Tobie "Cotton" Joseph

The youngest runner was Tobie Joseph Cotton (#117) at 16, a Black American born in Louisiana. His family was living in Los Angeles at the time. Tobie entered the race to try to save his family. Mr. Cotton, an auto mechanic by trade, was paralyzed from the waist down when the three-ton truck he was working under slipped from the jack and fell on him. With his father no longer able to work, Tobie, the oldest of five children, hoped to ease the poverty of his family by winning the race. His father, also Tobie, and two of his brothers, Wesley and James, accompanied him in an old Ford Star touring car. Tobie was one of the 55 finishers. (But not in the money).
Nestor Erickson (#125) – who had several marathon wins to his name and was picked by the legendary Olympic runner Paavo Nurmi to win this race; (didn’t finish)

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