Eldridge (Gus) Eatman ran at a time when Black people were not accepted in the ranks of amateur track and field.

Athletics Canada, Saint John Reds Track & Field Club and the Irving Oil Fieldhouse will hold a ceremony during the upcoming Canadian Indoor Track and Field Championships to recognize Eldridge Eatman: a world class sprinter and war veteran from Saint John.

On March 18, the first of two days of competition, a large 36×72-inch plaque commemorating Eatman’s lifetime achievements will be unveiled and placed prominently inside of the Fieldhouse.

“We felt strongly it was time for him to be recognized nationally,” said Saint John Reds Club President Bill MacMackin. “The Athletics Canada Indoor Championships, in Saint John, his hometown, is being held a stone’s throw from where one of his most famous races took place. We were excited to give Eldridge Eatman some national profile plus create this permanent legacy at the Irving Oil Field House.”

Born near Fredericton in 1880, Eldridge (Gus) Eatman lived most of his life in Saint John, N.B. He ran at a time when black people were not accepted in the ranks of amateur track and field, making it that much harder to crack the professional realm. Yet, he showed great prowess: he beat world champion 120- yard sprinter Tom Keen at the age of 23, and traveled to the US, UK and Australia to win 60 to 130-yard races. In 1905 he would set a Canadian record in the 100-yard sprint with a time of 9.8 seconds, and the next year won the Powderhall Trophy, emblematic of the world championship, in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Eatman later served in the First World War, fighting on the front lines with a British regiment, the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers, between 1915 and 1918, sustaining a leg wound in the process. By the age of 55, he led a Canadian activism initiative to recruit volunteers and raise funds to fight against Italian dictator Benito Mussolini’s invasion of Ethiopia.

Eatman died in 1960, and was later inducted into the Saint John Sports Hall of Fame in 2002 and the New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame in 2016 in part due to his third cousin Maurice Eatman’s efforts to have his relative recognized.

“I heard about him off and on going through school, but it didn’t really sink in until I did a little bit of research,” Eatman told reporters at CTV news. “We didn’t know exactly how good he was until I started looking around in the archives.”

Ralph “Tiger” Thomas, a former professional boxer and now a project manager at the New Brunswick Black History Society, said he is delighted to hear of Eatman’s upcoming recognition.

“I heard about Eatman for the first time a few years ago, and thought ‘this man had the ability to be a world champion – why am I only hearing about him now?” he said. “You learn about people who fall through the cracks, and all of a sudden they’re brought back into the forefront and recognized. It’s great to see.”

The ceremony will take place on Saturday, during the afternoon track break at approximately 1:30 pm Atlantic Time.

  St Johns