Gerry Weaver
Stag Special
While the name John Armstrong ‘Army’ Howard may not be familiar to most Canadians, perhaps it should be.
The Winnipeg-raised Great War veteran dominated Canadian sprinting from 1912 to 1915. Not only does Howard appear to be Canada’s first black Olympian, he passed on his passion for running to his grandchildren, Olympians Harry and Valerie Jerome.
Howard was born on Oct. 6, 1888. Trained as a mechanic, the tall handsome athlete eventually made his mark on the Canadian scene as a sprinter. He easily qualified for the 1912 Olympics held in Sweden, but the path to Stockholm was not smooth. The playing field that was Canadian society in the 1910s was far from level for black Canadians.
“My grandfather headed off to Stockholm enveloped in controversy,” said Valerie Jerome, noting for example the Olympic sprinting team’s coach, Walter Knox, described Howard to the press as outspoken and disobedient.
She added when the Canadian Olympic team mustered in Montreal before setting sail for Stockholm, Howard was barred from staying at the same hotel as the white athletes. In addition, when traveling by boat to Sweden, he was not allowed to eat in the dining room with his white teammates.
In Stockholm, a stomach ailment ultimately derailed Howard’s medal hopes. Ironically, observed his granddaughter Valerie, all three medal winners of his events had been beaten by Howard at track meets just prior to the 1912 Olympics. He came back in full force at the Canadian outdoor championships in 1913, winning all of his races. Howard also showed his athletic abilities as a catcher for the Crescent Creamery Baseball Club in Winnipeg.
Howard’s athletic career was cut short by the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. He was conscripted into the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) and began his military service on April 12, 1918 as a private with 1st Depot Battalion, Manitoba Regiment. He served in England, first as a sapper — the Canadian Military Engineers term for those of private rank — with the Canadian Railway Troops, a railway construction unit.
He later transferred to the 11th and 18th Canadian Reserve Battalions, which provided reinforcements for infantry battalions on the continent. He ended his deployment with the Canadian Army Medical Corps, most likely serving as a stretcher bearer moving convalescent patients.
In 1920, Howard returned to Canada with his English fiancée Edith Lipscomb and a baby girl who was the first of their three daughters. Married in Winnipeg, the inter-racial couple soon encountered severe prejudice.
Valerie Jerome says her grandparents were stoned to drive them out of town when they tried to homestead at Ste. Rose du Lac, north of Winnipeg.
“They didn’t even get their buckboard unloaded and they had this infant daughter with them,” she said.
The Howards finally settled near the Crane River Indian Reserve in Manitoba, though the marriage eventually broke up. The Great War veteran worked as a railway porter and taught boxing until he died of pneumonia in 1937 at the young age of 48.
Howard never received the public acclaim in his lifetime which his accomplishments deserved, but his legacy lives on. He was inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame in 2004, and two of his grandchildren, sprinters Harry and Valerie Jerome, were also Olympic competitors.
Harry Jerome’s story bears some striking similarities to his grandfather’s, both in his athletic success and the racist attitudes he encountered. As multi-talented as Howard, Harry Jerome turned down an offer to play with the Montreal Alouettes football club. He set seven world sprinting records and competed in all three Olympic Games in the 1960s, earning a bronze medal in the 100-metre sprint at the 1964 Games.
Despite this success, Valerie Jerome said her brother often faced heavy criticism in the press, particularly when he had to withdraw from the 1960 Olympics 100-metres semi-finals due to a potentially career-ending injury.
Sadly, as his grandfather, Harry Jerome also died young, succumbing in 1982 to a brain aneurism at 42.
Asked what traits her grandfather and her brother may have shared, she said, “I think they both had a lot of self-confidence. They had a lot of courage. They went beyond the limits of what they were expected to do.”
As our nation celebrates Black History month, the time has never been better to honour the legacies which ‘Army’ Howard and Harry Jerome left to our country, on the track and off. These outstanding black athletes challenged the discrimination of their times and serve as role models to Canadian youth on the power of believing in yourself.
Canada’s first black Olympian, John ‘Army’ Howard, and his grandchildren, Olympians Harry and Valerie Jerome, leave a legacy of courage to all Canadians. John ‘Army’ Howard races the top American sprinters in 1912 at an all-comers track meet. Photos Harry and Valerie Jerome Fonds, Simon Fraser University Special Collections/Rare Books Division
John ‘Army’ Howard, shown in his club uniform, competed for Winnipeg’s North End Amateur Athletic Club.
Harry Jerome crosses the finish line at a dual meet with the University of Oregon and Oregon State University, circa 1961. Jerome competed in the United States for four years and had multiple American Athletic Union and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) wins while a scholarship student at the University of Oregon.
Valerie and Harry Jerome when they first arrived at the Olympic Village in Rome in 1960 at an event hosted by the Adidas Group.
