Los Angeles
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Biographies
EMIL WILLIAM BREITKREUTZ
As
a result of his outstanding contributions to the world of sport, especially in
track, and his thirty-five year association with broad jumping as an authority and
judge, Olympic medal winner Emil William Breitkreutz earned the nickname “Mr.
Broad Jump”. A true pioneer in many
phases of sport in the United States, Mr. Breitkreutz has derived much
satisfaction in his seventy-eight years from helping young people in sports and
in life. In 1900 and 1901, while in high
school in Wisconsin, Mr. Breitkreutz broke the state interscholastic record for
running the mile, winning the mile run at the National Interscholastic
Championship in 1901, and throughout his life has remained active in sports
even now serving as a United States Olympic Committee representative and
chairman of the Men’s Volleyball Olympic Committee. On the American Olympic Team in 1904, the
year the Olympics were held in St. Louis, Mr. Breitkreutz won a bronze medal
for the 800 meter run. In 1902, he set a
record for the half mile, 2:00 2/5, and broke his own record in 1904 in the
Western Conference Meet with a time of 1:58 4/5. His record in 1904 represented the first time
anyone had run the half mile in under two minutes in the Western Conference
Meet. In 1932 Mr. Breitkreutz received a
medal and diploma for officiating in the Olympic Games at Los Angeles. He has been a member of the Men’s Volleyball
Olympic Committee since 1957. Mr.
Breitkreutz has received many awards for distinguished service. Winning the bronze medal in 1904 made him the
first University of Southern California student with win an Olympic medal. His track events at the University of
Southern California were the run, the 120 high hurdles, and the quarter and one
mile; in the high hurdles and the 880 yard run he broke the record at the
University of Southern California and also equaled the University’s quarter
mile run record. He was on many Olympic
tryout teams and has officiated at all Coliseum track meets.
Born
on November 16, 1883, in Wausau, Wisconsin, Emil William Breitkreutz is the son
of Wilhelm and Henrietta (Salzman) Breitkreutz. His
father, born in Germany, was in the lumber business; his mother was born near
Kiel, Wisconsin. Mr. Brietkreutz’s two
sisters live in New Braunfels, Texas.
Receiving his elementary and high school education in Wausau, Wisconsin,
Mr. Breitkreutz attended the University of Wisconsin for three and one-half
years and graduated from the University of Southern California in 1906. He also earned a letter in basketball at the
University of Wisconsin; he coached the first men’s basketball team at the
University of Southern California.
For
forty-two years Mr. Breitkreutz was associated with the Los Angeles City Water
System; for the greater part of that time as an engineer. He joined the department as a surveyor on the
Los Angeles aqueduct project in 1906, transferring in 1913 to the water
distribution division. His service with
the Department of Water and Power was continuous and he received in 1925, and
retained until his retirement in 1948, the title of Assistant Engineer of Water
Distribution. During World War II, he
was in direct charge of the civilian defense of the water distribution system. He is a member of the American Society of
Civil Engineers and is registered with the State of California as a civil
engineer. He is chairman of the
equipment committee of the United States Volleyball Association and donates his
engineering ability.
Mr.
Breitkreutz is the past president and treasurer of the Wisconsin Alumni Club of
Southern California and is the representative of that club to the University of
Wisconsin Alumni Association. He is also
a past president of the Half Century Club of the University of Southern
California. Currently he is the
president of the Southern California Chapter of the United States Olympians and
vice president of the National Organization of United States Olympians. Past president of the Old Time Athletes
Association of southern California, Mr. Breitkreutz is also chairman of the
National Amateur Athletics Union Men’s Volleyball Committee and a member of the
board of governors of the Amateur Athletic Union, as well as a member of its
southern California track officials organization and a member of the Southern
Pacific Association of the AAU. It was
the later organization which originally gave him the nickname “Mr. Broad Jump”,
and which presented him with a small biographical book entitled, “Mr. Broad
Jump”, in 1954 on his fiftieth anniversary of competition in the Olympic
Games. Mr. Breitkreutz has spent many
years promoting volleyball in southern California.
In
1909, on September 18, Emil William Breitkreutz was married to the former Miss
Mamie Ethel Chandler in San Marino in the house where they still live; it was a
double wedding with the bride’s brother, Charles W. Chandler. Mrs. Breitkreutz was born on April 13, 1884,
in Leesburg, Indiana, the daughter of Oren Judson Chandler, a county clerk in
Indiana, and Ida May (Wood) Chandler.
Both Mrs. Breitkreutz’s grandfathers were
pioneers in Indiana. Her maternal
grandfather, William Davis Wood, moved to California in 1903 and settled in San
Marino; he was an orange grower in this area.
Mrs. Breitkreutz came to San Marino in 1904, having completed one year
at the University of Indiana, and graduated from the University of Southern
California in 1906 with a Bachelor of Arts degree; she received her Master of
Arts degree from this institution in 1924.
Mrs. Breitkreutz started teaching in South Pasadena in 1921 and when she
retired in 1948, she had taught school for a total of thirty-one years – three
years in Indiana, seven years at Marengo Elementary School in South Pasadena,
and twenty years at South Pasadena Junior High School, plus one year of
substitute teaching.
She
has been a member of the Holliston Avenue Methodist Church in Pasadena since
1913, having served the church as a former trustee, former Sunday school
superintendent, past president of the Women’s Society of Christian Service and
as the first president of the Wesleyan Service Guild. Mrs. Breitkreutz is also a past president of
the South Pasadena Educational Association, past president of the South
Pasadena Garden Club, past Regent of both the Las Flores Chapter of the
Daughters of the American Revolution and the Governor John Winthrop Chapter of
the Daughters of the American Colonists and past State Chaplain of this
organization, past president of the Plymouth Chapter of the Colonial Dames of
the XVII Century and is that organization’s State Recording Secretary, as well
as the secretary of the Fort Moore Chapter of the Daughters of 1812 and the
Assistant State Parliamentarian of the U. S. Daughters of 1812. Mrs. Breitkreutz is also a member of the American
Association of University Women and is affiliated with Delta Gamma
sorority. She served for a number of
years in South Pasadena Camp Fire Girls, and is a member of the Pasadena
Pioneer Association, and the Pasadena Historical Association, and is a member
of the Southern California Historical Society, a member of the Huguenot
Society, of the Indiana Historical Society and the Society of Indiana Pioneers.
Mr.
and Mrs. Breitkreutz have two sons, William Chandler and Edward Allen. The elder son, William, was born on August
15, 1910, is a graduate of South Pasadena High School and attended the University
of Southern California; he is married to the former Miss Dora M. Seeley. They live in San Marino and are the parents
of two daughters, Mrs. Carol Mittelstadt, who teaches
music in Pasadena, and Ann Loraine, who is a student at the University of
Southern California. Carol is a third
generation U.S.C. graduate. Mr. and Mrs.
Breitkreutz’s younger son, Edward, was born on August
15, 1912, attended South Pasadena schools, and graduated from Whittier
College. He is married to the former
Miss Anita Hiribarren; they live in Menlo Park.
Mrs.
Breitkreutz has made color photography her hobby.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Historical Volume & Reference Works Including Alhambra, Monterey Park,
Rosemead, San Gabriel & Temple City, by Robert P. Studer,
Pages 543-546, Historical Publ., Los Angeles, California. 1962.
© 2013 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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