Charles William Paddock

 Before Usaine Bolt, before Carl Lewis, before Ben Johnson and Bob Hayes and Jessie Owens...there was Charles Paddock. Back in the 1920s Paddock epitomized speed on the track, and he did so with a flamboyance that made him a star. Fans loved him for the shows he put on, and sportswriters for the stories he created and the controversies he stirred up. For most of the decade he was known as "The Fastest Human.”.. And he was truely the "Rock Star" of his area!

The Fastest Human is Charley Paddock’s own story, from his earliest childhood through his training as a sprinter and rise to track stardom. First published in 1932 and now reissued by the Paddock Family Estate, it conveys the drama, the passion and the humor of elite training and competition and is peopled with many of the sprint giants of the day, names like Jackson Scholz, Lorne Murchison, Frank Wykoff, Percy Williams, Harold Abrahams, and more.

At the core of the narrative are the 1920, 1924 and 1928 Olympic Games in which Paddock competed, winning a total of two gold and two silver medals. The [1981 Oscar-winning] movie 'Chariots of Fire' is here, when Paddock ran in the 100 and 200 meters against the likes of Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell of Great Britain and fellow American Jackson Scholz.

Plus- This book was used by Colin Welland to help crate the 'Chariots of Fire" screenplay.

 Paddock also expounds on his techniques of how to win at sprinting, he reveals his run-ins with the Amateur Athletic Union (A.U.U.) that governed amateur athletics, and recounts his experiences traveling and racing , with wonderful insights and stories of his adventures around the world!.

Charley Paddock and his peers did old-school running on loose cinders. They had NO Starting blocks and NO Tartan (synthetic) track, sprinters dug holes in the track with their little shovels. Electronic timing devices? Not yet invented; officials used handheld stopwatches. No body enhancing drugs or Pampered athletes!,Not even close!. Paddock [AKA: "The California Flash!"] is the very first person to expose the squalid conditions the US Olympians had to endure en route to the 1920 Antwerp Games. The Fastest Human is a fascinating window on a bygone age of track competition, by the man who set the standard for the amateur athletic star.

...Not to mention the fact Charley fought in World War I & World War II ; He was in 5 movies ; Wrote 3 books ; A great Lecturer and mentor to many many upcoming athletes & fans alike ; Chief newspaper editor and also helped  (The District Attorney) remove "The Muscle-in Boys" that were the under-belly of organize crime, in Los Angles and many other great achivements, to be recond with in history.

...And his (Untimely) passing, in a mysterious plan crash in 1943, where he was ONLY 42 years old.