Jules Marcadet

Jules Marcadet (Paris, 10 March 1866 – Vaucresson, 15 August 1959) was a French sports manager.

Biography
Born to a Sarthe family and orphaned at 15, Jules Marcadet founded the Stade Français at the Café Procope in Saint-Germain-des-Prés on 13 December 1883; at the same time he was admitted at HEC Paris, obtaining a scholarship to complete his studies, which ended with his diploma in 1885.

As general secretary of the Stade Français, on 27 June 1884 he obtained authorization to use the Tuileries and the Orangerie terrace on Sunday mornings and Thursday afternoons for the training of sportsmen, whose recruitment was essentially academic and without distinction of social class. The Stade Français was French rugby champion in 1893, 1894, 1895, 1897 and 1898; cycling and tennis were among the most popular disciplines within the sports club. Marcadet retired in 1899 and was made honorary president for life.

The founders of Racing Club de France and those of Stade Français founded the Union des sociétés françaises de course à pied on 20 November 1887, which became two years later, on 31 January 1889, the Union des sociétés françaises de sports athlétiques (USFSA), presided over by Georges de Saint-Clair with Marcadet as general secretary, a position ceded to Pierre de Coubertin in 1890.

Marcadet then became a senior official at the Ministry of Finance which removed him from Paris starting in 1926. He was subsequently treasurer general of the department of Ain then of Yonne. He retired in 1931. Jules Marcadet was awarded the Youth and Sports Medal of Honor and became an officer of the Order of Agricultural Merit and the Legion of Honour; in 2002 he was also included in the Gloire du sport.