Nebraska Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, NE, July 2–4, 1927
Curtis Field, Staten Island, NY, September 17, 1927
Travers Island, NY, September 24, 1927
Van Cortlandt Park, New York, NY, November 26, 1927
The main competitions of American Championships were held in Lincoln, Nebraska. Originally, they were supposed to be organized in New Orleans. However, the Governor of Louisiana announced that African American athletes were not welcome, so the championships were moved to Nebraska.
The performance level of American track and field athletes gradually began to rise as the Amsterdam Olympics approached. Impressive marks were set on the Nebraska track. The long hurdles had been stagnant for about three years. Now, Johnny Gibson of New York, who lived to be 101, jumped onto the track and ground out the 440-yard hurdles in a world record time of 52.6. This corresponds to 52.3 seconds for the metric distance, which was proportionally better than the "moral" world record for 400-meter hurdles held by Morgan Taylor. The Paris Olympic champion, who was still leading two yards before the finish line in Lincoln, lost to Gibson by only a tenth, meaning he too, proportionally, ran faster than his Paris winning time.
Chester Bowman, a boy from the Newark Athletic Club who narrowly missed out on medals at the Paris Games, equaled the world record in the 100 yards with a time of 9.6 seconds, which, however, corresponds to "only" 10.5 seconds for 100 meters. The metric distance record at that time was 10.4 seconds. Charley Borah of the Hollywood Athletic Club, the fastest in the West, crossed the finish line at the same time. Bowman was declared the winner by a vote of the judges, 5–4, only after a film taken of the finish had been examined in slow motion for two days. Considering the season as a whole, however, Borah deserves the title of top sprinter.
Borah, fueled by determination, ran the 220 yards, winning with a time of 21.6. Roland Locke, who had chalked up an astonishing time on the same track in 1926, finished second. Borah's winning result has been difficult for statisticians to evaluate due to a lack of reliable information on the steepness of the Nebraska stadium's curve.
Bowman's success in Nebraska was not limited to individual events. His club team also set a world record of 41.0 in the 4x110-yard relay at the same AAU championships.
Bowman also played American football for his university team. According to urban legend, the team's coach illegally extended the home stadium's field beyond regulation dimensions during moonlight hours to fully utilize the nimble-footed Bowman's speed.
Hermon Phillips continued his winning streak. Following his NCAA championship, he secured the top trophy in the AAU 440 yards. His winning time of 48.0 placed him second in the world rankings. Only Emerson Spencer, who was not seen in Lincoln, had run two tenths faster already in April.
The 880-yard race was also relatively fast. Ray Watson, despite an arm injury, clocked a result of 1:53.6, equaling the meet record and the second-fastest time in the world rankings, which corresponds to 1:53.0 for the metric distance. The Kansas athlete competed in three Olympic Games in 1920–1928, but apparently never reached his full potential, always finishing between 6th and 8th place. Finns remember Watson from the Paris Games, where he tried to follow Paavo Nurmi in the 1500 meters and ended up exhausting himself in that frantic pace.
The two-lap race was incredibly tight, with future three-time Olympic medalist in the 800 meters, Phil Edwards of Canada, losing by only a tenth. He unleashed his sprint on the back straight of the second lap. Watson attacked after him. Both sprinted furiously. Watson pulled alongside and crushed the medical student only about five meters from the finish line.
Ray Conger solidified his position as America's top miler. He engaged his sprint gear on the final lap, passing Joseph Sivak, who finished second.
The battles in Lincoln gained some Finnish flavor as the New York laborer Ville Ritola traveled to the competition venue. However, the starting conditions were difficult, as the "Wolf of Peräseinäjoki's" (referring to Ritola) form varied: in the Metropolitan Championships, he had dropped out of the six-mile race with an upset stomach. In Lincoln, however, Ritola overwhelmingly won the championship in the same distance. The Native American Philip Osif fainted when Ville shifted into a higher gear. Ritola's winning time of 30:43.4 corresponds to approximately 31:56 for 10,000 meters, which would have placed him sixth in the world rankings.
The match for the championship in the high hurdles was also even. Charles Werner narrowly defeated Hugo "Swede" Leistner in a millimeter-by-millimeter struggle. The clocks showed both athletes the second-fastest time of the season, 14.6. Their 1928 season went awry, as Werner was eliminated in the heats and Leistner fell, bitterly missing out on the official Amsterdam team.
Paris Olympic champion DeHart Hubbard leapt from the board with the world-leading result and the second-longest jump of all time, 784 cm. The sand kicked up near the back edge of the sandpit, prompting organizers to extend the landing area as a precaution. The 7.84 (25-8¾) jump was only five centimeters short of Hubbard's own world record. Future Olympic champion and world record holder Ed Hamm was not yet fully unleashed, taking bronze with a result of 7.41 (24-3¾). Hubbard's form held up even in the autumn, when the eight-meter barrier almost shattered into flakes. However, a jump that kicked up sand 7.98 meters (26-2¼) away was disallowed due to a downhill slope on the runway.
The new world record holder, Sabin Carr, did not participate in the championships, leaving the field open for Paris Olympic champion Lee Barnes, who cleared a meet record of 4.11 (13-6)
In the discus, the level was not very high, as Olympic champion Bud Houser focused on getting people's teeth in top condition at his own practice in California. Future world record holder Eric Krenz, however, came to the games, threw 44.75 (146-10), and won. Later in the 1930s, he became the first to throw over 50 meters, though he tragically lost his life by drowning in a lake shortly after his world record throw.
Jack Merchant, who scored numerous points for his home university (California) in collegiate competitions, achieved the season's third-best shot put result of 52.00 (170-7½). Only the Swedish duo Ossian Skiöld and Carl Johan Lind were ahead in the season's statistics.
The Native American Fait Elkins hammered out a strong winning score of 7567.500 points in the decathlon. This result held the world lead for two weeks until Finland's Paavo Yrjölä wrestled the world record to 8019.990 points. Paris Olympian Harry Frieda placed second in Lincoln, and Vernon Kennedy, who impressed at the Penn Relays, finished third.
Later in the autumn, Ville Ritola went on to win U.S. championships in the 10-mile track race, the two-mile steeplechase, and cross country. The 10-mile victory trophy from Staten Island was already the fifth for the "Wolf of Peräseinäjoki." The first place came easily on a poor track, as few other notable names dared to toe the starting line. The distance was too long for Ove Andersen and too short for Yrjö Korholin-Koski.
In the two-mile steeplechase on New York's Travis Island track, the carpenter clocked a strong time of 10:19.4, which, however, was not accepted as an official world record, nor were any other steeplechase results before 1954. This result corresponds to approximately 9:40 for the 3000-meter steeplechase, which would have been a world-leading time in 1927. The "men of the coniferous forests" took a double victory, with Amsterdam bronze medalist Ove Andersen from Southeast Finland taking silver.
November saw the U.S. Cross Country Championship. African American Gus Moore struggled to keep up with Ritola for the first mile. After that, the carpenter went his own way and won the championship for the fifth time in American cross country. Ritola's strong form is evident from the fact that he clocked almost the same winning time as in 1925, when the course had been shorter.
Even the fickle press began to believe in Ritola's chances again, after the Finnish-language New Yorkin Uutiset had previously labeled the carpenter a past great. Ritola's situation, a year before the Amsterdam Games, looked good after all – especially as his rival Paavo Nurmi was feuding with the federation officials in Finland and threatening to move to America as a professional.
Ritola's four American championships in 1927 were a small miracle, considering how ragged his season had been. There were quarrels with his own club, some poor races, work commitments, and uncertainty about moving back to Finland. Occasionally, he recharged in New York's speakeasies.
Helsingin Sanomat, July 20, 1927 (in Finnish)
Helsingin Sanomat, July 21, 1927 (in Finnish)
Uusi Suomi, September 21, 1927 (in Finnish)
AP, November 27, 1927 (in Finnish)