Pup Tent Bloomers
Bobbie Rosenfeld, 1904 – 1969
The year was 1923, and Rosenfeld was at "a picnic in Beaverton, a three ring sporting carnival. I was on a factory girls' softball team. I had done some running at high school in Barrie and was pretty speedy on the bases, and the girls said: 'Why don't you go in the 100 yard dash?'
"I said, 'Aw, what do you mean?' I was wearing these big pup tent bloomers and running shoes.
Well, they persuaded me, the kids on the team, and I went in and won the race. People crowded around, and Elwood Hughes, then sports director of the Canadian National Exhibition, wanted to know who I was.
"They asked, 'Do you know who you beat?.' And I said no.
"You beat the Canadian national champion,' and I said, 'Who's the Canadian champion?'"
The Canadian champion was Rosa Grosse, who became one of Rosenfeld's greatest rivals. In 1925, Rosenfeld and Grosse shared the world record for 100 yards at 11 seconds flat.
Notes:
- Quoted in "Casual Start: Set Olympic Mark at Amsterdam, Bobbie Rosenfeld in Retirement," Globe and Mail 3 Dec. 1966.
How to cite this page
Jewish Women's Archive. "Women of Valor - Bobbie Rosenfeld - Pup Tent Bloomers." <http://jwa.org/womenofvalor/rosenfeld/pup-tent-bloomers> (February 8, 2012).
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