he Schoolboys’ Race was a popular event in Yonkers for more than 90 years. It began in 1907 or 1908. Unfortunately, efforts to find a newspaper article describing the first race have been so far unsuccessful. However, I was fortunate to find some reports in the Yonkers Herald Statesman beginning in 1938.
In that year, sportswriter Ted Worner wrote that “thirteen–year old Tom Downey of St. Peters became the fifth runner in the history of the Schoolboys’ Race to score two consecutive triumphs when he shattered his own course record in the 26th revival of the classic.” A few sentences later, Tom wrote, “Two hundred and twenty–eight boys, the largest in the history of the 31 year old classic, were at the starting line when Pat Dengis of Baltimore, winner of the Yonkers Marathon yesterday, fired the starting gun.”
Why was the 1938 race only the 26th revival of a 31 year old classic? Suspension of the race during World War I (1917 & 1918) probably accounts for two years. What happened to other missing years is a mystery.
During the early part of the centuryy there were several prominent athletic clubs in Yonkers, including the ‘Mercury AC’ and the ‘Hollywood Inn Club.’ Both promoted road race competitions. It may be that either the Mercury or Hollywood club was the originator and first sponsor of this celebrated event. I welcome readers’ comments regarding the origin of the race.
To my knowledge, the race has always been open to ‘boys between 11 and 15 years of age who were students of grammar schools and junior high schools, provided they had not progressed beyond the eighth grade.’
Now let’s go back to 1938 and review some prime years of one of the celebrated events in Yonkers sports history based on what I found in old newspaper stories and from conversations with friends who remember the Yonkers Schoolboys’ Race.
Tom Downey (St. Peters) won the race for second consecutive time. Also for the second consecutive year, Stanley Small of the Hebrew National Orphanage Home finished second. The Home, now demolished, was on Tuckahoe Road near the site of the former Saks Fifth Avenue Distribution Center at the intersection with Grassy Sprain Road. Ed Peterson (Sacred Heart) ran third.
For many years, the Schoolboys’ event was a street race.
In 1938 (and for some years before and after) it began and ended in Glen Park (now Memorial Field). The contestants started on the west side of the park, spread out over the outfield of Diamond #1, and finished on the track in front of the grandstand. The route covered just less than two miles.
From the starting point, the boys ran east across the outfields of baseball diamonds #1, 2 and 3 to Copcutt Lane and Nepperhan Avenue; west on Nepperhan to Yonkers Avenue; east on Yonkers to the ‘roundhouse turn’ at Ashburton Avenue; northwest on Ashburton back to Nepperhan; south back to Glen Park; then once around the track (1/4 mile) to the finish line in front of the grand stand.
The 1938 third place finisher Ed Peterson (now a resident of Sparkill, NY) remembers that Tom Downey (1st) and Stanley Small (2nd) were both powerful runners but for a brief time during the race Ed thought he had a chance to win the race.
Ed recalls, “I was well back in the pack as we ran on Yonkers Avenue past Walnut St. and William St. but I moved up as we came to the roundhouse turn at Ashburton Avenue. Down the hill along Oakland Cemetery I passed many runners and when we crossed the creek at the Carpet Shop I surprised myself that I was now in third place. As I ran by the Itch Theater, Tom Queally, standing on the sidewalk, yelled out to me ‘Go Ed, you can catch them!. With this encouragement, I turned the corner into Nepperhan opposite Jacobson Drug Store and began to close ground on the leaders. As we went under the Aqueduct Archway I thought that I had a chance to win. However, when we reentered the Glen, Tom Downey kicked in with a strong last 1/4 mile run and neither Stanley or I could get close to him.”
The Terrace Movie Theater, located on the south side of Ashburton Avenue just west of the ‘Ice House’ was affectionately known to the ’30’s and ’40’s generations of youngsters as “The Itch,” or “The Scratch.” Tom Queally was a Gorton High School teacher and his father, the hand some, impeccably groomed Tom Queally, Sr., was a South Broadway funeral director.
The first five finishers in 1938 were: 1. Tom Downey (St. Peters); 2. Stanley Small (HNOH); 3. Ed Peterson (Sacred Heart); 4. Alfred Sheeran (Mark Twain); 5. John Ginnane (Sacred Heart). The team scores were: 1. St. Peters; 2. HNOH; 3. St. Mary’s 4. Holy Rosary; 5. Mark Twain.
Notwithstanding a 3rd place finish (Peterson) and a fifth place by 12 year old John Ginnane, the Sacred Heart team did not make the first five.
Nineteen Yonkers schools fielded full teams of 5 or more contestants and, ironically, School No.19 finished 19th.
Since the race date was moved the previous year from Election Day (Tuesday) to Saturday (the Sabbath), HNOH officials arranged to have their boys sleep in the vicinity of Glen Park on Friday night to avoid having the team travel the three miles from the Tuckahoe Road institution to Glen Park because they were not allowed to ride on the Sabbath.
For the first time in 10 years, a Public School pupil won the Schoolboys’ Race.
Fourteen year old Fernando Carneiro from Mark Twain Junior High School became the champion of the CYO sponsored 1939 race. The last public schooler to have won the race was Patsy Tocco of Ben Franklin School in 1929.
Thirteen year old John Ginnane (Sacred Heart), a fifth place finisher in 1938, placed second, just 4/5 of a second, behind the winner in an exciting climax to a great race. Ginnane made a valiant effort to catch Carneiro in the last few yards and landed hard on the cinder track after lunging over the finish line. James Owens (St. Mary’s) was third, followed in fourth by John Seberle (School 5) and Daniel Keernan (Holy Rosary) fifth. The team scores were: 1. St. Mary’s; 2. Sacred Heart 3. Holy Rosary; 4. Mark Twain. 5. St. Joseph’s
In 21st through 24th place were John Harrington, Donald Murphy, George Sweetman and Edward McMahon. This order is questionable to me as these were four good friends and I suspect they ran together, trying to finish in a tie. Perhaps the officials gave the nod to Harrington because he was a St. Joseph student and the others were Sacred Heart.
Yonkers Historical Society Trustee Thomas J. Dunn, a School 16 seventh grader in 1939, finished in 77th place. Asked about his “moderate achievement,” he said, “How many were in the race?” When told 215, he retorted, “That means I beat more than 135 contestants; that’s good running!”
The list of officials for the 1939 race included many prominent Yonkers residents. The Referee was E. Whitmore Kinsley; Judges at the finish, Laurence J, Dunn, James J. Lee, William J. Schlobohm, Thomas J. Barden, James Downey, Thomas E Kelly, Michael Minovich, Augustine E. Fennell and William A. Spring; Head Scorer, James F. McCrudden; Starter, Al Crowley; Clerk of the Course, Maurice Moore; Head Distance Judge, Joseph F. Reagan; Physician in Charge, Eugene F. McGillian; Chief Marshall, Police Chief Edward J. Quirk; and Race Director, William F. Miley, CYO Director.
A question of eligibility prevented St. Peter’s runner Thomas Downey (who had won in 1937 and 1938) from participating. When the officials announced Downey was declared ineligible just before the race began, the St. Peter’s coach withdrew his entire team. This was an impulsive decision that deprived the other 13 members of the teani of the opportunity to compete.
One race — two winners!
The first “dead heat” finish in the history of the race occurred when John Seberle (School 5) lunged across the finish line to tie Thomas Boylan (Holy Rosary).
A total of 114 boys completed the course that began and finished in Glen Park.
William Bricker (St. Mary’s) finished third; James Pryor (St. Mary’s) fourth; and James McFarlane (St. Peters) fifth. Holy Rosary won the team prize with St. Mary’s second; St. Peters third; Hebrew National Orphanage Home fourth; and St. Casimir’s fifth.
A few years later John Seberle became an outstanding cross–country and mile runner for Gorton High School and led Gorton to several city and county championships.
Fifth place finisher Jim McFarlane changed sports and became one of the city’s superior basketball players. He played on some very good Sacred Heart High School teams and later with strong local amateur teams.
In the Summer 1999 issue of Yonkers History, I will cover the later years (through 1949) and the current status of this great race. I encourage readers to contact me about their memories of the Schoolboys’ Race, especially the origin of the race and the early years from 1908 through 1937.
—Phil Matthews