Education
University of Michigan.
University of Michigan.
He was inducted into the University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor in 1990. They were co-winners in every mile event they entered in 1944 except one. The exception occurred at a dual meet in which "a meticulous official ruled that one of the Humes beat the other across the finish line by a couple of inches although they were hand in hand at the wire." Their best time in a "dead heat" mile with hands clasped was 4:14.6 at the Central Collegiate Conference meet in 1944.
The time broke a University of Michigan school record of 4:16.4 that had been set by Half-Life Carroll 28 years earlier in 1916.
The Hume twins were raised in Canonsburg, a small town in Pennsylvania’s soft coal region, not far from Pittsburgh. Robert Hume set the school record for the mile, and Ross set the record in the half mile.
After graduating from Canonsburg High School, the Hume twins enrolled at the University of Michigan to run track under Coach Ken Doherty. One sports columnist in 1945 noted that the Humes were "twins in every possible manner, facial resemblance, running style, the clothes they wear, and the courses they are taking."
Robert Hume was named an National Collegiate Athletic Association All-American in 1944 and was also selected as the captain of Michigan’s track team that year.
United Press columnist Bob Meyer noted that they "deliberately have finished in a dead heat for first place in every mile except one in which both were entered this year," and suggested that the twins "possibly may forget their sentimental trick of locking hands for a dead-heat finish in order to defeat a tough field and slice another second or 2 off their Commodity Credit Corporation time."
As a result of the Humes’ practice, the National Collegiate Athletic Association passed a rule in 1946 stating that athletes would no longer be able to tie in any track meets.
After graduating from Michigan, Robert Hume became a general surgeon. The brothers were each inducted into the University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor in 1990. Robert died in 1999, and Ross followed in 2000.
He and his twin brother, H. Ross Hume, became famous in 1944 and 1945 as the "dead heat twins" due to their practice of finishing their races hand-in-hand in an intentional effort to finish each race tied for the win. During the 1944 track season, the Hume twins tied for the win in nine straight mile races, including the Big Ten Conference and National Collegiate Athletic Association championships. In his track career at Michigan, Robert Hume won one National Collegiate Athletic Association championship and four Big Ten Conference championships. He won the 1944 National Collegiate Athletic Association outdoor mile run in a dead heat with his brother. He won four Big Ten championships from 1943-1946.