Ralph Waldo Rose (born March 17, 1885 in Healdsburg, California, deceased October 16, 1913) was an American athlete. A giant of a man at 6' 5 1/2" and 250 pounds, Ralph Rose was the first shot putter to break 50 feet. His world record of 51' 0", set in 1909, lasted for 16 years. In 1904, while at the University of Michigan, he won both the shot put and discus at the Big Ten championships. He subsequently competed for the Olympic Club in San Francisco, California. Wikipedia
The definitive Wikipedia entry for Ralph Rose. Wikipedia is the biggest multilingual free-content encyclopedia on the Internet. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Rose