Henry Carr (November 27, 1941 – May 29, 2015) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

athlete who won two gold medals at the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this ho ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

.Henry Carr
. Sports Reference

Early life

Born in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1941, Carr moved with his family to

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

, Michigan when he was young. Prior to bringing his athletic talents to

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

(ASU), Carr was a state champion sprinter for Northwestern High School in Detroit having posted a 100-yard time of 9.3 seconds. While competing for the ASU Sun Devils, he won three national titles; along the way setting

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 ...

s at 220

yard The yard (symbol: yd) is an English unit of length in both the British imperial and US customary systems of measurement equalling 3 feet or 36 inches. Since 1959 it has been by international agreement standardized as exactly 0.914 ...

s and as a member of the Sun Devil 4 x 440 yard

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 ...

team. Henry Carr won the 1963

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 ...

title at 200 meters in 20.5; the same year he ran 20.69 to tie Paul Drayton for the USA title. Twice that season Carr ran world records; a non-ratified 20.4 for 220 yards and, three days later in a college triangular meet, a 20.3 for 220 yards. Henry Carr ran even faster in 1964; setting a world record of 20.2 for 220 yards. He also defeated Drayton into second place to win the national title.

Olympics

It was at the 1964 Olympics where Carr would achieve his greatest fame; Carr won the 200 meters (in an Olympic Record time) and anchored the winning 4 x 400 meter relay team to a world record 3:00.7 (with

Ollan Cassell Ollan Conn Cassell (born October 5, 1937) is an American sprinter in the 1950s and 1960s, winning a gold medal in the men's 4 × 400 m relay at the 1964 Summer Olympics. In his early 30s, Cassell later became the executive director of the Amate ...

Mike Larrabee Mike Larrabee (''Michael Denny Larrabee;'' December 2, 1933 – April 22, 2003) was an American athlete, winner of two gold medals at the 1964 Summer Olympics. Born in Hollywood, California and raised in Ventura, Larrabee was a young running ...

and

Ulis Williams Ulis C. Williams (born October 24, 1941) is an American former athlete, winner of a gold medal in the 4×400 meter relay at the 1964 Summer Olympics. He later served as President of Compton Community College in Compton, California, from 1996 to ...

). Carr had a fright in his qualification for the Olympics. He had won the semi-final trials held in New York in July and only had to prove his fitness at the final trials in September in Los Angeles. However, he was well beaten into fourth place in the final there and with only 3 to qualify he could have been eliminated. His earlier win was enough though to convince the selectors that he should go to the Olympics.

Professional football career

Following the Olympics, Carr played

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 ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

. He was drafted in the fourth round of the 1965 NFL Draft by the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

and played three seasons as a safety and cornerback with the Giants. In his last year with them he was hampered by a knee injury. In 1969, he had a try-out with 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 ...

but quit their training camp.

Personal life

After he left the NFL he found difficulty in adjusting and finding work. He found new purpose in 1973 when he became a

Jehovah's Witness Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a worldwide membership of approximately 8.7 million adherents involved in ev ...

. In the mid-1970s he was described as living a simple life with his family outside

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. In later life, Carr became a Jehovah's Witness elder, and was reported to have done contracting work and owned a restaurant. He died of cancer on May 29, 2015 in Griffin, Georgia.

Accolades and awards

Carr was a 1975 Charter inductee in the Arizona State Sun Devils Athletics Hall of Fame. In 1997, he was inducted into the

USA Track and Field USA Track & Field (USATF) is the United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running and racewalking (known as the sport of athletics outside the US). The USATF was known between 1979 and ...

Hall of Fame.

World records

Carr set the following world records during his track career: * 220 y of 20.3 s at Tempe, Arizona on March 23, 1963 in a tri Meet ASU-Utah-USC; * 4×440 y of 3:04.5 at

Walnut A walnut is the edible seed of a drupe of any tree of the genus ''Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. Although culinarily considered a "nut" and used as such, it is not a true ...

, California on April 27, 1963 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 ...

for the ASU; * 220 y of 20.2 s at Tempe, Arizona on April 4, 1964 in a dual meet ASU-SC Striders; * 4 × 400 m of 3:00.7 at

on October 21, 1964 in the Olympic final. Note: he also ran a 20.4 s for 220 y on March 19, 1963 that was never ratified as a world record.

World rankings

Carr was ranked among the best in the US and the world in the 100, 200 and 400 m sprint events in the period 1962-64, according to the votes of the experts of ''

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 ...

''.

References

External links

Henry Carr: Detroit Northwestern High School 1961, Michtrack
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Carr, Henry 1942 births 2015 deaths African-American male track and field athletes African-American players of American football American football safeties American male sprinters Arizona State Sun Devils men's track and field athletes Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics World record setters in athletics (track and field) Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics New York Giants players Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field Players of American football from Detroit Northwestern High School (Michigan) alumni Track and field athletes from Michigan Track and field athletes in the National Football League 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American people