The 24th of March, 1899, New York University hosted what we think is the first important College Gymnastics competition on record.
Yale was announced the “winner” of 19 participating schools at the Eastern Intercollegiate Association Championships though no official team competition was calculated.
Yale gymnasts won 4 out of 6 individual events, shared a tie for victory in one event and also won the individual all-around.
Horizontal Bar, E. B. Turner, Princeton, and R. G. Clapp, Yale, tied, 12 points
Side Horse, F. J. Belcher, New York University, 10 5/6
Parallel Bars, R. G. Clapp, 12?
Flying rings, R. G. Clapp, 11 1/6
Club swinging, R. G. Clapp, 13½
Tumbling, W. L. Otis, Yale, 10
All-around championship, R. G. Clapp, Yale, 7 5/6 points.
Dr. Raymond G. Clapp from Yale went on to coach Track & Field at Nebraska 1903-1909.
If you’d like to see the source of all that, download a PDF of the Columbia Spectator newspaper from March 21, 1989. It cost $.05 at the time, published twice a week. But it’s FREE for you today. 🙂
Leave a comment if you know any more about those earliest meets.
trivia – Nastia Liukin is going to school at NYU today
(via Jerry Wright on the NCAA MEN’S GYMNASTICS ALUMNI Facebook page)
Gymnastics Coaching.com 