W. MI man shares unique connection to Paris Olympics 100 years ago

HUDSONVILLE, Mich. (WOOD) — The 1924 Olympics in Paris featured a sand-like substance on the track for the runners in the 4×100 meter relay and starting blocks that were dug into the sand, rather than elevated.

Frank Hussey helped the men’s U.S. team finish first, winning the gold medal, which was presented to them in cases, rather than on ribbons around their necks. Hussey couldn’t have known at the time the significance the date of his win would have for a future grandson.

“He won the gold medal on July 13, which is my birthday,” said Frank Hussey III.

He goes by the name Beau and lives in Hudsonville, but only knows about his famous grandfather from stories. Hussey passed away before Beau was born.

“He had so many interesting stories. He was on the same Olympic team as Johnny Weissmuller, who was the original Tarzan. the same Olympic team as Gertrude Ederle, who was the first woman to swim across the English Channel,” he said.

Besides winning gold in the 1924 Olympics, Frank Hussey is also known for what happened four years later during the 1928 games. He didn’t make the team that year but had an incentive to join the athletes on the voyage across the Atlantic anyway.

“Evidently, there was a swimmer on the team that he fancied. So, he decided to stow away in the ship,” his grandson said.

Hussey’s adventure made headlines as “The Stowaway Lover” after he was discovered and taken to the brig of the ship before his friends paid his passage, convincing Gen. McArthur to let him go.

He said his grandfather also dated Gertrude Ederle but eventually fell in love with the woman who would become his grandmother and settled down in Upstate New York.

“One of the stories my grandmother told me was he actually had a better time in ’28 because he toured Europe for two weeks and didn’t have to compete,” he said.

Frank Hussey’s records and achievements are listed on the Olympics website . They include a world record of 41.4 seconds in the opening stage for the New York AC team in the AAU 4×100 relay.

Hussey died in 1974.

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