Alex Decoteau: A Tribute to a Cree Athlete, Police Officer and War Hero, by Alex Latta, his nephew

Date: 1890s to 1917

Alex Decoteau – Hero, Indian, Canadian, Policeman, Athlete, Soldier.

I could go on and on and still I would only be telling the story of one magnificent person, the late Sergeant Alex Decoteau of the Edmonton Police Department. In the short life of this Canadian Indian, he was a superb athlete and the hero of the youth of his day; he was a policeman who gained promotion to the rank of Sergeant in the days when promotions were few, and he was a soldier who gave his life for his country during the First World War.

The French spelling of the name might be misleading, the family name being the original Indian name, Dakota. It would appear that the French settlers in Saskatchewan recorded the name in their own style, and the family on the Red Pheasant Band reserve, south of Battleford, paid no attention and what was acceptable to others was acceptable to them.

Alex was born on the Red Pheasant reserve on December 2, 1887, and grew up in the environment of all Cree boys of that era, enjoying the running and hunting that was their way of life. At school he learned the reading, writing and arithmetic that were to stand by him later in the world beyond the reserve, and he excelled in soccer and running.

As a young boy, he had his share of sorrow early in life when his father was murdered. Two years before Alex was born, his father had been a brave serving Poundmaker in the rebellion in which the Indians has devastated the force of Col. Otter at Cut Knife Creek on May 2, 1885. A Mounted Policeman named David Gilliland Latta was sent from Battleford to investigate the murder of Alex’s father on the reserve, and while he was there, he met Alex’s sister and later married her. After leaving the Force, Latta moved to Edmonton with his bride and once there, he opened a blacksmith shop. Early in 1909, Alex joined him and began work in the shop.

The young Indian was at first very shy about getting involved with others in his new and larger surroundings, and this was understandable for a boy just in from the reserve. His love for running prevailed when he responded to the nagging of his sister and entered the one-mile race being held in Fort Saskatchewan on May 24th. It must have been a very strange feeling for the boy from the Red Pheasant as he lined up for the start of the first race. He finished second to Edmonton Policeman, Dan Fraser, but from then on, Fraser, and a good number of other athletes were only to see the back of this young man who just loved to run. The tall willow-like young man with the dark skin had started to make a Canadian legend.

The sport that he liked was also a very popular spectator sport of that time. Sports meets were numerous and sports club and organizations flourished with them. Alex first ran under the colors of the Edmonton Y.M.C.A., then the Edmonton Irish Association, and finally, the Edmonton Police Amateur Athletic Association.

On June 29, 1909, Alex entered the feature five-mile race on the opening day of the Edmonton Exhibition, and one of the twelve contestants lined up in front of the grandstand for the grueling test. When the race was over, they really began to take this young Indian seriously, for he had won in a time of 28 minutes, 41 and 3/5 seconds. Six days later at the International Athletic Meet at Lloydminster, he covered the five-mile course in 27 minutes, 45 and 1/5 seconds, to establish a western Canada record for the distance. He beat that record again that summer when he won the Hon. C.W. Cross Challenge Cup Race in Edmonton in 26 minutes, 34 and 2/5 seconds.

From 1909 until 1916, when he went overseas with the Canadian Armed Forces, Alex Decoteau entered every important marathon event in Alberta, and generally was the winner. This unassuming young man made history of another kind in 1909 when he joined the Edmonton Police Department. Unaware of it then, but he was the first full-blooded Indian to be accepted to permanent employment in a municipal police department in Canada. Add to this the fact that he was promoted to the rank of Sergeant in 1914, and you can see where he proved that an Indian could take his place successfully in the white society, yet this was not to be his only claim to fame.

In 1910, he was making a reputation in the field of athletics and he had already been tabbed as the “Tom Longboat of the West.” On the 20th of May that year at Fort Saskatchewan, he won the 10-mile race in 59 minutes and 2 seconds on a heavy, wet sand track. He led all the way, increasing his lead with every mile and finished 8 minutes and 18 seconds ahead of the second place runner. Later that same day, he won the 1-mile race in 4 minutes and 43 and 2/5 seconds. He later improved on this time, and there seems to be little doubt that with the proper training, this athlete could have broken the four-minute mile some forty years before Roger Bannister accomplished the fete in Vancouver.

At the Provincial Meet in Lethbridge on July 1, 1910, the young Indian entered four racing events, the five mile, two mile, one mile and half mile, and won them all. The Edmonton Daily Capital of July 2, 1910, described Decoteau as the “Champion Runner of Alberta.” The Alberta people knew his name well by 1911. Ten competitors entered the Hon. C.W. Cross Challenge Cup Race to be run that year over the five-mile course on April 29th, and Decoteau won in 28 minutes and 31 seconds. It was the sixth time that the race had been run, and the fifth time that it had been won by Decoteau, so they gave him permanent possession of the beautiful trophy.

The Canadian committee planning for the Olympic Games in Stockholm, Sweden in 1912 was eager to field a strong team. Fort Saskatchewan was the site of part of the trials and the town was being called “The Olympia of the North West.” On May 24th, the tension in the town was intense as spectators and competitors flooded in from near and far. The major event was the 10-mile road race, which started at the halfway house from Edmonton, and finished at the Fort. Alex Decoteau won the race for his third successive year, and this time in 59 minutes and 59 seconds; good enough to qualify him for the Canadian Olympic finals to be held in Montreal.

Decoteau was one of seven Alberta athletes to go to Montreal. On June 8th, he started in the 10,000-meter race, but had to drop out because of a bad leg cramp when he had competed just over half the course. He came back again in the 5,000-meter race, roughly 3 and 1/9th miles, and won it. For some reason not explained to him, the Canadian Olympic committee ordered a new race between him and the highly rated W.R. Chandler of Vancouver. Decoteau not only beat Chandler, but in doing it in 15 minutes and 27 and 2/5 seconds, he also beat Chandler’s Dominion record. Decoteau was the only Albertan to qualify that year for Canada’s team in Stockholm. When he sailed for the world competitions he was living yet another great experience for an Indian youth of the day.

Stockholm was indeed exciting for him, and the press were so interested in the “American Indians” present, that a promotional race before the start of the Olympics was arranged with Longboat and Decoteau representing Canada, and Thorpe and Gibson representing the United States. When all breasted the tape together and Decoteau was asked if the finish had been stated, he replied with his usual humor, “No sir, those fellows are all from different bands.”

Decoteau performed well amongst the world’s best, but did not win as he had hoped. In the first heat of the 5,000-meter event, he placed second, being about 10 yards behind G.V. Bonhag of New York. In the final race he was bothered by the bad leg cramps, which had beset him in Montreal, and he finished sixth and out of the award medals. Sixth in the world was still something to be very proud of and was an outstanding milestone in the life of the young Canadian Indian, and also for his native people. He was also very proud of the medal, which stated that he had represented his country, and the certificate, which was ornate, and beautiful that told the world that he had been a competitor in the 1912 Olympic Games. Only those who represent their Country at such events can understand fully the satisfaction and feeling in the heart of this young athlete as he made his way back to Edmonton.

Alex Decoteau, the policeman on the beat, was the idol of the small boys in Edmonton. Jess Jones, now retired and a member of the Edmonton Sports Hall of Fame himself, recalls, “Mr. Decotea always had time for us and taught many of us how to run in competition. He was good natured and friendly, and he could take and give a joke.” In his duties, the records shows that he was considered courageous, dignified, and reliable, and therefore it was little wonder that he was promoted to the rank of Sergeant on April 11th, 1914, with the responsibility of being in charge of the No. 4 Station on 102 Avenue and 121 Street. He was also one of the first motorcycle policemen in Edmonton, and one of his duties was to lock and unlock the High Level Bridge in its early years.

Profiting from the experience gained in Stockholm, Decoteau ran some of his best races in 1913, 1914, and 1915. At south Edmonton on July 1, 1914, he won the half-mile, one mile, and two-mile events, setting a new Alberta record for the two-mile event with a time of 10 minutes, 35 and 1/5 seconds.

As fate was to have it, 1915 was to be the last full year of competition for Alex, yet it was perhaps his greatest. Beginning the year by winning the Wild’s Cup Race, the Borden Cup Race and many others including the widely known Christmas Day Road Race sponsored by the Calgary Herald. The race was run annually over a six mile course through the streets of Calgary, and Decoteau won it in 1909, 1914, and 1915, the only times he had entered it.

Due to the war, the Christmas race was not run in Calgary in 1916, and on reviewing the issue, the managing executive of the Calgary Herald decided to award the trophy to Decoteau permanently. He was the only one ever to win it three times in competition, and they reasoned that he would be there in competition, but for the war. The presentation was to be made to him on his return from the Forces, and when he failed to return it was then presented to his family.

The Edmonton Police records show that Sergeant Alex Decoteau resigned on April 5, 1916, to join the Canadian Army. He first served with the 202nd Sportsmen’s Battalion, and later with the 49th Edmonton Regiment.

Private Alex Decoteau competed and won some fine trophies while in Canada and England before going to France. At a Forces athletic meet in Salisbury, England, he won a mile race and when King George V was about to make the presentation, the trophy had been mislaid, so His Majesty promptly removed the gold watch from his waist coat and presented it to Decoteau. On another day, he heard about a weekend race in a nearby town and ran cross-country to enter, only to find that it was a bicycle race. He borrowed a bicycle and his medal for winning is with his other trophy today.

His transfer to France brought him to face the grim realities of trench warfare and the futility of living in mud holes. Daily he heard news of the loss of friends, and he worried about his mother getting his pay allowance safely. Soon the legs that had carried him so often to victory were suffering the dreadful pains of trench fever. His regular letters to his sister in Edmonton told the story until their sudden stop. On October 30, 1917, a snipers bullet in the battle of Passchendale killed him, and the news stunned the Edmonton community. It was understandable that an Edmonton sportswriter, George Mackintosh wrote, “War has taken one of the greatest athletes in the country’s history.”

Dr. J.W. Grant MacEwan in his book, “Portraits from the Plains,” published by McGraw-Hill/Ryerson, in writing about this story states “With the passing of the years, his name was all but forgotten. Human memory is short. But, by good fortune, the record was re-examined and on April 12, 1967, about 50 years after the soldier’s death on the battlefield, the community in which he distinguished himself paid him a long overdue honor by adding his name to the Edmonton Sports Hall of Fame.”

It was a privilege to research the life of this wonderful Canadian, a life in which he proved himself in the classrooms of his people; a life in which he took his place in the large world beyond and prove himself equal or better at work with any other men; a life in which he represented his Country in the highly competitive world of international sport, and a life which he gave for the same Country. An Indian brave could not be expected to do more. This hero of the children in early Alberta should never be forgotten again.

The trophies and medals of Sergeant Alex Decoteau, thanks to his family, are now assembled in permanent display in the Edmonton Police Headquarters, and are proudly placed on a citywide display at least once each year.