v. 4 n. 87 Ray Ewry 10 Olympic Golds Finally Remembered

It's not often that someone wins 10 Olympic gold medals in Track and Field and goes unrecognized later in life.  That is the case with Ray Ewry, multi time champion in the standing long jump, high jump, and triple jump.   Only the advent of the running LJ, TJ, and HJ put those events out of business over 100 years ago, but back then it was a hotly contested item (for second place) if Ewry was in the competition.   Suffering from polio at an early age Ray was encouraged to excercise and eventually developed strong legs that would carry him higher and farther than his peers.  His home town of Lafayette, Indiana is getting around to honoring him in a number of ways including naming a road after him two years ago (see article below from wlfi.com) and several other things.

He competed for Purdue and led them to a national track and field championship, earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering and worked for many years as chief water engineer for the city of New York.  Links to several articles about Ray Ewry are listed below.

The Ray Ewry memorial at Jefferson HS
West Lafayette, IN

LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) — A section of the new U.S. 231 is being named after Lafayette sports hero, Ray Ewry.

A ceremony was held Friday at Jefferson High School in Lafayette to celebrate the renaming of a stretch of the highway in West Lafayette. The section of U.S. 231 between Martin Jischke Drive and Lindberg Road will bear the name of Ray Ewry Memorial Highway.

Ewry’s grandson Tom Carson made the trip from Baltimore to speak on his behalf.

“Conquering polio, conquering his fight against arthritis and a bad back. He kept on going and perservered and that’s obviously the spirit of Indiana and Purdue,” said Carson. “I just want to thank everybody — starting in Indiana, to Lafayette, to West Lafayette, to Purdue — for honoring my grandfather.”

Ewry was a graduate of Jefferson High School and Purdue University. He led Purdue to a national championship in track and field and won 10 gold medals in the Olympics from 1900 to 1908.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TZwFJJAbvU

from the Reid Duffy Chronicles  Feb. 18, 2010

Ewry gravesite
http://archive.jconline.com/article/20120717/COLUMNISTS30/307170036/lafayette-ray-ewry



Best High Jumper Ever?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3CCVP7Bv-M