I have been reading about the career of an American olympian called Curtis Stone (19-Nov-1922). he was AAU 3 mile champion in 1947, 48, 50, 51, and 52. the AAU 5000m champion in 1947, 48, and 52. he twice won the OT 5000m and his best result in the Olympics was in 1948 when he finished 6th behind Gaston Reiff (BEL) who set an Olympic record of 14:17.6. Emil Zatopek (TCH) was 2nd. he also set AR's at 10,000m in 1949 and 1952 and won the Pan-American Games 10,000m in 1951.
okay, so I have come across a result from 1953 that is called the Metropoliitan AAU Championship. it was an indoor 3 mile race held in New York on 10th Jan 1953 (link below).
in 1st place was Horace Ashenfelter (AR 2 miles 8:49.6 Compton 3-Jun-1955), 14:42.1, Stone was 4th in 15:11.2
my question basically is: what is Metropolitan AAU ?
I Googled "Metropolitan AAU" and found their website but it just gives some guff about being, "the most influential, respected, trusted and relevant leader," in youth sport, the sort of drivel that uses a lot of words to say nothing of any substance.
is this the AAU under a different name, was this a regional AAU Championship, was it a qualifier for the actual AAU? you know, the usual questions any track fan would want to know.
many thanks for any input.
cheers.