Sam Stoller

Sam Stoller (August 8, 1915 – May 29, 1985) was an American athlete who specialized in sprinting and long jumping.

He tied the world record in the 60-yard dash in 1936.

Stoller is best known for his exclusion from the American 4 × 100 relay team at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin.

The 2-man substitution triggered widespread speculation that he and Marty Glickman—the only two Jews on the U.S. track team—were excluded because U.S. Olympic Committee chairman Avery Brundage wanted to avoid embarrassing Adolf Hitler by having two Jewish athletes win gold medals.

Stoller recalled that, at the 1936 Olympic tryouts, Owens pushed him along.

In the 100-meters final, Stoller was trailing badly, when Owens turned around and yelled, "Come on, Sammy, step on it!"

Stoller recalled, "I never knew a greater fellow than Jesse. After the race he shook my hand and said, 'I was hoping you would make it and I couldn't help pulling. I hope I didn't bother you.'"

Stoller worked his way through the University of Michigan by washing dishes and sweeping floors at a fraternity house.

During the 1936 track season, Stoller proved himself to be one of America's top sprinters and long jumpers.

At the Big Ten championship in March 1936, Stoller tied the world indoor record in the 60-yard dash with a time of 6.1 seconds.

Stoller was also one of the USA's top long-jumpers in 1936 with a 23-foot, 10-inch jump.

Though he failed to make the Olympic team as a long jumper, he qualified for the Olympic team as a member of the 4 × 100 meter relay team along with Jesse Owens, Frank Wykoff, Marty Glickman, and Foy Draper.

On the morning that the 4 x 100 relay competition began, U.S. track coach Lawson Robertson called a meeting and informed Stoller and Glickman that they had been pulled from the event and that they would be replaced by Owens and Ralph Metcalfe.

Glickman later recalled that all the sprinters were called into a special meeting by Robertson and his assistant, Dean Cromwell.

"We were informed by the coaches that the Germans were hiding their best sprinters to make an all-out effort to win the 400-meter relay, and consequently, Jesse Owens and Ralph Metcalfe were to replace Stoller and me."

Stoller was completely stunned and did not say a word at the meeting.

Glickman responded by immediately questioning the premise, challenging Robertson by asserting "Coach, you can't hide world-class sprinters."

Jesse Owens spoke in favor of letting Stoller and Glickman run, saying, "Coach, I've won my 3 gold medals. I'm tired. I've had it. Let Marty and Sam run, they deserve it."

When Owens spoke, assistant coach Cromwell told him, "You'll do as you're told."

The American team, without Stoller and Glickman, won the race by 12 yards in a new world-record time.

Stoller declined to watch the finals and declared after the Olympics that he would "never run again."

Glickman immediately went public with a charge that the decision to pull him and Stoller was the product of "politics."

After the heats failed to reveal Germany's hidden sprinters, Glickman told the press in Berlin, "The heats failed to show the necessity for shaking up the line-up after Stoller and myself long practiced The Stick-work. We did not know until this morning's conference with Head Coach Robertson just who would run. It looks like politics to us."

Glickman charged that "this talk about the Germans and the Dutch being so tough looks like a false alarm on the basis of today's trials."

Stoller, who turned 21 on the day of the event, did not appear at the stadium, leading Glickman to say: "A fine present for Sam, wasn't it?"

Robertson took responsibility for the decision and sharply denied that any prejudice was involved.

He insisted his sole purpose was to run the best available quartet and noted that the team's world-record performance was the best answer to his critics.

However, Robertson's decision and Glickman's public comments led to a decades-long controversy over whether Stoller and Glickman were pulled to avoid embarrassing the German hosts of the Olympics.

One wire service story from Berlin noted: "Leaving of Two Jewish Boys Out of 400 Race Brings Repercussions."

Columnist Braven Dyer noted that Robertson's decision had been "panned" and had "angered a lot of folks" when he "jerked" Stoller and Glickman from the team.

Dyer asserted that "Glickman and Stoller had good reason to believe that when they qualified to represent the United States in the baton-passing event that nothing less than physical deterioration would prevent them from running. Apparently the boys were in good shape. Their conduct had offended no member of the brass hat brigade."

Stoller vowed at the time that he would never run again, but he returned in 1937 to win both the Big Ten Conference and NCAA championships in the 100-yard dash.

After graduating from the University of Michigan in 1937, Stoller briefly went into a singing and acting career as "Singin' Sammy Stoller."

A native of Cincinnati, Ohio where he attended Hughes High School, Stoller was one of the best sprinters the state had ever produced, but he had the misfortune of attending high school in Ohio at the same time as Jesse Owens.

The two raced on rival teams in high school, and Owens always won, except once.

They continued as rivals in college, Owens running for Ohio State and Stoller for Michigan.

They competed against each other more than twenty times, and although Owens typically finished first, one writer noted: "As often as not, only a breather separated them."

Stoller reportedly once noted that he had seen "perhaps more of Jesse Owens' back than anybody else."

He also joked, "I'm the fellow you see in the movies of Jesse's foot races."

Despite his typical role as second-place finisher to Owens, Stoller and Owens became friends.