Herbert Henry “Herb” McKenley OM was a Jamaican sprinter and the only athlete to reach an Olympic track final in all three of the classic sprint events: 100, 200, and 400 meters. He competed at the 1948 London and 1952 Helsinki Olympic Games in six events in total and won one gold and three silver medals. McKenley was the world’s fastest 400-meter runner more than half a century ago and later a driving force in Jamaica’s climb to track and field glory.
Herbert Henry McKenley was born on July 10, 1922, in Pleasant Valley, Clarendon, Jamaica, to Dr. Alexander McKenley and his wife Zilpha. His father wanted him to become a doctor, while his mother hoped he would be a violinist, starting him with lessons at age 12 and sending him to a teacher two and a half miles away. Rather than wait for a bus, Herbert found he could get there faster by running.
McKenley attended Calabar High School and participated in the Boys’ High School Track and Field Championship, where he was known as “Coco’s Mango”, a nickname given because Leroy “Coco” Brown of Wolmer’s High School constantly defeated him in those early championships. Herb soon took his revenge in the first international track meet held in Jamaica in July 1941, racing Brown over the 100 m and 200 m six times and winning five of the six events, and he also beat his schoolboy idol Arthur Wint in the 200 m.
In 1942 McKenley enrolled at Boston College, becoming the first Jamaican to receive an athletics scholarship to attend an American university. In 1945, he transferred to the University of Illinois, where Coach Leo Johnson was instrumental in his development as an athlete. McKenley won the NCAA championships in the 220 yards (200 m) and 440 yards (400 m) in both 1946 and 1947. He was AAU champion in the 440‑yard dash in 1945, 1947, and 1948, and in 1947 he headed the world lists with best times of 10.3 for 100 m, 20.4 for 200 m, and 46.2 for 400 m, a combination of rankings no other athlete has matched.
Just before the 1948 London Olympics, McKenley broke the world record over 440 yards with 46.0 seconds, a mark he lowered a month later to 45.9. At the London Games, however, he took silver in the 400 m behind teammate Arthur Wint and finished fourth in the 200 m. Jamaica’s 4×400 m relay team lost a likely gold medal when Wint pulled a muscle in the final.
In 1950 McKenley submitted an eight‑point program to the Jamaica Amateur Athletics Association (JAAA) to develop track and field on the island. His proposals helped spur the growth of athletics clubs across Jamaica and encouraged the JAAA to establish branch offices to reduce strain on the central office and increase public access to its services.
In 1951, McKenley was Jamaica’s sole representative at the Pan‑American Games, where he won bronze medals in the 100 m, 200 m, and 400 m. At the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki, he won silver in the 100 m and the 400 m and finally captured Olympic gold in the 4×400 m relay, in which Jamaica set a world record of 3:03.9. McKenley’s extraordinary 44.6‑second leg is credited with pulling Jamaica into contention and is still regarded as one of the greatest relay legs in history.
Herbert Henry McKenley was appointed Supervisor of Athletics in Jamaica effective August 1, 1954, and he coached the Jamaican national team from 1954 to 1973. He also coached the West Indies Federation team at the 1960 Rome Olympics and served as manager and coach of the Rest of the World team in its 1971 meet against the Soviet Union.
After Helsinki, McKenley returned to Jamaica, continued coaching the national team, and later served as president of the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association. He led youth development programs that produced international stars such as Don Quarrie, Lennox Miller, and Merlene Ottey, and his influence helped ensure that dozens of Jamaican athletes received track-and-field scholarships to American colleges each year. McKenley also gave back to his alma mater, coaching Calabar High School’s track and field team to a remarkable run in the Boys’ Championships.
Herb McKenley died on November 26, 2007, at the University Hospital of the West Indies in Kingston. According to JAAA president Howard Aris, speaking on behalf of the family, the cause of death was complications of pneumonia.
Sources:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/28/sports/othersports/28mckenley.html?_r=0
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herb_McKenley
http://nlj.gov.jm/Herb_Mckenley.pdf
https://jis.gov.jm/information/famous-jamaicans/herbert-henry-mckenley/
https://archive.nytimes.com/query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage-9C0CE5DA143DF93AA15752C1A9619C8B63.html
