosenfeld. In June 1948, the focus was on promising athletes like Jean Lowe, a Black sprinter from Toronto who travelled to the trials with members of the Malvernettes Athletic Club and their coach, Abbie Foster. Lowe had spent that summer in Toronto training with her old club (the Malvernettes) away from her current team, the Tuskegee Institute's Tigerettes (Alabama). She had left Toronto to pursue an education at Tuskegee, but had remained in touch with her Toronto coach, Foster. A fundraiser was even organized for Lowe and a few other athletes so that they could travel to Montreal.3 It was upon their return in July that Foster and another Toronto administrator were quoted as saying that the WAAF was biased in its selections. Coverage of the trials over their course was concerned with competition results and selections for Canada's team. As it turned out, at least two of the Toronto Malvernettes (Nancy Mackay and Viola Myers) were selected to go to London. However, Rosenfeld indicated that Jean Lowe, despite being one of Toronto's best bets to qualify, placed last in her event at the trials.4 This contradicts the Toronto reports in Lowe's Tuskegee Hall of Fame profile (written in the 1 980s). The profile suggests that, rather than a last place at the trials, Lowe "won a position on the Canadian Olympic Team in 200 meter [sic] and relay, however, she was unable to participate because of an injury received in Grand Rapids, Michigan while competing for Tuskegee."5 Indeed, the Grand Rapids Championships occurred two days after the Montreal trials. While Lowe placed off the podium in both the long jump (5th) and the 200 metres (6th), there were no American press reports of dashed Olympic dreams, although there was one report of an injury.6 The Toronto press did not report on the Grand Rapids event or on an injury. Ultimately, Lowe was not a part of the 1948 Canadian Olympic team. However, whether she initially qualified or not may have been irrelevant; the controversy and tumult that followed the WAAF's selection of athletes suggests that, regardless of her results, she may not have been on the team. Initial accounts7 suggested bias against non-British Colombians, a discrimination which may have robbed others of deserved spots on the Olympic roster. This went further in the case of Black athletes Jean Lowe and fellow Montrealer, Rosella Thorne, as it was suggested that there were racist motives for their failure to qualify.8 Coach Foster of the Malvernettes and Dallas Kirkey, president of the Toronto Ted Day Athletic Club, made the first complaints, both alleging that there had been some questionable decisions by the WAAF. According to Rosenfeld, the Montreal production insulted the Ontario contingent to the point of violence and a threat to withdraw its members from the Olympic team. What a way to start the Olym pics! ... Since this is an immaculate family journal, I hesitate to print the verbal salvos fired in the general direction of the Canadian Olympic Committee. Translated into qui- eter tones, the returning Toronto officials and coaches insist that the trials were loaded with favoritism.9 Kirkey went on to suggest that this was premeditated because Vancouver athletes reportedly traveled to the trials ready with their passports and that some of them went on to be selected ahead of non-British Columbians, despite not winning respective their event. He was quoted using the term "sharp practices" to designate the "travesty on sport" to which he had been witness.10 Note, however, that the trials were completed close to the date set for Team Canada to sail for England from Montreal. It is conceivable that, hopeful of being selected for the team, athletes would bring their passports to Montreal to avoid travelling all the way back to British Columbia to get them and return to Quebec to board the ship. But, whether or not Eastern athletes were short-changed, Rosenfeld seemed convinced that Van couver athletes received better treatment even before the Toronto officials 'confirmed' her a priori suspicions.11 And, it was a fact that, of the seven track and field female athletes initially selected (prior to Nancy Mackay of the Malvernettes' inclusion at the last minute, following complaints), five were from British Columbia.12 Furthermore, once at the Games in London, the "western influence"13 remained: Rosenfeld reported that Nancy Mackay was originally excluded from the 4x100m relay team, despite having one of the four best times. Mackay was eventually included, and the relay team went on to win the Olympic bronze medal.14 More 'damning' was the case of Rosella Thorne, then a rising hurdles champion based in Mon treal, who was seemingly robbed of a place on the national team despite winning her event at the tri als (80 metres hurdles). Reports in the press soon implied that racism was a factor, although Rosenfeld first simply reported on an undescribed sort of injustice. As she wrote at the bottom of her already heated entry, "Abbie Foster, coach of Toronto Malvernettes, is back home with a story, which, if true, is tragic. He charges discrimination against Rosella Thorne, colored star of Montreal."15 The coach was quoted as saying that, In [his] opinion, Miss Thorne was the victim of discrimination. She won the 80-metre hurdles in 12.6 seconds, three tenth away from the standard, but was left off the team in favor of Elaine Silburn of British Columbia, who didn't win an event and was inches off the standard in both the high jump and the broad [long] jump.16 In the Winnipeg Free Press, Foster was quoted as saying that he thought the "Montreal Negress was left off the team 'because she is coloured'."17 Still, according to the Free Press, the coach added that Thorne was "'left off deliberately' while girls 'who didn't make the standard and weren't as close as she was' were included," before regretfully adding that "[Thorne] is a comer [and that she] would improve every time out and be a credit to Canada."18 Thus, Foster suggested, the choice to send the British Columbian athlete in her place was not only unfair, but also short-sighted.

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