Calvin Bricker

Biography

At London 1908, Canada’s Cal Bricker captured the long jump bronze medal with a mark of 7.08m (23’3”), just a quarter of an inch shy of American Dan Kelly’s silver medal. A few days later, he finished fourth in the triple jump, 0.29cm behind the bronze medalist. At Stockholm 1912 and now a dentist, Bricker jumped 7.21m (23’8”) in both the long jump qualifying round and the final, good enough for the silver medal and a Canadian record, making him the first Canadian to win a medal at two Olympic Games. He finished 18th in the triple jump. 

Winner of many Canadian Championships, Bricker dominated long and triple jumping in Canada for close to two decades. One of his earliest long jump marks was setting an intercollegiate record in 1906 of 6.80m (22’3”) and a Canadian record of 7.35m (24’1½”) during the 1908 Olympic Trials, which he held for 27 years. 

A 1907 graduate of the University of Toronto, Bricker moved to Saskatchewan in 1912, married, had children, and spent the rest of his life practicing dentistry in Grenfell. He served overseas during World War I in the dental corps and was put in charge of the Canadian athletes for the 1919 Allied Forces Games in Paris. 

Passing in 1963 in Grenfell, the Cal D. Bricker Memorial Trophy, given annually to Canada’s best jumper, is named in his honour, as is a field at the Grenfell high school. Bricker was inducted into Canada’s (1956), Canadian Olympic (1960), Saskatchewan (1966), and University of Toronto (1996) Sports Halls of Fame.