Thomas had career best of 11.8 in the 100-meter dash, 48 seconds in the 400-meter and he topped out at 1:56 in the 800 meters. Some of you may be saying how could someone with these PR’s be inducted into this Hall of Fame. These feats certainly are not that impressive in today’s standards but they certainly were in the late 1800’s. Thomas Edmund Burke was an 1893 graduate of Boston English High School, an 1897 graduate of Boston University and a 1901 graduate of the Harvard Law School, a true Bostonian, I would say. In 1896 Tom wrote a letter to his college dean asking for permission to take a leave of absence to attend an athletic event that hadn’t taken place in 1500 years. He of course was asking to attend the first modern Olympic games in Athens Greece. He wrote, “I shall wear the colors of BU in these games, and hope to uphold the reputation of the University.” Uphold the reputation he did as he went on to win both the 100 meters and the 400 meters in the 1986 Olympic games. IT wasn’t a gold medal he received however; as it was, in the first Olympics the winner received a silver medal and an olive branch.

As you will hear, Thomas Burke’s range in races is remarkable. As a senior at Boston English High School, Tom won the New England Interscholastic Athletic Associations 440 yard Championship when he ran a 50 and 3/5th second time. Then in 1895 he was crowned the United States National Champion in the 440-yard run with a time of 49.6. 1896, needless to say, was a great year for Tom. First he won his second of three U.S. Championship in the 440 with an American Record time of 48 and 3/5th seconds. Regarding his Olympic performance, Edward Sears in his book, “Running Through the Ages” states, “Thomas E. Burke, of Boston, became the first 400-meter Olympic champion by winning in 1896 at Athens in 54 and 1/5th seconds. And David Wallechinsky in his book, “The Complete Book of The Olympics states that, “The slow time was a result of the quality of the track rather than the quality of the contestants. The turns were so sharp that the runners had to slow down drastically to keep from falling. Burke who won by over 13 meters, had previously beaten the world record holder Edgar Bredin. …. Burke also won the first Olympic 100-meter championship” poor weather conditions on the track that day also led to a slow winning time of 12.0. In 1896 and 97 he was not only the U.S. National champion but also the two-time IC4A champion for Boston University in the 440. In 1898 and 99 Tom showed his great versatility by becoming a two time U.S. national champion in the 880 and in 1899 added the IC4A 880 Champion when he was competing for Harvard University.

After his running career, he was instrumental in organizing the first Boston Marathon and served as the official starter of that first race. He briefly served as the track coach at a school in Pennsylvania but returned to Boston where practiced law and wrote articles for the Boston Journal and the Boston Post. At the age of 43 he enlisted in the U.S. Army at the outbreak of World War I. Thomas Edmund Burke passed away on February 14, 1929. On behalf of the Thomas Burke, I would like to ask the Head Master of The English High School Dr. Sito Narcisse, to come forward to and accept this award.