For years after her husband’s death, Fannie Toppino, 91, still received calls and letters, requests for the man they called “the Human Bullet.”

Her husband was a man “who probably never said ‘no’ to anyone in his life,” Fannie remembered. So she made like him and didn’t tell the autograph hounds “no.” She instead rummaged through the drawers, pulled out her husband’s checkbook, and chopped it up with scissors. “All they wanted was his signature, so I cut that part of the check and sent it to the return address,” she said, allowing herself a small chuckle and a light slap atop her dinner table. “I guess they were satisfied.”

Martin Emmett Toppino, who was also known by his aliases “Torpedo,” “Maroon Flash” and “the Human Bullet,” was at one time the fastest man in the world.

He was also a star at New Orleans’ Loyola University of the South.

En route to an Olympic birth and eventual gold medal, a parade was held in his honor. Mayor T. Semmes Walmsley, a former local sports association chairman and avid fan, wished him all the best on the road to the Olympics and a heartfelt congratulations on his success on the track while clad in the Loyola maroon singlet. Walmsley presented the “Human Bullet” with a gold Patek Phillipe & Co. pocket watch.

The mayor of New Orleans could muster only one thing to say to Toppino about his brand new timepiece:

“It isn’t fast enough to clock your speed.”

The student populace of Loyola agreed – three times, his good looks and his daring deeds on the track came together to bag him the Student Council-held election of “Most Popular Student.”

The most popular student at Loyola did not look like his chiseled peers. Toppino let his hair fall in straight, sandy-colored bangs and looked more like a wide-eyed, awestruck white boy who posed for action shots awkwardly.

Powerful runners by the world’s standards were the University of Michigan’s Eddie Tolan, whose biceps looked like a stock and his forearms like the barrel of a shotgun.

He set a world record in the 100-yard dash with a time of 9.5 seconds. Toland was a part of the phenomenon that overtook American sports in the 1930s: the emergence and subsequent dominance of the black athlete.

Toppino earned a spot on the 4×100-meter relay race in the 1932 Olympic games at Los Angeles, where Loyola coach and U.S. assistant coach Tad Gormley asked the Wolfpack gem to run the second leg of the race.

Toppino won a gold medal in a then-record time. He was one of three Loyola athletes who competed in the ’32 Olympics.