c1882 Harvard vs. Yale Sterling Boat Race Trophy P/U

[Michael B]

Carlton,

Perhaps it was serendipitous that I decided to read your post. Once I saw the name William Chalfant, I knew I had a photo of him in my archives. It may have also helped fill in a gap in Olympic history. During the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, which also included the events of the 1904 Olympics, the sport of roque was one of the events held. Roque is a variation of croquet in which the court is a hard smooth surface surrounded by a wall. During the 1904 LPE the event doubled as the U.S. National Championships and there were no foreign competitors. Due to these two limitations many Olympic scholars feel it should be excluded as an Olympic event. Nonetheless, the IOC still counts it.

There were only four competitors, making this the least competed sport in Olympic history. Charles Jacobus of Springfield, MA and the father of American Roque and author of Spalding’s guide on the sport won the gold. Smith Streeter, a farmer from Illinois won the silver and Charles Brown, a veterinarian from Illinois, won the bronze. The fourth place finisher was William Chalfant. Olympic historians have not been able to find any information on him as record keeping was not the greatest for those games. It is quite possible this is one and the same. His age would have been appropriate for the event as the other competitors were 64, 60 and 37 years of age.

Your person lived/worked in West Chester, PA. My mother-in-law lives in that town.

WILLIAM CHALFANT
Gender: Male
Country: United States
Sport: Roque
Results
Games Age City Sport Event NOC Rank Medal
1904 Summer St. Louis Roque Men's Singles USA 4

Yes, the cabinet photo is signed by him. Photographer - Pach.

[CarltonHendricks]

Mr. Michael...wow now there's a whole new twist to my trophy's history...thanks so much for posting that...I had not heard of roque till now...Seems like a pretty good chance it's the same William Chalfant...Chalfant doesn't seem like a common name...If the Olympian Chalfant had a Jr. on the end that might lend credance....but then again by 1904, twenty two years after he won the trophy he may have had a son by named William by then and dropped the Jr...Assuming it was the same Chalfant...and say he was 18 when he won the trophy...that would make him about 40 when he was in the Olympics...sounds plausable...

Ya know Michael...your photo of Chalfant would look really good in my black cabinet displayed next to his trophy...I think we need to talk...



http://www.ebay.com/itm/ROQUE-MALLET...p2047675.l2557
Ended: Nov 02, 201311/2, 3:41PM
Sold for: US $75.00 [ 2 bids ]
I found the roque mallet above above that sold on eBay in 2013...below is a good description of the game the listing had..

Roque is a game derived from Croquet and was brought over from England in the late 1800's It was a Olympic game in 1904 but for that year only and it was won by the Americans. It is played on a synthetic hexagonal court 60' x30' with a raised wooden border. You were allowed to carom shots off the boarder. there were 4 balls Red, White, Blue and Black. Red & White were a team against Blue & Black. I will include a 5 page info sheet on the game with the purchase of the mallet. Mallets were shorter 15" to 24" and had a soft surface on one end and a hard surface on the other. All the ones I have previously had have been different leading me to believe they were custom made to the player. Head diameter is 2' and overall length is 19". The one end on this I believe to be Ivory and the other end is an hard rubber that has turned brittle. Wood head appears to be Walnut. Brass collars are a little loose but do not come off. Other defects are noted above. These are usually found in antique stores as a carpenters mallet.

[CarltonHendricks]

Mr. Mike Sir...Well...regarding my speculation in the prior post that William Chalfant may have had a son named William by the time of the Olympic event and dropped the "Jr."...that would be a no go...Although I was right about him having a son William...after further research I found a reference on geni.com indicating he indeed did have a son William....but in 1907...So it would seem normal he would have still been using Jr. up till 1907...

And since the Olympian William Chalfant didn't use that designation...that casts a sliver of doubt to the negative of them being the same person...Which of course clearly implies you should immediately divest that cheesy cabinet photo of the Harvard Chalfant before it tarnishes the integrity of your entire collection!!



Oh and as for my assertion "Chalfant doesn't seem like a common name"...Currently there are 52 William Chalfant's in the United States...

[Michael B]

I think you are using the logic of evajoy91 and directly to try to wrangle this out of me. I will give you credit for Indian Jones style leap of faith. The lack of Jr. in the Olympic records merely means that it was not used by him or mentioned in the newspaper or other records, possibly Spalding’s 1905 guide.. Even his signature on the cabinet photo lacks the designation and that was signed roughly 22 to 24 years prior to the 1904 games. If he was not using Jr. in his signature as a young man the chances are highly unlikely he was using it at a 46 year old attorney. While I make no claim that it is definitely the Olympian it is worth holding on to until I can prove or disprove the connection. For a sport like roque age does not play as big a part as is does in sports like swimming and athletics. His age would have been almost the median age of the four competitors in the event.

By the way, using the information that there are 52 people named William Chalfant in the current phone directory we can determine the possible number of men with that name in the U.S. in 1904. The U.S. population on November 1, 2013 was roughly 316.98 million people. The U.S. population on July 1, 1904 as roughly 82.17 million people. This would give us 13-14 people with that name in 1904. This is, of course, skewed by the fact that not everyone is listed in the phone book these days, including yours truly.