“If you can’t win, make the fellow ahead of you break the record” is a popular adage in track and field. The saying means that if you can’t win, you at least know that the person who did win was very, very good.
“If you are beaten, make the fellow ahead of you break the record” has been cited in print since at least 1917. The saying has frequently been attributed since at least 1977 to Jan McKeithen, a columnist for the Camden County Tribune in St. Mary’s, Georgia, but McKeithen didn’t originate it.
29 July 1917, Denver (CO) Post, pg. 1 (above the masthead):
“If you are beaten,” reads a motto, “make the fellow ahead of you break the record.”—Ed Howe
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4 December 1920, The Lutheran Companion (Rock Island, IL), pg. 781, col. 3:
If you cannot win, make the one ahead of you break the record.
8 July 1921, Tampa (FL) Tribune, pg. B5, col. 3:
“If you cannot win, make the one ahead of you break the record.”
1 April 1922, Forest Park (IL) Review, “Club Representatives Partake of Banquet,” pg. 8,col. 3:
He closed with, “You can’t win a race by making the man ahead of you break the record. Help your own school win a prize.”
26 October 1927, Greensboro (NC) Record, “Office Cat” by Junius, pg. 15, col. 2:
If you cannot win, make the one ahead of you break the record.
Google News Archive
20 September 1965, Kingsport (TN) Post, “Fun In The Press,” pg. 2, col. 5:
If you. can’t win, make the fellow ahead of you break the record. — The Guardian
Google Books
Quote Unquote
By Lloyd Cory
Wheaton, IL: Victor Books
1977
Pg. ?:
If you cannot win, make the one ahead of you break the record. (Jan McKeithen)
Google Books
Good Advice
By William Safire and Leonard Safir
New York, NY: Wings Books; Avenel, NL: Distributed by Outlet Book Co.
1992
Pg. 47:
If you can ‘t win, make the fellow ahead of you break the record.
—Anonymous
The Daily Fairfield (CT)
Wolff Sets Ludlowe Record in Pole Vault
by Jim Gerweck 04/16/11
There’s a saying in track and field: “If you can’t win, make the guy ahead of you break the record.”
Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.
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Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps. Stolen and missing, 2021-2024.
Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.
Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.
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