Anthony Raye Ketchum (born November 20, 1962) is an American former sprinter. He attended

Needville High School Needville High School is a public high school located in unincorporated area, unincorporated Fort Bend County, Texas, Fort Bend County, Texas (with a Needville, Texas, Needville postal address) and a part of the Needville Independent School Distri ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

and in 1981 set a state high school record for the

400-meter dash The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is on ...

, with a time of 45.64 seconds. He was highly successful at school level, winning four straight titles in the

440-yard dash The 440-yard dash, or quarter-mile race, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. In many countries, athletes compete in the 440 yard dash (402.336 m) – which corresponds to a quarter mile. Many athletic tracks are 440 yards ...

/400-meter dash from 1978 to 1981 at the UIL Texas State Track and Field Championships (the second man to do so after Kenneth Thomas of Wortham). He was the number one ranked high school athlete in the discipline in 1981 according to ''

Track and Field News ''Track & Field News'' is an American monthly sports magazine founded in 1948 by brothers Bert Nelson and Cordner Nelson, focused on the world of track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on runni ...

''. Ketchum placed fifth nationally in the 400 m at the 1981

USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships The USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships is an annual track and field competition organized by USA Track & Field, which serves as the American national championships for the sport. Since the year 1992, in the years which feature a Summer Olym ...

and also fourth at the

AAA Championships The AAA Championships was an annual track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association of England. It was the foremost domestic athletics event in the United Kingdom during its lifetime, despite the existence of the officia ...

in the United Kingdom. His season's best of 45.69 seconds ranked him 26th globally. He was runner-up at the USA Junior Track and Field Championships in the

100-meter dash The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contest ...

, taking second to

Darren Walker Darren Walker (born August 28, 1959) currently serves as 10th president of the Ford Foundation, a private foundation dedicated to human welfare. In June 2020, Walker led the Ford Foundation to issue a $1 billion designated social bond to stabi ...

. During this period he was coached by Jack Petty. He made his first appearances at international level in 1981. At the

1981 IAAF World Cup The 3rd IAAF World Cup in Athletics was an international track and field sporting event sponsored by the International Association of Athletics Federations, held on September 4–6, 1981, at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy. Overall results M ...

, his performance in the 4×100-meter relay alongside

Mel Lattany Melvin Lattany (born August 10, 1959) is a former United States, American track athlete. He was one of the world's dominating Sprint (running), sprinters in the early 1980s. Early years Lattany attended Glynn Academy, where he was a standout spri ...

Stanley Floyd Stanley Floyd (born June 23, 1961) is a retired track and field sprinter from the United States. He was a 1979 graduate of Dougherty High School in Albany, Georgia. In 1980, he was considered one of the favorites for the 100m title but was denie ...

and Steve Williams brought the United States team the bronze medal. A gold medal in that event also came at that year's

Universiade The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and "Olympiad". The Universiade is referred t ...

, as the American team of Lattany, Ketchum,

Jason Grimes Jason Grimes (born September 10, 1959) is an American long jumper. Graduate of Overbrook High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Among his accomplishments, he took a silver medal at the 1983 World Championships in Athletics and was All-Americ ...

and

Calvin Smith Calvin Smith (born January 8, 1961) is a former sprint track and field athlete from the United States. He is a former world record holder in the 100-meter sprint with 9.93 seconds in 1983 and was twice world champion over 200 metres, in 1983 and ...

topped the podium. After graduating from high school, he began to attend the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...

and was coached by

Tom Tellez Thomas K. Tellez (born 1933) is a renowned track and field (athletics) coach, noted in particular because of his contributions to the sport in the areas of kinesiology, physiology and biomechanics. Life and career Tellez attended Whittier College ...

as part of the institution's high calibre

Houston Cougars The Houston Cougars are the athletic teams representing the University of Houston. Informally, the Houston Cougars have also been referred to as the Coogs, UH, or simply Houston. Houston's nickname was suggested by early physical education instr ...

track team (which had recently featured

Carl Lewis Frederick Carlton Lewis (born July 1, 1961) is an American former track and field athlete who won nine Olympic gold medals, one Olympic silver medal, and 10 World Championships medals, including eight gold. His career spanned from 1979 to 1996, ...

). In his first year, he won the 440-yard dash title at the

NCAA Men's Indoor Track and Field Championships The NCAA Men's Division I Indoor Track and Field Championship is an annual collegiate indoor track and field competition for men organised by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Athlete's individual performances earn points for their i ...

, recording a time of 47.47 seconds to take his first collegiate title. Outdoors, he helped the team's 4 × 100 m relay quartet (including Carlton Young, Mark McNeil, and Stanley Floyd) to a world under-23 best time for the event in 38.53 seconds. Ketchum claimed the relay title with the Cougars at the 1982

NCAA Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championships The NCAA Division I Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championship is an annual collegiate outdoor track and field competition for men organised by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Athlete's individual performances earn points for ...

in an American collegiate record of 39:12 seconds. His best individual run of 45.72 seconds that year ranked him in the top 40 globally. He only competed at the start of the 1983, his best of 45.77 seconds coming at the

Mt. SAC Relays The Mt. SAC Relays are an annual track and field festival held primarily at Hilmer Lodge Stadium on the Mt. San Antonio College campus in Walnut, California. The Relays are held in mid-April each year since the first edition held on April 24-25, 1 ...

, where he was runner-up. At this point he started to focus on playing

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

instead. Ketchum played for the

Houston Cougars football The Houston Cougars football program is an NCAA Division I FBS football team that represents the University of Houston. The team is commonly referred to as "Houston" or "UH" (spoken as "U of H"). The UH football program is a member of the Big 1 ...

team from 1983 to 1985 as a wide receiver and

kickoff returner A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another position ...

. He played three games professionally for the

Hamilton Tiger-Cats The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a professional Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are currently members of the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Tiger-Cats play their home games at Tim Hortons Fiel ...

, briefly staying at the

Canadian football Canadian football () is a team sport, sport played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's sco ...

team in the 1987 season. Towards the end of his career, he was part of the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

team in the late 1980s, but was released in 1989. Transactions
''New York Times'' (1989-06-04). Retrieved on 2015-04-26.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ketchum, Anthony 1962 births Living people Sportspeople from Texas American male sprinters Players of Canadian football from Texas American football wide receivers Hamilton Tiger-Cats players Houston Cougars men's track and field athletes Houston Cougars football players Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) FISU World University Games gold medalists for the United States Medalists at the 1981 Summer Universiade NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships winners