{{Short description|American athlete (1888–1975)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2020}} {{Infobox sportsperson | name = James Menaul | full_name = James Austin Menaul | image = | caption = | nationality = American | sport = Athletics | event = Pentathlon, Decathlon, Shot put, High jump | club = Chicago Maroons | birth_date = {{birth date|1888|3|26}} | birth_place = Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States | death_date = {{death date and age|1975|10|17|1888|3|26}} | death_place = Menlo Park, California, United States | height = | weight = }}
'''James Austin Menaul''' (March 26, 1888 – October 17, 1975) was an American athlete who came fifth in the 1912 Olympic pentathlon.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/78780 |title=Austin Menaul |work=Olympedia |access-date=3 May 2021}}</ref>
==Biography== Menaul was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where his father, also named James Austin Menaul (1843–1897), was principal of Menaul School.<ref name="z96p32">Zarnowski 1996 pp.31–33</ref> After his father's death his mother, née Sara M. Foresman,<ref name="z96p32"/> moved the family to Chicago, where Menaul attended Englewood High School and in 1908 enrolled in the University of Chicago.<ref>Zarnowski 1996 pp.33–35</ref> Coached by Amos Alonzo Stagg, Menaul represented the Chicago Maroons in track and field and college football (1909 and 1910).<ref>Zarnowski 1996 pp.38–40</ref> In 1909 he moved into the Delta Kappa Epsilon frat house.<ref>Zarnowski 1996 p.39</ref> He was 1911 Big Ten champion in shot put, despite being relatively small.<ref name="z96p40t41">Zarnowski 1996 pp.40–41</ref> He also competed in the high jump and sprint hurdles.<ref name="z96p40t41"/> He was lead runner on the 4 × 440 yards relay teams that won the 1910–11–12 Drake Relays and the 1911 Penn Relays, the last in 3:21.8, 1.2 s outside the world record.<ref>Zarnowski 1996 pp.41–42, 57</ref>
In 1912 Menaul competed in the Central regional U.S. trials for the Stockholm Olympics.<ref name="Hymans"/><ref>Zarnowski 1996 pp.43–46</ref> Stagg complained that the trials interfered with the intervarsity schedule.<ref>Zarnowski 1996 p.43</ref> On 16 May he finished second (of two) in the pentathlon, behind Avery Brundage;<ref name="Hymans"/><ref>Zarnowski 1996 p.44–45</ref> in the decathlon on 22–23 May he finished first, ahead of Brundage and two others.<ref name="Hymans"/><ref>Zarnowski 1996 pp.45–46</ref> The Amateur Athletic Union scored the results by sum-of-placings rather than the IAAF's newly devised scoring tables; Menaul's decathlon performance would have been a world record using the tables, though this was not realized until 1987.<ref name="Hymans">Zarnowski 1996 pp.46–47, 58; {{cite web |last1=Hymans |first1=Richard |title=The History of the United States Olympic Trials – Track & Field |url=http://www.usatf.org/statistics/champions/olympictrials/historyoftheolympictrials.pdf#page=49 |pages=3, 49 |format=PDF |publisher=USATF |access-date=January 17, 2019}}</ref><ref>Zarnowski 2005, p.242; {{cite book |url=https://iaaf-ebooks.s3.amazonaws.com/2015/Progression-of-IAAF-World-Records-2015/projet/IAAF-WRPB-2015.pdf#page=220 |format=PDF |title=Progression of IAAF World Records |last1=Hymans |first1=Richard |first2=Imre |last2=Matrahazi |year=2015 |page=210|chapter=Decathlon |access-date=January 8, 2019}}</ref>
At the Olympic Games, Menaul narrowly missed out on a medal in the pentathlon: he finished fifth on 30 points, one point behind third and fourth places, which were promoted to second and third when winner Jim Thorpe was disqualified (and kept their medals when he was reinstated in 1982).<ref>Zarnowski 1996 pp.49–50</ref><ref name="SportsRef">{{cite Sports-Reference |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/me/austin-menaul-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418111536/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/me/austin-menaul-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 18, 2020 |title=James Menaul Olympic Results |access-date=January 29, 2018}}</ref> Menaul had injured his shoulder practicing for the javelin throw, a discipline not part of the Big Ten program, and by far his worst score at the Olympics.<ref>Zarnowski 1996 pp.43, 49</ref> Lingering effects of the injury prompted him to withdraw from the Olympic decathlon.<ref>Zarnowski 1996 pp.49, 50</ref>
{|class="wikitable" |+Track and field results of J. Austin Menaud ! Event !! Competition !! Date !! Placing !! Performance !! Refs |- | Shot put || Big Ten outdoors || 1909 || 1st || {{convert|42|ft|10|in}} || <ref>Griffith 1929, p.25</ref> |- | Shot put || Big Ten indoors || 1911 || 1st || {{convert|42|ft|8|in}} || <ref>Griffith 1929, p.27</ref> |- | Pentathlon || Central U.S. Olympic Trials || 1912 || 2nd || || <ref name="Hymans"/> |- | Decathlon || Central U.S. Olympic Trials || 1912 || 1st || 7414.555 (1912 tables) / 5867 (1984 tables) <br><small>100m 11.4 — LJ {{convert|6.06|m|ftin|abbr=on}} — SP {{convert|12.70|m|ftin|abbr=on}} — HJ {{convert|1.78|m|ftin|abbr=on}} — 400m 53.8 — 110mH 16.6 — DT {{convert|33.00|m|ftin|abbr=on}} — PV {{convert|2.89|m|ftin|abbr=on}} — JT {{convert|40.48|m|ftin|abbr=on}} — 1500m 4:37.2</small> || <ref name="Hymans"/> |- | Pentathlon || Olympic Games || 1912 || 5th || || <ref name="SportsRef"/> |}
After graduation, Menaul enlisted and fought in World War I.<ref>Zarnowski 1996 p.51</ref> Later he worked for publishers Scott Foresman (founded by his mother's brother<ref name="z96p32"/>) and then as a livestock buyer for Swift and Company.<ref name="z96p52">Zarnowski 1996 p.52</ref> He married Della Patterson in 1922 and had four children, retiring in 1951 and moving to Menlo Park, California, where he died in 1975.<ref name="z96p52"/>
==References== ===Sources=== * {{cite book |last1=Griffith |first1=John L. |title=The "Big ten" book of athletic events : a complete record of scores in major sports : Chicago, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio, Purdue, Wisconsin |date=1929 |publisher=[C.D. Hobson |location=Chicago |url=https://archive.org/details/bigtenbookofathl00grif}} * {{cite book |last1=Zarnowski |first1=Frank |title=Olympic glory denied : a final opportunity for glory restored |date=1996 |publisher=Griffin |location=Glendale, Ca |pages=30–58 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/olympicglorydeni00fran/page/30 |chapter=J. Austin Menaul |isbn=9781882180707 |access-date=January 17, 2019}} * {{cite book|author-link1=Frank Zarnowski |last1=Zarnowski |first1=Frank |title=All-around Men: Heroes of a Forgotten Sport |date=2005 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=9780810854239 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eXOBPt_Gi44C&pg=PA241 |access-date=January 17, 2019 |language=en}}
===Citations=== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{sports links}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Menaul, Austin}} Category:1888 births Category:1975 deaths Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1912 Summer Olympics Category:American pentathletes Category:American men decathletes Category:American men shot putters Category:American men high jumpers Category:American businesspeople in the food industry Category:Chicago Maroons men's track and field athletes Category:Chicago Maroons football players Category:Olympic track and field athletes for the United States Category:Sportspeople from Menlo Park, California Category:Track and field athletes from Albuquerque, New Mexico Category:Players of American football from Albuquerque, New Mexico Category:World record setters in the sport of athletics Category:United States Army personnel of World War I Category:20th-century American sportsmen