Honoring Albion’s College’s lone Olympic representative

March 10, 2025

Before he ever stepped foot on Albion College’s campus, Lee Bartlett had already proven himself an exceptional athlete.

Having starred in football, baseball, and track and field, Bartlett earned nine varsity letters before graduating from Union City (Michigan) High School in 1925. Sometime between competing in high school track and field and arriving at Albion, Bartlett picked up a long, slender piece of wood and began concentrating on another track event–the javelin.

Before his time at Albion was done, Bartlett would not only become one of the best collegiate javelin throwers, but one of the best javelin throwers in the world. The trailblazer from Hillsdale, Michigan, would compete in three Olympics (1928, 1932, 1936) and remains the only Briton athlete to compete in an Olympic Games.

At Albion, Bartlett dominated the competition. Twice, he was named captain of the track team. He won the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) javelin championship four consecutive years. In 1928, he set a MIAA Field Day record with a mark that would stand for more than four decades.

As a college athlete, Bartlett wasn’t just gaining attention on the regional college scene. During his junior year, Bartlett won the 1928 NCAA championship in the javelin throw and established a new record (216 feet, 7 inches). That same year, he won second place in the javelin throw at the U.S. Open (AAU) Championships.

However, the biggest honor that year came when Bartlett (while still an Albion College student) participated on the 1928 Olympic Team. He finished in 16th place.

Bartlett would compete in the next two Olympics as well. At the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, he earned fifth place in the javelin throw. Four years later, at the Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany, Bartlett finished fourteenth.

Bartlett documented his Olympic experience in letters sent to his parents, photos he took, and keepsakes he collected. His daughter, Cheryl Proctor, has a treasure trove of items from her father’s travels. She is part of the Union City Society of Historic Preservation.

“Thursday we dock at Hamburg [Germany] and take the special, streamlined train to Berlin to the Olympic Village,” he wrote in a letter to his parents while crossing the ocean. “I have stood it pretty well except the first day. The ship was pretty tippy and it made my head swim. I guess I got used to it.”

Once in the Olympic Village, Bartlett provided a bit more insight about the athletes’ routines leading up to their events. “All we eat is spinach, beans, meat and potatoes. No pie or cake or jello,” Bartlett wrote in a letter dated Aug. 10, 1936. “You can’t buy a soda in the city. Nobody likes them so they don’t sell them.”

“We certainly have eaten some awfully big meals since we’ve been here,” he wrote. “I’ll bet I’ve gained ten pounds. You can’t exercise too much. The more you exercise, the more you want to eat.”

He also seemed taken with all the attention the 1936 games attracted. His scrapbook contains photos of teammates with German boxer Max Schmeling and with Olympic legend Jesse Owens.

“[Adolf] Hitler was a spectator every morning and afternoon,” Bartlett wrote in another letter. “I sat quite close to him yesterday, but I didn’t have my camera.”

The letters also indicate he cherished his time at Albion College and never forgot his campus mates.

“The head coach from Indiana is from Albion and an Army man who is coaching the pistol team is from Albion,” Bartlett wrote in another letter. “We are going to send the alumni head a special item on the trip.”

Bartlett hung up his javelin in the early 1940s. He then spent three decades teaching and coaching; at Marlette and Union City, from 1935-1942; and from 1942-1972 in Dearborn, Michigan.

In 1989, Bartlett was posthumously inducted into the Albion College Hall of Fame. He was one of Union City High School’s inaugural members of its Athletic Hall of Fame in 2016. In 2022, Union City honored Bartlett by erecting signs at North Broadway, South Broadway, St. Joseph, Division, and Coldwater streets.