August 24, 2023
If you grew up in the 1950's or early 1960's you don't have to be reminded of who Tom Courtney might be. Every kid of that day could identify the big toothy grimace when he crossed the finish line in Melbourne just catching the British runner Derek Johnson at the line. Then he collapsed in the infield and the medal award ceremony was supposedly delayed an hour while he recovered. Even an alleged quote out there "If I live, I'll never run again." But he did run again on the victorious US 4x400 relay later that week.
Tom was a graduate of Fordham University.
In those days the Catholic colleges in the East produced a lot of great runners and were tough in football and basketball. Some still do. They were Villanova, St. Johns, Fordham, LaSalle, St. Bonaventure, St. Peters, Canisius, Georgetown, Manhattan, Iona, Catholic U., Seton Hall, St. Joseph's, Boston. I'm sure there are more.
Another Angle of the Finish with Derek Johnson of Great Britain
The following article appeared in NJ.com/sports
America's Tom Courtney who won the Men's Olympic Games 800-metres Final, shakes hands with Britain's Derek Johnson, who won silver and watched by bronze winner Norway's Audun Boysen, in Melbourne, Australia, Nov. 26, 1956. (AP Photo)AP
New Jersey native Tom Courtney, known for his gutsy, gold medal performance in the men’s 800-meter run in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, died on Tuesday at the age of 90 at an assisted living facility in Naples, Fla. Courtney outkicked competitors on the backstretch and lunged at the tape to win the event by just one-tenth of a second.
Courtney was born on Aug. 17, 1933 in South Orange, N.J. and grew up in Livingston. His father, Jim, played baseball for the Newark Bears, according to an obituary by the New York Times. He also won a gold medal by anchoring the United States in the 4x400-meter relay.
The Fordham University alum, then a 23-year-old Army private, was not favored to win the event, but fellow American Arnie Sowell was. Courtney won with a time of 1:47.7, edging out Britain’s Derek Johnson. He was inducted into the Fordham Athletics Hall of Fame in 1971 and the USA National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1978.
“It was a new kind of agony for me,” Courtney said of the moment in an interview with Runner’s World magazine in 2001. “My head was exploding, my stomach ripping. Even the tips of my fingers ached. The only thought in my mind was, ‘If I live, I’ll never run again.’ I felt it all slipping away, but then I looked at the tape and realized that this was the only chance I would ever have.”
You can watch the official, 1956 Melbourne Olympics film of Courtney’s gold medal-winning performance here.
racing season he would do the fast 300's
1 comment:
Does anyone know if footage of the 4x400 from the ‘56 games exists? The films from the Olympic Committee don’t seem to include them.
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