A Tribute to Stella Walsh

On Thursday night, December 4, Stella Walsh, an internationally known track star, was shot and killed in the parking lot of the Uncle Bill's store, 6801 Broddway. She was purchasing ribbons to present to the Polish National Women's Basketball Team which was scheduled to play Kent State University the following week. She was to have been the representative from the City of Cleveland at the event. No one has been arrested and the police have no leads in the case.

By Beverly Stamp

Stella Walsh was born Stanislawa Walasiewicz on April 3, 1911 in Wierzchownia, Poland. When she was ten months old, her family moved to the United States. As a young girl growing up on Cleveland's southeast side, she played on the city's playgrounds; it was not long before she was known as the fastest kid on the playgrounds.

In 1926, when she was 15, she competed in a fast walk contest between East 105th Street and Public Square. She was quickly noticed by Jack Clowser, Cleveland's best-known sports writer at the time. He had a keen eye when it came to appraising potential athletic stars. Thus, even though Stella was only in her mid-teens, he recognized the possibility of a future champion sprinter. His prediction proved true; as a student at South High School, Stella sprinted 50 yards faster than any other woman student (and probably faster than many of the men).

This was the early beginning of a sports career that did not end until the night of her death at the age of 69. Maralyn West, an Olympic track and field coach who worked with Stella in the 1960's, stated that until her death, Stella regularly ran 2 to 3 miles. Throughout her life, she also remained very active in sports development for young women and men.

Stella's track and field records were set mainly in the 1930's and 1940's. Her records speak for themselves. In track and field during the years 1930-1951, she won 35 national championships in sprints (dashes), long jump, discus, and baseball throw. Her first AAU championship came in 1930 at the age of 19. She won the 100-meter sprint in 11.2 seconds, the 200-meter in 25.4 seconds, and the long jump in 18 feet, 9-3/8 inches. Earlier the same year, Stella broke her first world record when she ran the 50-year dash at Madison Square Garden in 6.1 seconds.

Her other AAU titles are as follows:

100-meter titles: 1943, 1944, 1948

200-meter titles: 1931, 1939, 1940, 1942-48

long jump: 1939-46, 1948, 1951

50-yard (indoor): 1934

220-yard (indoor): 1930, 1931, 1934-5, 1945-6 Her three other National AAU titles are for the discus and the baseball throw.

What makes Stella's record so notable is the fact that she competed nationally in track and field events for over two decades. In 1948, at the age of 37, she won three. AAU titles in the 100-meter, 200-meter, and the long jump. She won her most remarkable title in 1951 at the age of 40 in the AAU long jump competition! erjani

Stella held records for the 60-, 100and 200-meter dashes, as well as the 220-yard dash. She also held the long jump record of 19 feet, 51⁄2 inches at one of the national meets.

The 1932 Olympic Games were held in Los Angeles. There were 31 track and field events for men; the women Had only seven events. The two events in which Stella excelled-the 200-meter and the long jump-were omitted from the women's events. She entered the 100-meter and beat Hilda Strike of Canada by one foot in 11.9 seconds, a new

world's record. At this Olympics, the American press anglicized her name to Stella Walsh.

In the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Stella placed second in the 100-meter dash. Her time was 11.7 seconds, 1/5 of a second slower than Stephens of the United States. (All of Stella's medals were won for Poland as she did not become a citizen until 1947.) Again, in this Olympics there were no 200-meter or long jump events for women. This was Stella's last Olympics, as the games of 1940 and 1944 were cancelled because of the war.

With all these AAU titles and Olympic championships, it is no wonder that many of her friends, acquaintances and sister athletes consider her the greatest woman track star of modern times. The Big Book of Halls of Fame in the U.S. and Canada states: "Stella Walsh is probably the greatest woman athlete of all time."

Stella did not stop with merely track and field competition. Throughout her life she competed in softball (fast-pitch and slow-pitch), basketball, and golf. She was also a good billiards player.

In earlier days, Stella played basketball on Cleveland's southeast side. In 1936, when she was 25 years old, she played on the Blepp-Coombs basketball team. "We used to flock to St. Hyacinth Parish when we heard Stella was playing-the place was jammed. She was one of the greatest athletes of our time," affirms Richard Jablonski, President of the Cleveland Union of Poles.

Stella lived for a time in Glendale, California, before returning here to work for the Cleveland-Divi-

sion of Recreation. As a member of the Glendale Women's Basketball Team in the California Sunshine League, she led her team to an undefeated 11-game season. In the championship game she scored 32 points.

As a shortstop for the Glendale Softball Team, she batted 1.000 for the first five weeks, then "slipped" to an .804 final with 19 home runs. One time the team's pitcher did not show up. Stella offered to pitch and hurled a no-hitter-no one even reached first base.

. I did not know Stella until around 1966 when she

was in her mid-50's. She was still playing both basketball and softball. At this time our basketball team played Stella's team at Cudell Recreation on the West Side. It has been almost 15 years, but my memories of Stella are vivid. It is difficult to forget a woman in her 50's who moved more quickly than women half her age. She still possessed a fine twohanded set shot which was accurate from 20-30 feet. I also will never forget the time I tied up the basketball with Stella and we faced off for a jump ball, I was about 21, she was about 55 and perhaps an inch taller than 1. The referee tossed the ball and Stella hit it before I was even off my feet!

In softball we played in a different division of the City League, but I remember watching her softball teams. She pitched and displayed the same fitness, reflexes and competitive spirit she demonstrated in all the sports in which she competed.

Besides her personal commitment to physical fitness and competition, Stella was also committed to helping others excel athletically-especially the hundreds of young girls and boys whom she personally coached.

During the Olympic development meets of the mid-1960's, Stella helped Maralyn West to coach and train a group of young women. Maralyn remembers Stella's devotion to these young Olympic hopefuls from the Cleveland area. One of Maralyn's most pleasant memories at these meets was the time Stella ran against some of these women. Stella whispered to Maralyn, "Now go easy on me—I'm not as young as I used to be." Coach West therefore instructed her ⚫ runners to take it easy and to remember that Stella was after all a former Olympic champion. Well, when the dust cleared, Stella had won going away, Maralyn admonished the runners for taking it easy, to which they shouted, "What do you mean we didn't try-she beat us fair and square; we ran all out!" Stella was 56 years old.

Other friends echo the same recollections. Richard Jablonski remembers, "The main interest in her life was the physical fitness of youngsters. She devoted all her time to them." Sophie Salomon, who worked for ten years with Stella at the Polish Falcons Club, reminisces, "She was wonderful with children-who else could teach them track as she could? She went out of her way to reach the kids. They will feel her loss greatly....Athletics and keeping fit were her whole life."

Bertha Modrzynski, President of the Polish Falcons Club and a friend since grade school, says, "I have nothing but good memories of her. I can look around the hall and see 60-70 trophies won by young athletes through the dedicated efforts of Stella." A favorite story of Bertha's is the time in 1977 when they went to Poland with Bertha's husband Stephen. Stella competed in the Polish Olympics at the age of 66! She won a gold medal in the 60-meter dash: "She was way ahead of the younger girls."

In 1977 Stella was elected to the Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame for Track and Field, more than 25 years after she had won her last AAU title. Just a week before her death, she was elected to the Cleveland Basketball Hall of Fame, also some time after her peak playing years. She was elected to a total of seven Halls of Fame, both local and national. The plaques for the Cleveland Hall of Fame inductees may be seen in the main lobby of City Hall.

Stella had recently been rehired by the Cleveland Division of Recreation as a public relations representative for the city. Stella, who had never made much money in any of her jobs, was delighted with the $10,400 yearly salary and said it was the most she had ever carned.

She was also Sports Editor of the Nationality Newspapers Services, an ethnic news service in Cleveland, and active in the Polish Falcons Hall. In May of 1980, Stella was presented the

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