Andrew William Stanfield (December 29, 1927 – June 15, 1985) was an American sprinter and
Olympic
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Sports
Competitions
* Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896
** Summer Olympic Games
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silver medal
A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...
Jersey City
Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Lincoln High School in 1946, where he was already a talented athlete, excelling in the sprints and long jump. After his army service, Stanfield entered Seton Hall University in 1948. The following year, he won his first of a long list of national titles. His list includes six AAU titles (1949:
100
100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101.
In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to de ...
and
200 m
The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...
; 1950: 60 y; 1951: long jump; 1952: 200 m; 1953: 220 y) and nine IC4A titles (both indoor and outdoor). He was coached by
Johnny Gibson
John A. Gibson (July 3, 1905 – December 29, 2006) was a runner and Olympic athlete.
Gibson was born in New York City in 1905, but lived most of his life in Bloomfield, New Jersey, where he attended Bloomfield High School.
He was the head ...
, a former world record holder in
400 m hurdles
The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women.
On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, once ar ...
.
Internationally, the 200 m was Stanfield's strongest distance. In 1951, at the ICAAAA Championships, Stanfield—in the outside lane—won the Turn 220-Yard Dash in 20.6. The Turn-220 had never been commonly contested in the US. 220s were normally raced on "NoTurn" or "Straight" courses. In 1951 the
IAAF
World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...
commenced to establish world records for the Turn-200-Meters: the initial listing accepted was by Willie Applegarth of Great Britain in 21 1/5, set in London in 1914. That spring of 1951, Stanfield's Intercollegiate 220-Yard Dash in 20.6 was established by the IAAF as a new World-Record for the 200 m with 20.6 (220 yards is more than one meter longer than 200 meters).
Then, there was no "official" world record for the Turn-220. But in the United States, Ralph Metcalfe was generally agreed to have the American record at 21-flat set in Berlin 1933 (no wind). Then Jack Wierhauser of
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
Barney Ewell
Henry Norwood "Barney" Ewell (February 25, 1918 – April 4, 1996) was an American athlete, winner of one gold and two silver medals at the 1948 Summer Olympics.
Born into poverty in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Ewell was one of the world's lead ...
, at the US Nationals in 1939 at Lincoln, Nebraska, on the partial bend course on that track, clocked what was likely an AAU record of 21.1, but that course was never well-delineated.D.H. Potts, L. Quercetani. ''Progression of World best performances'', IAAF World Records'' At the 1948 US Olympic Trials,
Mel Patton
Melvin Emery Patton (November 16, 1924 – May 9, 2014) was an American sprinter, who set the world record in the 100 yard dash of 9.2 seconds in 1948. He also set a 220 yd world record in 1949 on a straightaway of 20.2, breaking the record held ...
beat Barney Ewell, both clocked in 20.7 (no wind). None of these were ratified for the simple reason that the IAAF did not distinguish between records made on a turn from those on a straight.
Stanfield would equal this performance twice, running 20.6 in 1952 and 1956. The '56 performance occurred at the AAU Championships, where Stanfield finished 2nd behind Thane Baker, the champion. As the world record holder, Stanfield in 1952 was not a surprise winner of the gold medal at the
1952 Summer Olympics
The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad ( fi, XV olympiadin kisat; sv, Den XV olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952 ( sv, Helsin ...
, equalling the Olympic Record in the final. As a member of the American
4 x 100 m relay
4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures.
In mathematics
Four is the smallest c ...
team, Stanfield won a second Olympic gold medal. He attempted to defend his 200 m title in the 1956 Games, but lost it, finishing second to
Bobby Morrow
Bobby Joe Morrow (October 15, 1935May 30, 2020) was an American sprinter who won three gold medals at the 1956 Olympics. He has been called "the dominant sprinter of the 1950s" and "the most relaxed sprinter of all time, even more so than his ...
.
Stanfield was a member of
Alpha Phi Alpha
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. () is the oldest intercollegiate historically African American fraternity. It was initially a literary and social studies club organized in the 1905–1906 school year at Cornell University but later evolved int ...