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Canada's first Olympic gold medalist couldn't walk until he was ten, and became the greatest runner of his generation.
Who was the first Canadian to Win an Olympic Gold Medal? When Mark Hebscher was asked this simple trivia question, he had no idea that it would lead him on a two-year odyssey, researching a man he had never heard of.
Paralyzed as a child and told he would never walk again, George Washington Orton persevered, eventually becoming the greatest distance runner of his generation, a world-class hockey player, and a brilliant scholar. A sports pioneer, Orton came up with the idea of numbered football jerseys and introduced ice hockey to Philadelphia. Orton's 1900 Paris Olympic medals were credited to the United States for seven decades before the mistake was uncovered and rectified. Yet he is virtually unknown in Canada. Finally, his story is being told.
Who was the first Canadian to Win an Olympic Gold Medal? When Mark Hebscher was asked this simple trivia question, he had no idea that it would lead him on a two-year odyssey, researching a man he had never heard of.
Paralyzed as a child and told he would never walk again, George Washington Orton persevered, eventually becoming the greatest distance runner of his generation, a world-class hockey player, and a brilliant scholar. A sports pioneer, Orton came up with the idea of numbered football jerseys and introduced ice hockey to Philadelphia. Orton's 1900 Paris Olympic medals were credited to the United States for seven decades before the mistake was uncovered and rectified. Yet he is virtually unknown in Canada. Finally, his story is being told.
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Reviews
"Always a fount of sports knowledge and trivia, Hebscher sets the record straight on a great Canadian athlete long overlooked or forgotten altogether. An entertaining and informative read. Mark's high-energy personality and unbridled love for sport shine through on every page."
Rob Baker, The Tragically Hip guitarist
"Due to the limits of the English language, the jacket of this book can't possibly prepare the reader for what I guarantee is a wild ride. George Washington Orton somehow landed in history's dustbin - obscurity doesn't quite capture it. Thank God, Mark Hebscher rescued the most unlikely sports story I've read in years."
Gare Joyce, author of The Code and Every Spring A Parade Down Bay Street
"Chasing ghosts is a mug's game. Moreso when the ghost is a world-class turn-of-the-century runner. But Mark Hebscher is dogged, tracking down the bizarrely under-told story of Canadian athletic legend George Orton, a steeplechase phenom who knew something about pace. As does author Hebscher. His book is a commendable yarn and a race to the finish."
Brad Wheeler, arts writer, the Globe and Mail