“Champion at Racquets Lost”
London,
April 17---Among the Titanic’s passengers was Charles Williams,
The professional racquet champion of the
world who was on his way
to New
York to play Standing, the American champion for a stake
of $5,000.
[BY CABLE
TO THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE]
Published in the Chicago Tribune,
Thursday, April 18, 1912:
[The racquets
champ survived; he died in Chicago in 1935.]
Charles Eugene Williams was one of
700 survivors of the RMS Titanic on April 14, 1912. Lesser known than Margaret “Molly” Brown, Bruce Ismay, or
even Lady Astor for their actions during the tragedy, Williams was a World
Champion racquets player who rarely spoke about the event, but the sinking of
the English ship forever overshadowed his life.
As the family and fans around the
world prepare for the 100th Anniversary of the sinking of the
Titanic on April 14, more stories about the lives of the survivors are being
published. One Grand Junction family is finding out more about their ancestor who
was a private champion.
Angie Antonopoulos, a local beautician,
was watching the advertisement for the remake of the new 3-D Titanic film
presentation of the fictitious story of Rose and Jack on the ship Academy
Awards party when she casually mentioned, “My great-great grandfather was on
the Titanic.
“He is my children’s grandfather,
really, not mine. His name was Charles Eugene Williams. I only know a little.”
That little was enough to start an
Internet search that lead to documents and articles that clarified the story of
Charles Williams’ escape from death and his career after the ship went down.
More facts pieced together a better
idea of his personal survival
story. The ship’s booking records were merged into one “list of the Titanic
survivors” website which included the lifeboats records and personal interviews
that were conducted on the rescue ship The Carpathia.
Twenty-three-year Charles Eugene
Williams born in Harrow, England, was listed as a “Sportsman” on the list of
passengers, and he wound up in lifeboat #14.
It
was while he was on the Carpathia being interviewed for the records that he
heard that the London newspaper had sent the above telegram of his death. He
quickly sent his reply:
After
hearing this, Angie smiled and said, “Yes, we knew he played rackets. He was
something of a champion.”
He was more
than “something of champion.” Born and raised in England, he graduated from
Harrow, one of the oldest schools in the country. While the squash racquets
coach there, he turned professional, and became the World Champion in 1911 and
1912.
The sport of
squash racquets was in its infancy, not a lot of money nor notoriety, but the
World title was important enough for recognition in England, so Williams was
traveling to New York to defend his title from the American champ George
Standing.
From an article in the ,
dated April 20, 1912:
Mr. Charles Eugene Williams from Harrow, England, boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a second
class passenger (ticket number 244373, £13). Williams was a squash racquets
player. According to contemporary reports. He was travelling to New York to defend his
title.
Williams told
reporters that he had left the squash racquet court at 10.30 p.m. and had gone
to the smoking room. When he heard the crash he rushed out and saw the iceberg
which he said rose a hundred feet above the deck. The iceberg broke up
amidships and drifted away.
Williams said he
jumped as far as he could from the side of the Boat Deck on the starboard side.
He added that the boat he had to stand in water up to his knees in the boat
that finally picked him up.
As he is not among the known survivors of boat A or B that match this
description it is more likely that he got into lifeboat 14 when it was lowered
from the deck (1).
He did make it to the tournament and
defeated Standing, thus keeping the World title for England another year. But
in 1913, his squash partner Jock Soutar from Philladelphia defeated Williams
and held the title of the first American World Champion from 1913 to 1929.
Charles Williams had
moved his family to Chicago and continued to practice and complete with Soutar
until he retained the World Title in 1929 to his death in 1935.
His obituary in the Chicago Daily
News was very short with no mention of his survival from the Titanic nor of his
career title. Charles Eugene Williams was a very private celebrity.
“I have his
obituary (the more extensive family one) and the spoon he had in his pocket
when he was rescued,” Angie said. “My mother-in-law, that’s Dorothy, his
daughter, gave it to me.”
Antonopoulos and
her children’s ancestor are now the second Colorado link to the Titanic. They
have many family stories about their great-great grandfather, but now they can show
the documents and articles of his most public events.
There is no
evidence that Williams or his family went to the Titanic Survivors Reunion in
1931 or ever donated to the Titanic memorial in Washington, D.C. which was
dedicated in (Insert
photo of Titanic Memorial) Both of those projects were lead by the
efforts of Margaret Brown. She spearheaded the fundraising to help the victims
while in the lifeboat #3, on the Carpathia, and for years after she left New
York. She was a very public person.
Charles Eugene
Williams was a private man. Only
his family members can tell facts about his family life after being one of 700
survivors of the famous ship. How did he cope with the memories, the death of
his friends or shipmates, or even the fear of getting back on a ship?
On April 12, 2012,
when Hollywood and the media play up the 100th Anniversary of the
sinking of the Titanic, remember it wasn’t a fictional story; 1500 people died,
only 710 survived, and their stories continue to fascinate and haunt us the
living.
The Titanic was
the first memorable tragedy in April 12, 1912.
What
will we remember about the people of the Oklahoma bombing 4/19/95?
Or
Columbine High School shooting, 4/20/99?
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