Kathryn Agar

Kathryn Agar
A young white woman with short dark curly hair, about to launch a javelin; she is wearing white athletic clothing, including shorts and a middy blouse
Kathryn Agar, from a 1922 publication
Born1902
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
DiedMarch 1987
Lake Forest, Illinois, U.S.
Other namesKathryn Jaicks, Catherine Agar
Occupation(s)Athlete, businesswoman
Known for1922 Women's World Games
RelativesJohn Agar (nephew)

Kathryn Agar Jaicks (April 3, 1902[1] – March 1987) was an American athlete and businesswoman. She was one of the thirteen athletes to represent the United States at the 1922 Women's World Games in Paris.

Early life and education

Agar was born in Chicago, the daughter of James Scanlon Agar and Minnie Adele Dye Agar. Her father owned a meatpacking company.[2][3] She graduated from the Faulkner School for Girls in Chicago, and attended the Oaksmere School in New York.[4][5] Actor John Agar was her nephew.[2]

Career

Agar and her older sister Louise were both known as athletes in Chicago as teenagers.[6] She qualified for the United States team at 1922 Women's World Games in Paris[7] when she set the new American record for the javelin throw at Mamaroneck.[4][8] She also played basketball, ran on a relay team, and participated in the baseball throw events at the Paris games. The team of thirteen athletes appeared in newspapers across the United States, at a time of public and medical interest in the merits of running as an exercise for women.[9]

Later in life, Jaicks ran the Lake Forest office of Quinlan and Tyson, a Chicago real estate company.[10][11]

Personal life

In the late 1920s, Agar married her older sister Ruth's widower, contractor Wilson Askew Jaicks.[12][13] She became a mother to her three young nephews, including Agar Jaicks, a Democratic Party organizer in San Francisco.[14] Her daughter Nancy Jaicks Alexander was an Episcopalian church worker who founded a prison hospice program in California.[15] Her husband died in 1967,[16] and she died in 1987, at the age of 84, at a hospital in Lake Forest, Illinois.[11]

References

  1. ^ Birth date from Agar's 1922 United States passport application, via Ancestry.
  2. ^ a b "James S. Agar". Chicago Tribune. 1945-09-30. p. 36. Retrieved 2024-07-26 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "Mrs. Jas. Agar, Wife of Packer, is Dead at 60". Chicago Tribune. 1927-06-26. p. 12. Retrieved 2024-07-26 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ a b Tricard, Louise Mead (1996-01-01). American Women's Track and Field: A History, 1895 Through 1980. McFarland. pp. 72–74, 95–96. ISBN 978-0-7864-0219-9.
  5. ^ "Selected for International Track Meet in Paris, August 20th". The Lawton News. 1922-07-18. p. 4. Retrieved 2024-07-26 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "Chicago Section" The National Provisioner 49(August 30, 1913): 35.
  7. ^ Bolton, Steve (October 10, 2022). "1922 US Women Pioneers of Track and Field: A Tribute to the Women who Crossed the Atlantic". Playing Pasts. Retrieved 2024-07-26.
  8. ^ "Girls of Track and Field" Outing 80(5)(August 1922): 208.
  9. ^ Stewart, Harry Eaton (1922-08-06). "Girl Athletes Now on Way to France for Women's International Games". New York Herald. p. 27. Retrieved 2024-07-26 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "On the QT: It's a Venerable Firm". The Daily Herald. 1969-04-11. p. 80. Retrieved 2024-07-26 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ a b Helse, Kenan (1987-03-20). "Kathryn Jaicks, Athlete, Agar Heir". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2024-07-26.
  12. ^ "Three Weddings of Interest". The Ashton Gazette. 1921-01-06. p. 1. Retrieved 2024-07-26 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Wife of Highway Contractor Died". The Ashton Gazette. 1927-03-17. p. 1. Retrieved 2024-07-26 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ Rubenstein, Steve. "Agar Jaicks, fixture of SF Democratic politics, dies at 93" SF Gate (October 25, 2016).
  15. ^ "Nancy Alexander Obituary (1933 - 2022)". San Francisco Chronicle, via Legacy.com. Retrieved 2024-07-26.
  16. ^ "Obituary for Jaicks Wilson". Chicago Tribune. 1967-06-15. p. 110. Retrieved 2024-07-26 – via Newspapers.com.