As Jesse Owens was capturing four gold medals at the 1936 Summer
Olympics in Berlin, defying Adolf Hitler’s ideals of Aryan
supremacy, an unsung South Valley sprinter was on his way to
burning up tracks at similar speeds.
By Paul Doherty Staff Writer
Morgan Hill – As Jesse Owens was capturing four gold medals at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, defying Adolf Hitler’s ideals of Aryan supremacy, an unsung South Valley sprinter was on his way to burning up tracks at similar speeds.
In 1941, Live Oak graduate Harold “Hal” Davis tied Owens’ 100-meter world record of 10.2 seconds while a student at Salinas Junior College, now Hartnell Junior College, under Hall of Fame coach Bud Winter. Known as the “California Comet” for setting track and field world records nearly 70 years ago, Davis died of a blood clot in his brain August 10 at the age of 86 years old. His legacy, however, lives on in the record books and several halls of fame.
As a student at Salinas and later UC Berkeley, where he was coached by another enshrined coach, Brutus Hamilton, Davis rightfully held the title of “World’s Fastest Human” from 1940-43, winning seven Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) and four National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championships in the 100-meter and 200-meter sprints. At Cal, Davis won the national collegiate 100- and 220-yard titles in 1942 and 1943.
It was in 1939 Davis earned the moniker the “California Comet” while attending Live Oak, when he set world records in the 100 yards (9.4 seconds), 100 meters (10.2 seconds) and 220 yards (21 seconds). Davis still holds the 220-yard record in the Central Coast Section.
He reached his peak performance during the hard years of World War II when both the 1940 and 1944 Olympic games were canceled, never getting a chance to display his speed on the world stage.
Davis running career was then cut short by an injury in 1946, following service in the South Pacific as a Marine Corps mapmaker. While in the Marines, he spent some time in China, and went into Japan shortly after Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
He was inducted in the national Track and Field Hall of Fame in the inaugural class of 1974, alongside Owens, Hamilton, and 23 others. Davis was inducted into the University of California Hall of Fame in 1990 and the San Jose Hall of Fame in 1998 along with famed football coach Bill Walsh.
Davis was born in Salinas on January 5, 1921 to Edgar and Pearl Davis. He met his wife, Betty Lou, on a shuttle bus between Salinas and Morgan Hill while attending Salinas Junior College. The two were soon married and went on to have a son, Gregory, and a daughter, Donna. Betty Lou passed away in 1981, the day before Thanksgiving.
Davis is survived by a brother, Stanley, both children, four grandchildren and numerous great-grandchildren.
Davis’ grandson Aaron Bragg from Spokane, Wash. fondly remembers time spent with the man he considered a father.
“My best memories are the times he and I would sit on the front porch of my folks’ house in the summers when he’d visit,” Bragg said. “We’d talk for hours, tossing a Frisbee for the dog, drinking a beer or an iced tea. He could talk about anything because his interests were so varied and wide-ranging.”
Bragg, 40, was only 7 years old when Davis was inducted to the national Track and Field Hall of Fame.
“I told all my friends – not that my grandfather was inducted – but how he got to meet Jesse Owens,” Bragg said. “It didn’t really dawn on me until later how important a track figure he was. I don’t know how much of a relationship he had with Mr. Owens, but I do know that he was very close to his two college coaches, Bud Winter and Brutus Hamilton.”
A few years after the death of his wife, Betty Lou, Davis retired, sold everything, bought an RV, and traveled the country.
“The thing is, he really, really loved this country, and the more he saw of it, the more he loved it,” Bragg said. “He’d head up to Alaska, or spend a couple of months in the Four Corners area, or head east to visit friends in North Carolina.”
When half of the money he’d saved up for the trip was gone, Davis would come back and stay with the family for two or three months, always arriving unannounced, Bragg said.
“Poppa was a cowboy, a jack-of-all-trades, a better than average square-dancer, a doting father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, an RV vagabond with a hat that read ‘This Is What Old Looks Like,’ ” Bragg said.
“Everything important I know, I learned from him … and I’m not talking about how to change a flat or fix a barbed-wire fence … I’m talking about life.
“He was like some sort of character out of a Louis L’Amour novel: tough, kind, savvy, and deceptively smart. And the gentlest, most self-effacing man you’d ever meet.”
Services for Harold “Hal” Davis are pending.
