Clean Speech, Clean Sport, Clean Scholarship, Clean Life

[DoubleRBar]

Happy birthday today (Monday) to an Olympic champion with three Olympic gold medals. Our birthday athlete was born 103 years ago this day in October.

All three Olympic gold medals were world records.

Ethel Mae Richardson married our birthday athlete the year after our birthday person won his second Olympic gold medal.

Born in a U.S. state with only four letters, this Olympic champion went to a high school and a college that are separated by less than twenty miles.

Our birthday individual died 33 years ago this coming January. He was 70 years old at the time of his death.

This athlete was a NCAA champion and his school won the NCAA championship when this athlete was 17 years old. His school also won the NCAA championships when this athlete was 21, 22, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 49, 52, 54, 58, 59, 67, and 69 years old (he died when he was 70).

His Olympic gold medals have nothing to do with field events or the hurdles. Becoming a teacher, our birthday person shared the same initials as a famous American architect who died in 1959.

Can you name this birthday athlete who won Olympic gold medals in three different Olympic Games? Go ahead and try.

[rhymans]

Frank Wykoff it must be (architecht Frank LLoyd Wright).

[DoubleRBar]

Frank Wykoff it is, rhymans. Nice job. Of course you know Wykoff ran on three Olympic relay teams (1928, 1932, and 1936) that not only won the gold medal, they were also world records (1928 equaled the world mark).

Frank ran the first leg in 1928 and he ran the anchor legs in 1932 and in 1936. Interesting to note that in 1932 (Los Angeles), the U.S. did not run Eddie Tolan, Ralph Metcalfe, or George Simpson on the relay team. Tolan won the Olympic 100, Metcalfe was second in that race, and Simpson was fourth. Who knows what they could have run using those three?

Happy birthday today to Frank Wykoff.

[PDJ551]

It is true that the U.S. did not run its best 100 meter runners in the relay. There was such sprint domination in the U.S. during the 1920s and 30s that the practice was that the top 3 in the trials would represent the country in the 100 meters and that the next four would run the relay. The idea was to have as many different Americans win medals as possible. This changed right before the 400 meter relay was set to run in the Berlin Olympics in 1936. But that's a story in itself which has occupied many other forums in the past.