Lon Myers
runner (1858-1899)
Laurence Eugene "Lon" Myers (February 16, 1858 – February 16, 1899) was an American sprinter and middle-distance runner.
Myers won 28 national championships. He also set world records at 11 different distances, and held every American record for races 50 yards to one mile Myers set a world quarter-mile record while running the final 120 yards without his right shoe, and finished another race that he won running sideways (in conversation with a runner who had boasted that he would defeat Myers).
Early life
Myers was Jewish, and was born in Richmond, Virginia, to Solomon H. Myers, a clerk. He was in the first graduating class of Richmond High School. His father moved the family to Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1875 after he graduated high school, and then to New York City, where he became a bookkeeper.
Track career
Amateur
During his 21-year career, Myers held every American record for races 50 yards to one mile. He won 15 United States national championships, 10 Canadian national championships, and 3 British national championships. From 1880 to 1888, he held the world records in the 100-yard, 440-yard, and 880-yard races.
Myers began running competitively in 1878, for the Knickerbocker Yacht Club.
“Lon Myers” enters the record as runner (1858-1899). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Myers, runner and 1858-1899 can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Lon Myers” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Myers, runner and 1858-1899 provides the most credible route into that argument.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3258900. VIAF identifies the subject as 78061420. The Library of Congress control number is n97036926. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1858, 1899, 1875 and 1880.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Lon Myers”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Lon Myers primary sources, Lon Myers archive and Myers research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Lon Myers”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Lon Myers” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.