Stella WalshDid you know?
Little-known stories found in newspapers from 1929 to 1980. Each one links to a scan of its source.
- 1929
In her first Polish Falcons results table she appears as “Walasiewiczówna H.”, with the wrong initial. She still leads the 60 m, the 100 m and the long jump.
Dodatek Techniczny do Przewodnika Gimnastycznego „Sokół”, lipiec 1929 ↗ - 1929
In her first match in Polish colours, against Austria, she won the 60 and 100 m and broke the Polish long jump record by a full 25 cm with 5.50 m.
„Kurjer Warszawski”, 29 lipca 1929 ↗ - 1932
In Los Angeles she ran the 100 m three times, each in exactly 11.9 seconds: heat, semi-final and final. A newspaper in Surabaya, Java, called it “a record of constant form”.
„Soerabaijasch Handelsblad”, 29 sierpnia 1932 ↗ - 1932
After the Games she sailed to Poland on the SS Pułaski, with her own new car in the hold, a gift from the city of Cleveland.
„Gazeta Bydgoska”, 4 października 1932 ↗ - 1933
While studying at the Central Institute of Physical Education in Warsaw she tried speed skating. The press praised her skating, but her race debut in February 1933 went badly.
„Kurjer Nowogródzki”, 16 lutego 1933 ↗ - 1933
Before she sailed back to America, President Ignacy Mościcki received her at the Royal Castle in Warsaw.
„Polska Zbrojna”, 17 października 1933 ↗ - 1934
She sailed to Japan on the same ship as the Japanese athletes she had just raced in Warsaw. In the Japan–Poland match she broke another world record.
„Robotnik”, 29 sierpnia 1934 ↗ - 1935
She also played basketball: for Warszawianka in Warsaw, and in Cleveland during the winters.
„Mały Dziennik”, 21 września 1935 ↗ - 1936
She set a world record in the 80 m at half-time of a football match.
„Warszawski Dziennik Narodowy”, 19 lipca 1936 ↗ - 1936
Reporting from the Berlin Games, the Kurjer Wileński correspondent was blunt: “she is shorter, older and ill to boot”.
„Kurjer Wileński”, 6 sierpnia 1936 ↗ - 1937
She founded a Polish Sports League in the United States and became its vice-president.
„ABC”, 15 stycznia 1937 ↗ - 1937
She flew in from Lwów for a meet in Gdynia and won the 100 m straight away.
„Warszawski Dziennik Narodowy”, 22 września 1937 ↗ - 1938
In a letter to a newspaper she promised to compete for Poland at the next Games too: “At those Olympics I will, of course, compete in Polish colours.”
„Dziennik Poznański”, 29 marca 1938 ↗ - 1946
Her flight to the European Championships in Oslo was an adventure: after five hours an engine began to fail, the plane turned back to Canada and was grounded. To make it in time she switched to a military aircraft.
„Express Wieczorny”, 24 sierpnia 1946 ↗ - 1952
At 41 she hoped to go to the Helsinki Games with the US team. She was struck off the shortlist because she had competed for Poland at earlier Olympics.
„Deventer Dagblad”, 3 lipca 1952 ↗ - 1955
At 44 she was still winning the shot put and the 50-yard hurdles in North Hollywood.
„Dziennik Związkowy”, 23 lipca 1955 ↗ - 1957
At 46 she scored 20 points in a basketball game, and a few months later set an AAU record in the discus.
„Dziennik Związkowy”, 11 maja i 12 października 1957 ↗ - 1977
She brought her medals to the Museum of Sport and Tourism in Warsaw in a sugar bag and tipped them onto the table like buttons.
Przekazy pracowników muzeum, za rodziną Walasiewiczów - 1980
She was killed after going out to buy red-and-white ribbons for medals for a visiting Polish women’s basketball team. The same players came to her funeral a few days later, among some 400 mourners.
„Dziennik Związkowy”, 11 grudnia 1980 (UPI) ↗ - 1980
According to UPI, over her career she collected some 5,000 medals and awards.
„Dziennik Związkowy”, 11 grudnia 1980 (UPI) ↗