National High School Records Through the Years

Boys Outdoor Record – 100 Yard Dash

Frank Hussey (Stuyvesant High, New York City)

Performance – 9 4/5 seconds

Date – May 19, 2023

Place – New Haven, Ct. 

Meet – Yale Interscholastic

Previous Record – Tied record of 9 4/5 by 10 other sprinters

Francis Valentine Joseph Hussey grew up in Manhattan and attended Stuyvesant High School, the all-boys public school that opened in 1904 and was located on the Lower East Side of the borough. (Today it occupies a modern building adjacent to the Hudson River, and it has been co-ed since 1969.) Young Frank quickly made a name for himself in the city’s track wars, winning a 100-yard race as a ninth grader. In 1922, a sophomore, he won the city championships 100 in 9.9, just a tick from the national prep record. A year later, 102 years ago today, he equaled the record with a 9 4/5 100 to win the Yale Interscholastic. (It was reported that of the six watches timing first place, four read 9 3/5, two 9 4/5.)

A month later he won the PSAL (Public Schools Athletic League) title in 9 3/5, the first 9.6 in high school history, a record that stood until Jesse Owens broke it a decade later. (Because of uncertainty about the wind conditions that day – wind gauges were not in use at that time – it was never ratified as equaling the world record.) With the 1924 Paris Olympics on the horizon, there was talk that the young man could make the U.S. team.

Sure enough, he finished a creditable fourth in the Olympic Trials 100 meters, earning a spot on the 4x100 team. He acquitted himself well at the Games, leading off the American team in the heats, semis and final, during which the Yanks equaled or broke the world record every time, including the final over the British in 41.0. Hussey had been matched up on leadoff against none other than England’s Harold Abrahams, of “Chariots of Fire” fame. An Olympic gold medal for Hussey, just out of high school, a feat accomplished only a handful of times in prep track and field history. 

He went on to run for Boston College and Columbia, finishing second in the IC4A indoor 70-yard dash twice, in 1926 and 1927, running on the third floor of New York’s legendary Washington Heights Armory that is still in use today, a century later.  

National High School Records Through the Years appears once a week, compiled and written by a track historian, Jack Pfeifer (Lake Oswego, Oregon). Inquiries may be directed to him by email ([email protected]).