Cardozo Clerks Track and Field 1942-1948; 1954-1964
During the period Cardozo and Hall were dominating Division II football, the Clerks were just as overpowering in track and field. Traveling to St. Louis, Missouri, in May 1946, a six-man Cardozo team won the National Negro High School Track and Field championship by scoring 37 points, 11-1/2 more than its closest competitor, Phyllis Wheatley High of San Antonio, Texas. The Purple and White captured three relay titles; two second places, and one third. Marcellus Boston in the 100, Clarence Turner in the 200, and James Baucoum in the 440 were the individual titlists; Joseph Queen in the discus and Boston in the broad jump. The Clerks' 440 relay team tied the national record of 45 seconds in winning; the 880 yards sprint medley relay team lowered the national record from 1:39.2 to 1:37.9; and the 880 yard team won a third relay championship. Boston, a freshman, won high point honors with 11-1/4 points.
Cardozo's track achievements under Hall go far beyond that national championship team. When the Clerks set a new world record in the 960-yard relay at Madison Square Garden during the 1948 National Prep and High School Indoor Track and Field championships, it marked the eighth time since 1944 that a Cardozo individual or team had captured honors in the event. In addition to the world mark, four were national high school standards. Hall's cindermen were also victorious in the prestigious Penn Relays, the Bridgeton, N.J. Relays and many other important events along the Eastern Seaboard.
Another of the Purple and White's great sprinters is the legendary Billy Mathis, the 1944 national scholastic champion in the 60-yard dash and the establisher of a new national scholastic mark in the event in 1945. Mathis went to become a U.S. collegiate sprint champion at the University of Illinois.
Hall's accomplishments, as remarkable as they were are even more so considering the conditions under which they were achieved. As E. B. Henderson was to write: Cardozo High School is a crowded old building turned over to Negroes located on a triangle between highly travelled arteries in the congested area of Washington D.C. There is only one gymnasium which is not standard approximately 45 by 60 feet. There is not a foot of play space available out of doors. Coach Hall has trained national high school champions in a hallway part of which is of tiling and part wooden flooring. For football, baseball and outdoor track it is necessary to travel to a field at least a half mile away. He has had approximately from 300 to 400 boys to work with in a school where there are about 1000 girls. Yet with these handicaps his output...has excited the admiration of sportsmen everywhere.
Indoor track & field practice as there was no track outdoors
1946 Track Icons-Cardozo Clerks
Local- Out of 15 city records- Eight are held by Cardozo 1949 (taken from 1949 resume of Esteemed Accomplishments-full context located in photo gallery)
EVENT COMPETITOR RECORD YEAR SCHOOL
100 Yards Dash William Mathis 9.8 1945 Cardozo
220 Yards Dash Joseph Walker 22.5 1948 Cardozo
220 Yards Low Hurdles Henry Johnson 26.1 1949 Cardozo
440 Yards Relay McGoines, Carter 44.01 1948 Cardozo
Green,Walker
Running High Jump Wright 6 ft 1945 Cardozo
Towles 1948 Phelps
Running Broad Jump Edward Woodland 21 ft./11in. 1949 Cardozo
Shot Put Eugene Wright 41 ft./11in 1943 Cardozo
Discus Rudolph McGoines 121 ft. 1947 Cardozo
South Atlantic High School Athletic Conference
100 Yards Dash William Mathis 9.8 1944 Cardozo
220 Yards Dash William Mathis 22.2 1944 Cardozo
120 Yards Low Hurdles Henry Johnson 13.5 1949 Cardozo
440 Yards Relay Walker, Carter 43.5 1948 Cardozo
McGoines, Boston
One Mile Relay Walker, Williams 3:32.1 1948 Cardozo Sturdevant, Greene
Running Broad Jump Rudolph McGoines 21 ft./3 in. 1948 Cardozo
Javalin Throw Alexander Parker 151 ft./7 in. 1945 Cardozo
Pole Volt Tony Wallace 10 ft./8 in. 1942 Cardozo
C. I. A. A. Meet Scholastic Division
EVENT COMPETITOR RECORD YEAR SCHOOL
220 Yards Low Hurdles Henry Johnson 25.8 1949 Cardozo
220 Yards Dash Joseph Walker 22.7 1949 Cardozo
One Mile Relay Carter, Browne 3:32.6 1949 Cardozo
Robinson, Walker
Sprint Medley Relay Edward, Kelley 3:42.7 1949 Cardozo
Storm, Jones
REGIONAL Competitions-Cardozo Athletes (Penn-Relays, A.A.U., ETC)
EVENT COMPETITOR RECORD YEAR PLACE
Running Broad Jump Eugene Wright 21 ft./9 in. 1943 Schenectady, NY
100 Yards Dash William Mathis 9.8 1944 Schenectady, NY
220 Yards Dash William Mathis 22.1 1944 Providence, RI
100 Yards Dash William Mathis 9.9 1944 Providence, RI
880 Yards Relay Baucom, McCaskill 1:32.4 1945 Providence, RI
Turner, Mathis
60 Yards Dash William Mathis 6.3 1945 New York
980 Yards Dash Boston, Moon 1:42.7 1948 New York
Drummond, Walker
75 Yards Dash Marcellus Boston 7.8 1947 Baltimore, MD
440 Yards Relay Boston, Norwood 1947 Baltimore, MD
Drummond, Yates
Medley Relay Silbert, Walker 5:09 1948 Camden, NJ
(Open Class) Boston, Sturdevant
EVENT COMPETITOR RECORD YEAR PLACE
Medley Relay Silbert, Walker 5:12 1948 Camden, NJ
(Class B) Boston, Sturdevant
One Mile Relay Boston, Moon 3:32.7 1948 Camden NJ
Greene, Walker
Class B 50 Yds. William Mathis 5.5 1945 Camden NJ
Dash Marcellus Boston 5.5 1948 Camden NJ
Open Class- 50 Marcellus Boston 5.5 1948 Camden NJ
50 Yards Dash Marcellus Boston 5.4 1948 Philadelphia, PA
440 Yards Relay Walker, McGoines 44.6 1948 Newark, NJ
(prep schools) Greene, Walker
880 Yards Relay Boston, Drummond 1:33.8 1948 Newark, NJ
(prep schools) Greene, Walker
880 Yards Relay Boston, Drummond 1:33.1 1948 Bridgetown, CT
440 Yards Relay Boston, Cosby 45.0 1946 St. Louis, MO
Broady, Turner
880 Yards Sprint Boston, Baucom 1:37.9 1946 St. Louis, MO
Medley Broady, Turner
960 Yards Relay Walker, Storm 1:44.5 1949 New York
Jones, Carter