Sports Physician - Athlete 1884
1884
John Burn (1884-1958) won the bronze medal with the British coxed eight at the 1908 Olympics in London. In 1907 and 1908 he also participated in the race between the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. In 1910 he won the famous Silver Globets race on the London Thames with teammate Gordon Thomson (1884-1953). After graduating he specialized at St Bartolomew's Hospital of London in Surgery, where he also started a practice. During World War I he served as a captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps and worked as a surgeon at the St John's Ambulance Brigade Hospital of Richmond and Hon and as an anesthetist in the war hospital of the French Le Touquet.
1884
Together with his twin brother Christopher (1884-1962) Noel Chavasse (1884-1917) was selected by the English athletics association for the 400m of the 1908 Olympics in London. The brothers also excelled in rugby. In 1909 Noel graduated from Oxford University and specialized in orthopedics in Liverpool. He also trained in bacteriology and pathology in Dublin. He established himself as a surgeon at the Royal Southern Hospital of Liverpool. In 1913 he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps as a lieutenant. During World War I he became captain and, because of his courageous action in the Belgian Westhoek, he was pinned the coveted Victoria Cross twice. In 1917 he died of the injuries he had sustained two days before on the front of Passendaele while trying to rescue three soldiers.
1884
At the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp, the 35-year-old Bernard te Hennepe (1884-1955) represented the Netherlands in the coxed eight. After studying Medicine he specialized in Bacteriology and became the chief inspector for public health.
1884
With a jump of 3m86 in June 1908, American Alfred Gilbert (1884-1961) established a new world record pole vault and later that year he won that contest at the London Olympics. He also finished second at the American gymnastic championships and became inter-college champion wrestling. He graduated as a doctor at Yale University but never practiced the profession.
He made a fortune as an inventor and toy manufacturer. He sold thirty million sets of his Erector Set, the first meccano box. He also added learning packages for children, chemistry sets and microscopes.
1884
American surgeon Bradbury Robinson (1884-1949) was a pioneer of American football. In 1903 he played for the University of Wisconsin and from 1904 to 1907 for Saint Louis University. With St. Louis he won gold at the 1904 Olympics. That same year, President Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) called for the reform of the rules of American football. In September 1906, after that reform, Robinson threw the first legal forward pass in history during the game against Carroll College in Waukesha, Wisconsin. He was also an excellent baseball player and hurdler. He worked as a surgeon in Rochester, Minnesota. After his military service in France during World War I he stayed in Europe until 1926 with the staff of Surgeon-General Hugh S. Cumming (1869-1948). He then moved to St Louis, Michigan, where he was elected mayor twice.
