Sports heroes are nothing new. In the 1800s, long before professional baseball, basketball and football existed, Edward Payson Weston was a sports champion — admired by kids and adults alike. His sport? Walking. "Walker Weston," as he was known, walked all over the world. He competed in races and set numerous walking records. Ironically, Weston became a walking legend because he lost a bet.
He backed Senator Stephen A. Douglas for president in the election of 1860, and bet a friend that Douglas would defeat Abraham Lincoln. If Douglas lost, Weston was to walk from the Boston State House to Washington, D.C., more than 450 miles, for Lincoln's inauguration. And he would do it in just ten days.
Weston was just 21 years old, when he had to “pay off” his bet. When he left the State House in Boston on February 22, 1861, at 12:48 p.m. and headed down Beacon Street, well-wishers lined the road.
Weston's walk to the U.S. Capitol became big news. Regardless of the weather — rain, snow or slush — people gathered along his route cheering him on as he maintained a steady five miles an hour pace over hills and through flatlands.
It looked like he was going to arrive in Washington, D.C., in time for Lincoln's inauguration. But ferryboats were delayed and in Maryland, he made a wrong turn and went many miles out of his way.
As Inauguration Day dawned, March 4, 1861, Weston was still in Baltimore, 40 miles from the Capitol. He arrived in Washington D.C. at five p.m.; long after the inauguration ceremonies ended.
Although he hadn't achieved his goal, he had found a new career — walking.
Weston met the president and Mrs. Lincoln a few days after the inauguration. Mr. Lincoln offered to pay Weston's railroad fare back to Boston. Weston refused, saying he felt obliged to walk home in the allotted time.
Weston stayed out of the limelight during the Civil War years. In 1867 Weston became a public figure again by walking 1326 miles from Portland, Maine, to Chicago, Illinois, in 26 days, not counting Sundays. It was hailed by newspapers as "The Great Weston Feat." But that was just a warm-up for Weston. Forty years later, in 1907 when he was 70 years old, Weston took the same walk again. He beat his own time by 29 hours.
In the late 1800s there was great public excitement over competitive walking, and Weston appeared numerous times in arenas around the world, including the old Madison Square Garden in New York City. In 1879 he won the Sir John Astley Belt in a go-as-you-please marathon at the Agricultural Hall in London, England. He covered 550 miles in 141 hours and 44 minutes. In 1883 Weston waked 50 miles a day in England every day for 100 days.
On one occasion he trudged 100 measured miles in Westchester County, New York, in little more than 22 hours. He walked all over the country — from Bangor, Maine, to Buffalo, New York; from New York to Minneapolis. He put on walking displays at exhibits and fairs across the country. He crossed the United States, twice, on foot.
In 1909 he walked 3985 miles from New York to San Francisco, in 104 days, 7 hours. That's an average of 38.2 miles per day. A year later, he walked 3500 miles from San Francisco to New York in 76 days, 23 hours, or nearly 45.5 miles each day.
Weston, was against using tobacco and liquor, and he never walked on Sunday. He made modest speeches about physical fitness and how any American citizen could do what he had done.
The "father of American pedestrianism" hoped others would become enthusiastic long-distance trampers. That didn't happen. Americans followed pedestrianism enthusiastically — but strictly as a spectator sport.
Weston not only loved walking, he disliked automobiles. They were his personal nemesis. In 1927, he was run over by a New York City taxicab. The world's most celebrated pedestrian's life was nearly ended by the contraption he despised. On his 89th birthday, Weston declared: "The trouble with people nowadays is automobiles."
Weston died on May 13, 1929, at 90 years old. By then the public's fascination with Weston and walking had died out. The public was far more interested in professional baseball and college football. But anyone who had seen him walk professionally remembered the picturesque figure of "Walker Weston," steadily and briskly walking into the record books.