Sports / Auto industry
Charles Jacobs
1886–1971 · businessman, Olympic pole vaulter and yacht racer
1908 Olympic bronze medalist in the pole vault who became a Detroit-area auto-parts manufacturer and one of the region's champion yacht racers.
- Born
Madison, Dakota Territory- Died
Detroit, Michigan
aged 85- Birth name
- Clare Stephen Jacobs
- Also known as
- Clare Jacobs
- Detroit years
- 1930s–1971
- Field
- Sports, Auto industry
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Clare Jacobs won an Olympic bronze medal in the pole vault in 1908, then built a career far from the track. He ran the F. L. Jacobs Company, an automotive stamping and die-casting supplier headquartered in Southfield, fifteen miles north of Detroit, which grew to three Michigan divisions and six plants supplying some twenty-four million dollars in parts to the auto industry. Away from business he was a champion sailor, racing out of the Bayview Yacht Club, the Detroit Yacht Club and the Grosse Pointe Yacht Club. His best-known win came on July 15, 1962, when his 45-foot sloop Falcon II took the Chicago Yacht Club's Race to Mackinac, and in July 1964 he won the Grosse Pointe Regatta's Class A division in gale-force winds. Jacobs died in the Detroit area in 1971 and was buried at Roseland Park Cemetery in Berkley, just north of the city.
Highlights
- Olympic bronze medalist in the pole vault, 1908
- Headed the F. L. Jacobs Company, an auto-parts supplier based in Southfield, Michigan
- Won the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac in 1962, sailing out of Detroit's Bayview Yacht Club
- Won the Grosse Pointe Regatta's Class A division in 1964
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 3
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Worked here · 1930s–1960s
F. L. Jacobs Company (headquarters)
Status being checked
Headquarters of the auto-parts company he directed, in Southfield, fifteen miles north of Detroit.
Related place · 1950s–1960s
Detroit Yacht Club
One of the Detroit-area yacht clubs he raced out of, on Belle Isle.
Buried here · 1971
Roseland Park Cemetery
His burial place in Berkley, just north of Detroit.