C.B. Fry. Never heard of him? then read on.
Charles Burgess (CB) Fry was born in Croydon, 25 April 1872. It was called “the greatest athlete who ever lived,” and “Superman – huge praise indeed, but he up to the nicknames
Fry
proved himself a brilliant scholar? and an athlete during his visit to Repton public school and Wadham College, Oxford, where he obtained a scholarship. While at Oxford, he gained 12 Blues and sporting a year he captained the football, cricket and athletics. Such dedication to the sport earned him “Almighty” and the nickname “Lord Oxford. At the same time, he was also playing rugby for his university, Blackheath and the Barbarians. And we do not really know where he finds the time but he was also a good boxer, golfer, tennis player, javelin thrower, rower and swimmer.
It has become a professional footballer when he was signed in Southampton and reached the final of the FA Cup with them in 1901-1902. He impressed the powers as in its first match against Tottenham Spurs he was selected to play for England in a match against Ireland.
He tied the world record jump with a leap long 23 inches 6.5 feet in 1893. In the absence of formal training in the long jump, he was so blasé about the event he has prepared for the jump with a cigar and smoke it again on completing the jump!
In the White City Stadium in London Fry won both the long jump and 100 meters sprint, the first event in the world of international athletics. We think it was more than capable of winning medals (gold, most likely) Olympics 1896, but he was too busy in South Africa with the England cricket team. Cricket was certainly the sport that Fry has excelled in most. He captained both Sus*** and England, and England has never lost when he was in charge. He scored 94 first class centuries and six consecutive centuries – a record that still stands today. His career batting average was 50, and in 1901 it stands at 3147 runs, averaging 78 passes per game.
It was not just in sports that Fry excels – he was director of Mercury training ship and turned boys into men of the sea, the founder and journalist of the magazine featuring Fry, a publication aimed at young men for whom Fry was a hero, an assistant and speechwriter for the Indian delegation to the League of Nations and he also was as a Liberal candidate for Parliament in Brighton. It was while working for the League of Nations that he was offered the vacant throne of Albania! He did not take the role as he would have had an income of £ 10,000 a year, and Fry was always short of money does not exactly fit the profile! He also wrote books on cricket, a bestselling novel and an autobiography!
In 1921, he reappeared for Sus*** against the Australians visiting, scoring 59 and 37 in both innings. England selectors had asked Captain Fry of the national team, but at 49, he declined the offer and retired from cricket completely. Fry died in 1956 and in our opinion certainly deserves the title of greatest athlete ever to have lived
