Alan Boone Helffrich (August 7, 1900 – February 3, 1994) was an American athlete, winner of gold medal in 4 × 400 m

relay A relay Electromechanical relay schematic showing a control coil, four pairs of normally open and one pair of normally closed contacts An automotive-style miniature relay with the dust cover taken off A relay is an electrically operated switch ...

at the 1924 Summer Olympics. Born in

Yonkers, New York Yonkers () is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. Developed along the Hudson River, it is the third most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City and Buffalo. The population of Yonkers was 211,569 as en ...

, Alan Helffrich was one of America's greatest middle-distance runners in the 1920s. Helffrich won the AAU titles in 880 yd in 1921, 1922 and 1925. As a Pennsylvania State University student, he won the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

championships in 880 yd in 1922 and 1923 and

IC4A IC4A Championships (Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America) is an annual men's competition held at different colleges every year. Association was established in 1875, the competition (started in 1876) served as the top level col ...

championships in 880 yd in 1923 and in 440 yd in 1924. At the

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

Olympics, Helffrich ran the final leg in the American 4 × 400 m relay team, which won the gold medal with a new

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

of 3.16.0. Helffrich was the only runner to defeat

Paavo Nurmi Paavo Johannes Nurmi (; 13 June 1897 – 2 October 1973) was a Finnish middle-distance and long-distance runner. He was called the "Flying Finn" or the "Phantom Finn", as he dominated distance running in the 1920s. Nurmi set 22 official world ...

when the Finn toured the United States in 1925, scoring a victory in the half-mile run at the

Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx, New York City. It is the home field of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. Opened in April 2009, the stadium replaced the orig ...

. He ended Nurmi's 121-race win streak that had started in 1921. After his running career, Helffrich officiated at athletics meets in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

from 1930 to 1955 and served, until his death at age 93, as president of the New York Chapter of the United States Olympians.

References

1900 births 1994 deaths American male sprinters Athletes (track and field) at the 1924 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1924 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field Penn State Nittany Lions men's track and field athletes Sportspeople from Yonkers, New York Track and field athletes from New York (state) {{US-sprint-athletics-bio-stub

See also

References