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Fred Housden

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English athletics coach

Fred Housden
Personal information
NationalityBritish (English)
Born2 July 1892
Sydenham, Kent, England
Died21 February 1974 (aged 81)
Surrey, England
Sport
SportAthletics
EventPole vault

Ernest Frederick Housden OBE MC TD (2 July 1892 – 21 February 1974) was an English athletics coach, pole vaulter and a 2012 inductee of the England Athletics Hall of Fame.

Early life and military service

Housden was born in 1892, and attended The King's School, Canterbury from 1906 to 1911, playing in the school cricket team. He fought in the First World War, rising to Major in the Royal Field Artillery, and was awarded the Military Cross in the 1919 Birthday Honours for "distinguished service in connection with military operations in France and Flanders".

He was a Master at King's from 1919 to 1920, when he moved to Harrow School, where he worked until 1952, including a spell as acting Headmaster. After retiring from Harrow, he devoted himself full-time to his athletics coaching.

Sporting career

Housden represented his country in the 110m hurdles and long jump,

Housden became the national pole vault champion after finishing as the highest placed athlete at the 1925 AAA Championships. Three years later he became British champion again after finishing runner-up the event behind Franklin Kelley at the 1928 AAA Championships and finished runner-up behind Howard Ford at the 1929 AAA Championships.

However, he is perhaps best-regarded for his coaching, where his proteges included Pat Pryce and David Hemery. Hemery credits Housden with improving his hurdling technique, and once revealed that Housden would write him poems about his races; he went on to win gold at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.

Housden was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1959 New Year Honours. In 1961, he collaborated with Geoff Dyson on the book The Mechanics of Athletics.

He died in 1974.

References

  1. ^ Coleman, Pamela (1 July 2005). "Fred Housden was a wiry, tough little man who'd won the Military Cross. He used to send me encouraging poems he'd written about my races". TES.
  2. "Hall of Fame - Inductees 2012". England Athletics.
  3. ^ "Offcuts Spring 2013". OKS Association. p. 20. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
  4. "Issue 31370". The London Gazette. 30 May 1919. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
  5. ^ "SLH History". South London Harriers. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
  6. "AAA Championships". Gloucester Citizen. 18 July 1925. Retrieved 13 July 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  7. "New Holders". Daily News (London). 20 July 1925. Retrieved 13 July 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. "Peltzer fails to come back". London Daily Chronicle. 7 July 1928. Retrieved 5 January 2025 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. "Champions of the AAA". Daily News (London). 9 July 1928. Retrieved 5 January 2025 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  10. "Foreigners held at Bay". Reynolds's Newspaper. 7 July 1929. Retrieved 5 January 2025 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  11. "AAA Championships". Daily News (London). 8 July 1929. Retrieved 5 January 2025 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  12. "AAA, WAAA and National Championships Medallists". National Union of Track Statisticians. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
  13. United Kingdom list: "No. 41589". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 1958. p. 13.
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