Debora Cheney
Larry and Ellen Foster Communications
Librarian and head,
News and Microforms Library
Years Ago... The Historical Digital Collegian Database
The Historical Digital Collegian database, now covering 100 years (1887-1987), allows us to re-visit and re-remember Penn State history through the eyes of the student newspaper.
Penn State and Olympics History
Q: “Did Penn State ever have more than a single representative on the U.S. Olympic track team?”
Q: “What Penn State track star was a member of the Olympic team BEFORE he went to college?”
(Answers at the end of the column)
Some great athletes are born; others excel through athletic skill combined with sheer hard work and determination. The Historical Digital Collegian pages allow us to see Penn State’s Olympic athletes more clearly and to better understand the hallmark of Penn State’s athletes is their commitment to competition and winning—sometimes despite great odds, always through hard work and their commitment to athletics.
“Cinder Stars”
Take for example the story of Curt Stone, who the Saturday Evening Post reported, “would be lucky if he isn’t lapped in the Olympic 5000 meters.” Its hard to imagine Stoner, as he was called, a Centre Daily Times circulation manager, could devote enough time to improving his “game” to compete in the XIV Olympiad (London, 1948). However, “he ran in the rain, mud, and snow. Getting in a half hour at lunch time and then going back for more when he knocked off work at 5 p.m.” (“The Nittany Lyon,” 7/14/1948) In the end, Curt Stone “held his own among the 11 top stars of Europe, taking a handy third in his heat and then placing sixth in the best race of his life in the finals of the 5000.” (“Lions Score Olympic Upsets,” 8/1/1948) Four years later Curt Stoner made another lasting impression on John Lucas, “a compact runner from USC …who “learned at the 1952 Olympic trials … the top 3 finishers in the 10,000 meter trials, Ashenfelter, Curt Stone, and Herb Goffberg had ‘all come from a hick school out in the woods’ of Pennsylvania. They all wore Penn State uniforms at the trials. I was lapped by these three… they told me they had a fine coach and unlimited woods in which to run.’” (“PSU Professor Devoted to Olympics,” 4/27/1983 ) John Lucas was to become a Penn State track and field coach and noted Olympic historian who documented Penn State’s history in Olylmpics. (Penn State at the Olympic Games, 1979).
Penn State provided a home for athletes such as Harold Barron, a native of Berwyn, Pennsylvania, who won a silver medal at 1920 Olympics in the 500 metre hurdles and was considered “...one of the satellites in the firmament of American track men…” Barron left to compete internationally, yet returned to Penn State in September 1920 to “resume his studies” and his efforts on the Penn State “Cinder Team.” (“Former Track Star Returns,” 9/24, 1920) Penn’s State’s early track and field athletes, including Harold Barron and Larry Shields (1920, Brussels, Belgium); Schuyler “Sky” Enck, Alan Helffrich, John “Blondy” Romig, and Bill Cox (1924, Paris); and Al Bates, and Romig (1928, Amsterdam) were competitive internationally. Together these “cinder stars" “are true proof of the prowess of the Nittany Lion track and field men in the past.” (“Penn State Athletes Represented United States in Last 3 Olympics,” 7/8/1932).
Penn State has been respresented at the Olympics by: Great athletes—many who competed at Olympic trials, but did not make the final rosters (“Karver Misses Olympics by Inches”, 17/14/1948); Great coaches—Bill Jeffrey (Soccer), Eugene Wettsone (Gymnastics), Chuck Werner (Track and Field); Great administrators--Hugo Bezdek (Football Coach and Athletic Director), Carl P. Shott, (Dean of the School of Physical Education and Athletics; “Schott on Olympic Boxing Committee, 4/21/1939); and Great athletic trainers and doctors--Dr. Charles (Chuck) Medlar, Penn State Head Athletic Trainer who served as an athletic trainer at the Olympics and Dr. Dave Joyner (a two-sport Penn State athlete (football and wrestling) who later served as the Chairman of the U.S. Olympic Sports Medicine Committee). Together—athletes, coaches, administrators, and trainers--have created a strong history of Penn State Olympic athletics and excellence.
Yet, as the times changed, the Olympics changed with it. The pages and stories of the Collegian and its predecessors provide us with reports on The Olympic Committee’s rulings regarding finiancially-aided athletes (“Olympic Ruling Not Worrying State Players”, 12/4/1951) and efforts to support and raise funds for “our” amateur athletes (“$1418 Collected for Olympics,” 10/27/1951). The pages document the turmoil of the 1968 Olympics (“The Black Glove Controversy” 11/14/1968); sex tests and drug tests (“Anabolic Steroids and Female Athletes,” 6/6/1975 and “Scientists try to Expose Blood Doping in Athletes,” 8/26/1987). Avery Brundage, a name synonmous with the Olympics, is reported upon and pronounced upon by student reporters and those they interview (“Gods Spin Over Olympics,” 10/10/1968). A 1932 advertisement would proclaim:” Returning from The Olympic Tryouts, Stop at the Hotel Penn-Alto (Altoona, PA) overnight and enjoy a good rest.—Avoid the dangers of motoring late at night.” (4/9/1932).
Through it all, a sense of religion surrounds Penn State’s Olympic endeavors. Certainly, Dr. Henry .H. Crane, a “Scranton Pastor” speaking at Vespers in October 1932 clearly understood the connection between the athletic and spiritual aspects of the Olympics. In the Olympics, Pastor Crane said, “the goal is always clear, the track always in perfect condition, and the judges always fair.” Life, he said is not nearly so kind. Yet, the Olympic Games provide us with a “remarkable show of physical prowess and endurance, but also a remarkable show of spiritual feeling” as evidenced by the “greatest attendance being at the ceremony where the athletes took the “oath of the Olympic athlete.” (Chapel Audience Hears Dr. Crane,” 10/11/1932) The spiritual aspects of the Olympics can inform our lives as well as the athletic aspects of the Olympic games.
Penn State has hosted many Olympic team trials/tryouts (“First NCAA Boxing Tourney Held Here to Choose Olympic Team”, March 28, 1941 and “Plans Laid for Olympic Track Meet,” 4/23/1952). 100 years of rich Olympic tradition by Penn State athletes and coaches is recorded and honored in the Pages of the Digital Historical Collegian.
1940 issues of the Penn State Collegian provided “Little Quiz” questions for their readers:
Q: “Did Penn State ever have more than a single representative on the U.S. Olympic track team?”
A: Bill Cox, 1929 (“Little Quiz,” 2/9/1940)
Q: “What Penn State Track star was a member of the Olympic team BEFORE he went to college?”
A: You betcha! In 1924, five men sailed [to Paris]. Al Helffrich, John Romig, Crip Moore, Enck and Studenroth (“Little Quiz” 2/16/1940)