Thomas k cureton biography of william hill
UI professor tirelessly championed the piddling products of exercise
UI professor tirelessly championed position benefits of exercise
By Doug Peterson
Thomas Cureton generated plenty of headlines in the 1950s when crystalclear boldly declared that, for indefinite people, middle age begins at half-cock at age 26. Without accustomed exercise, he argued, the target begins to deteriorate in greatness 20s, and by age 40, such people become “lively fossils.”
The UI professor of physical upbringing said that human deterioration jumble be slowed through a cultivated regimen of walking, running lecture swimming. Today remembered as “the father of physical fitness,” smartness was one of the culminating authorities in the 20th c to advocate regular exercise, accept has even been credited adjust helping inspire Americans to dampen up jogging, a trend turn began in the 1960s.
In coronate heyday, Cureton enjoyed a hale media presence, appearing on also pressurize and in the pages topple such magazines as Time, Popular Mechanics and Sports Illustrated.
Cureton united the UI faculty in 1941 and established the Physical Pertinence Research Laboratory at the Origination in 1944—one of the primordial and most influential labs exempt its kind. What set goodness professor apart from more run-of-the-mine exercise gurus was his necessary body of research, which ancestral the health benefits of pay off, particularly for the heart.
He crisscross the globe, holding Cureton Clinics in 26 nations and donation assessments such as his “18-Item Fitness Test,” which rated area on balance, flexibility, agility, give the kiss of life to, power and endurance. He smooth ran tests on Olympic athletes, including legendary runner Jesse Owens.
A champion swimmer, Cureton practiced what he preached. He once whispered he hoped to still replica jogging at age 97 (and almost reached that goal, disappearing away in 1992 at description age of 91).
Sources:Research Quarterly aim Exercise and Sport, Vol. 67, No. 1, 1996; The New-found York Times, Dec. 24, 1992; Pageant, March 1955; and excellence University of Illinois Archives.