Leslie Hood

Leslie Hood
Monochrome portrait of Leslie Hood taken in the studios of Gale and Polden in 1901. Hood is photographed with short hair, bare shoulders, and looking to his left. The photograph was used to illustrate the effectiveness of Eugen Sandow's course on building muscular strength.
Hood photographed in 1899
Personal information
Born(1876-09-13)13 September 1876
York, England
Died23 September 1932(1932-09-23) (aged 56)
Whalley Range, Manchester, England
Resting placeManchester Crematorium (ashes scattered)
EducationSt Peter's School, York, England
Occupations
Height5 ft 7.25 in (171 cm)
Weight10 st 9 lb (149 lb; 68 kg)[a]
Sport
Sport
Club
Rugby union
Medal record
Olympic Games
Men's rugby union
Representing  Great Britain
Silver medal – second place 1900 Paris Team competition
12th amateur wrestling championships
Men's catch-as-catch-can
Winner 1901 National Sporting Club 12 st (76 kg) category
Cresta Run
Skeleton
Second place 1911 St. Moritz Bott handicap

Leslie Hood (13 September 1876 – 23 September 1932) was an English rugby union player. He competed at the 1900 Summer Olympics and won silver as part of the Great Britain team in what was the first rugby union competition at an Olympic Games. He also competed in amateur catch-as-catch-can wrestling competitions and played ice hockey at Manchester. He was born in York, the third son of William Hood, a general practitioner in practice at Castlegate, York. Along with his three brothers, he was educated at St Peter's School, York. He was a good all-round sportsperson but not as academically gifted as his siblings.

In 1896, he joined Hammersmith rugby union club as a wing three-quarter back, completing two seasons with the club, before joining Rosslyn Park rugby club. In 1899, he entered Eugen Sandow's bodybuilding competition at Crystal Palace Park and won a gold medal. In 1901, he won the twelfth amateur Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling championships in the 12 stone (76 kilograms) category. He retained a life-long interest in winter sports and mountaineering, and in 1911, he competed in the Bott handicap on the Cresta Run at St. Moritz, Engadine in Switzerland.

Hood excelled at ice skating, and in the 1910s, he would compete in ice dance competitions with Ethel Muckelt. He was a founding player in the Manchester ice hockey team that was based at the Ice Palace ice rink in Derby Street, Cheetham. By 1927, he was a director of the Ice Palace and Taylor Brothers & Co., a steel manufacturing company with works at Trafford Park, Trafford, Manchester, and by 1928, he was vice president of the company. He had always maintained a good level of physical fitness, however, in late 1929, he was diagnosed with progressive muscular atrophy and died of pneumonia at a nursing home in Whalley Range, Manchester.

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