John Armstrong Howard (October 6, 1888 - 1937[1]) was a Canadian track and field athlete thought to be the first black Olympic athlete from Canada,[1] competing in the 1912 Summer Olympics.
Howard was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba to a barber.[1] In addition to his domination of Canadian sprinting, he also played baseball as a catcher on the Crescent Creamery Baseball Club in Winnipeg.[1]
In the Olympics in Stockholm, he was hindered by a stomach ailment[1] and eliminated in the semi-finals of the 100 metres competition as well as of the 200 metres event. He was also a member of the Canadian relay teams which were eliminated in the semi-final of the 4x100 metre relay competition and in the first round of the 4x400 metre relay event.
In 1917, he went to France to fight in World War I. He returned two years later with a white English wife, Edith (née Lipscomb).[1] They homesteaded in Ste. Rose du Lac, north of Winnipeg, but were forced to leave by hostility to the interracial marriage.[1] Howard found work as a railway porter. Later, the marriage broke up.
He is the grandfather of Olympic sprinters Harry Jerome and Valerie Jerome.[1]