Olympic Hall of Fame... and nobody knows it :-(

I've discovered this great story while researching about my previous topic (cf Rabbits & Wallabies... 1908)... Here is Daniel Carroll, not even 20, i.e. the yougest member of the 1908 Wallabies squad which won rugby Gold medal at 1908 Olympic Games... He was said to be a fast winger... and scored two tries during the final (vs Cornwall representing Great Britain, final score 32-3)

In 1912, Carroll toured in California with the Wallabies... and stayed to study geology at Standford where he graduated in 1920, aged 32... but served in the US Army during WW1 before ... At Stanford, he played and coached rugby... Because of his outstanding rugby background, he was selected as player and coach of the US rugby Olympic squad at 1920 Olympics in Antwerp... and earned a second gold medal... for USA!

Four years later, having definitely settled in California, he coached US rugby Olympic team in Paris... and won a third gold medal for USA... (I'm not sure that coaches did get medals actually... but he surely deserved it !!)

Here is this gentleman again... left in 1920, right in 1924 wearing American colours... my pictures being "zoomed" from these two French pictures... first is the 1920 US team touring in Toulouse, France, after the Olympics in Belgium... below is the 1924 US squad training in England before Olympic games in Paris (larger pics here and there)





This great story was totally unknown to me until I googled this Australian sports website... please read Spiro Zavos' paper (Dan Carroll : rugby's greatest Olympian) for full bio and details... (to be honest, the story was also mentioned in Pierre Vitalien's book about rugby at the Olympics... but I've missed it until now... and it also gives me an opportunity to advertise for Pierre's fine book again...)