April 21, 1934 THE STATE
THEY CALL HIM
“Hardrock”
AND HE HAS RUN A GREATER DISTANCE THAN
ANYBODY NOW LIVING IN NORTH CAROLINA
HK got his name — Hard rock —
because he played guard on the
Burlington High School foot¬
ball team for two entire seasons with¬
out sustaining a single injury of any
kind.
Get it ? — Hard as a rock. Conse¬
quently, “Ilardrock.”
It really isn’t so hard to figure out.
once you put your mind to it.
Ilardrock lives in Burlington. He
was born and raised there, and his real
name is Paul James Simpson. He is
2D years old. is married and has three
children.
When it comes to running, Mr.
Simpson is a bear-cat. He has trotted
twice across the continent; once from
Los Angeles to Xew York, and once
from Xew York to Los Angeles. He
has raced up in Canada on several
occasions and has participated in a
number of special events in this coun¬
try. He also had a race with a horse
one time. Maybe we’d better tell you
about that.
Back in 1927, Ilardrock read in the
papers where
С.
C. Pyle was figuring
on staging his now-famous “bunion
derby" from Los Angeles to Xew York,
with thousands of dollars to lie given
away to the runners. The proposition
appealed to Mr. Simpson, so he scout¬
ed around to see if be couldn't get
somebody to give him the necessary
financial backing. A local farmer by
the name of Clark agreed to help him
out. As part of his training program
— and also as an advertising scheme
for the town of Burlington, Ilardrock
announced that he would race a horse
and rider from Burlington to More-
head City.
They started out — Hard rock on foot,
running against a horse which was rid¬
den by a man whose name lias been
forgotten. First off, the horse got ’way
out ahead, but Mr. Simpson plugged
along and, by the end of the second
day, managed to reach Goldsboro only
about half an hour behind the horse
and rider. The next morning the horse
was >0 stiff that three men bad to push
him, in order to make him move. They
soon got tired of that, however, and as
the horse apparently wouldn’t move
unless he was pushed, the three men
said “Aw, what t' hell *" and went
back to Goldsboro. History doesn’t
state what became of the horse.
Ilardrock continued on to Morchcad
City by himself. But he had made the
mistake of wearing colored socks. He
contracted a blister on one of his feet,
and the doctors at Kinston advised
him to quit, or else the dye would give
him blood-poisoning. So lie quit.
He got $52 for that little stunt, but
$2 proved to be a bad check, so the net
returns actually were only $50.
Mr. Simpson’s backer sort of got
cold feet, so Ilardrock went down to
Atlanta and conferred with his sis¬
ter, who was a nurse in the Veterans
Bureau down there, and she agreed to
finance his participation in the Pyle
derby. He walked and hitch-hiked his
way across the continent and was on
hand when the start of the race was
called. Then- were 199 in the race,
and Ilardrock came in 36th. He didn’t
get any money.
Then, in 1929, came Mr. Pyle's
second derby, from Xew York to Los
Angeles. The Burlington man was
backed this time by four local busi¬
ness men. They agreed to furnish his
expense money up to $1,800, provid¬
ing that he would give them 50 per
cent of his winnings.
He finished fifth, and was supposed
to get $2,500 in cash, but be only got
$100. He gets mad right to this day,
when he starts talking to you about it.
His next race was the Peter Daw¬
son Whiskey special, up in Canada.
That was a relay race, with two men
on each team. Hard rock's partner was
a chap by the name of August Pager,
of Ashtabula. Ohio. They finished elev¬
enth, and got $150 apiece, and ex¬
penses. There were several other races
up in Canada ami Mr. Simpson- got
anywhere from $10 to $150 out of
them.
Ilis real killing, though, was made
last, summer when he won the -170-
mile run from Montreal to Quebec and
back again. He was in the lead every
Page Five
THIS is Mr. Paul James Simpson, of
Burlington, otherwise known os "Hard-
rock" Simpson. When it comes to run¬
ning, he's in
о
class by himself.
- ★ -
day and got a bonus for accomplish¬
ing that little feat with his big feet.
All in all, the race paid him $1,000
and expenses, and Ilardrock began to
feel that business was looking up.
Last October he broke tho world’s
45-mile record in a run from Toronto
to Hamilton. He made it in 5 hours
and 7 minutes. The previous record
was 5 hours and 22 minutes. But he
only got $75 for doing it.
Somehow or other, the long-distance
racing fever seems to have sort of
petered out, and Ilardrock hasn’t been
in any contests since last October. He
has been working for the CWA dur¬
ing the past three months or so, but
that job has petered out. too, and he’d
( Continued on page twenty-two )