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Biographies » Tom Longboat
Tom Longboat was born on June 4, 1887 on a Six Nations Reserve
(Caledonia) located south of Brantford, Ontario. He was an Onondaga, one
of the six tribes of the Iroquois Confederacy. Longboat lived on a small farm
with his mother, father and siblings. His father died when Longboat was just
five years old. He ran a lot as a boy, and by the time he was 20, he had won the 1907 Boston Marathon.
Longboat set a new course record of
2:24:24 and became an international celebrity. In 1909, he won the
World Professional Marathon Championships at Madison Square Gardens in
New York City. In 1916 Longboat enlisted for the War. He joined the
107th Pioneer Battalion and was stationed in France. He used his
athletic ability to run messages from one military post to another - a
highly dangerous job. During his service he was wounded twice,
and even reported dead. Longboat survived the war and returned to Canada in
1919. For the rest of his life, he struggled with employment and
diabetes, and eventually died of pneumonia. He was 61 years old. Tom
Longboat is a member of both the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, and the
Indian Sports Hall of Fame.
For more in depth information on Tom Longboat, visit the following links
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