Horace Ashenfelter III (January 23, 1923 – January 6, 2018) was an American

athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...

. He competed in international athletics from 1947 to 1956. During his career he won fifteen national AAU titles and three collegiate national titles.

Biography

Ashenfelter was born in

Collegeville, Pennsylvania Collegeville is a borough in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, a suburb outside of Philadelphia on Perkiomen Creek. Collegeville was incorporated in 1896. It is the location of Ursinus College which opened in 1869. The population was 5,089 at t ...

, where he attended Collegeville High School. He completed his degree at

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...

, where he was a member of

Delta Upsilon Delta Upsilon (), commonly known as DU, is a collegiate men's fraternity founded on November 4, 1834 at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It is the sixth-oldest, all-male, college Greek Letter Organizations#Greek letters, Greek-let ...

fraternity, and served in the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

as a pilot and gunnery instructor during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Although he was considered a long shot, Ashenfelter was the surprise winner of the

steeplechase Steeplechase may refer to: * Steeplechase (horse racing), a type of horse race in which participants are required to jump over obstacles * Steeplechase (athletics), an event in athletics that derives its name from the steeplechase in horse racing ...

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 ...

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

with a dramatic surge on the last lap following the final water jump after trailing substantially early in the race. In what was considered an early athletic

Cold war The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

battle, he finished ahead of Vladimir Kazantsev of the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

and

John Disley John Ivor Disley CBE (20 November 1928 – 8 February 2016) was a Welsh athlete. He competed mainly in the 3000 metres steeplechase before co-founding the London Marathon and becoming active in sports promotion and administration. He was born in ...

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

, and broke Kazantsev's unofficial

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 ...

(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 ...

did not accept official records in the steeplechase until 1954) in the process. Since Ashenfelter worked for the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...

, it led to humorous comments about him being the first American spy who allowed himself to be chased by a Russian. In addition, Ashenfelter won the Sullivan Award as outstanding amateur athlete for the year 1952. Ashenfelter won the

Millrose Games The Millrose Games is an annual indoor athletics meet (track and field) held each February in New York City. They started taking place at the Armory in Washington Heights in 2012, after having taken place in Madison Square Garden from 1914 to 2011 ...

two-mile run from 1952 to 1955 and again in 1957. His best winning time was in 1954 at 8:53.3. He won the

USA Cross Country Championships The USA Cross Country Championships is the annual national championships for cross country running in the United States. The championships is generally held in mid-February and it serves as a way of designating the country's national champion, as ...

back-to-back in 1954–1955, three years after his Olympian younger brother

Bill Ashenfelter William Nyman Ashenfelter (October 16, 1924 in Collegeville, Pennsylvania – June 4, 2010) was an American track and field athlete known for long-distance events. He was the younger brother of Horace Ashenfelter. In the Steeplechase at the 195 ...

had won the same championship, the only set of brothers to both win the event. He was inducted into the

National Track and Field Hall of Fame The National Track and Field Hall of Fame is a museum operated by The Armory Foundation in conjunction with USA Track & Field. It is located within the Armory Foundation (the former Fort Washington Avenue Armory) at 216 Fort Washington Avenue, b ...

in 1975, the Millrose Games Hall of Fame in 2001 as a five-time champion and the

National Distance Running Hall of Fame The National Distance Running Hall of Fame was established on July 11, 1998, to honor those who have contributed to the sport of distance running. Many of those who are inducted have achieved great success as runners, but some members are enshrined ...

in 2012. He was inducted into the

Sports Hall of Fame of New Jersey The Sports Hall of Fame of New Jersey was established in 1988 to honor athletes, teams, events and contributors associated with the state of New Jersey. There is currently no physical site or structure for the hall, but its members are honored wit ...

in 1998.

Personal life

Ashenfelter lived in

Glen Ridge, New Jersey Glen Ridge is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough’s population was 7,802, reflecting an increase of 275 (+3.7%) from the 2 ...

, where the Ashenfelter 8k Classic is held annually in his honor. The indoor track facility at his alma mater, Penn State, is named in his honor.Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track
/ref> Ashenfelter died at a nursing home in

West Orange, New Jersey West Orange is a suburban township in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 48,843, an increase of 2,636 (+5.7%) from the 46,207 counted in the 2010 Census.

, on January 6, 2018, 17 days before his 95th birthday. McFadden, Robert D.br>"Horace Ashenfelter, Olympic Victor of a Cold War Showdown, Dies at 94"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', January 7, 2018. Accessed January 7, 2018. "Horace Ashenfelter, an American runner who set a world record in the steeplechase at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki, Finland, beating an overwhelmingly favored Soviet champion in what was billed as a test of Cold War supremacy, died on Saturday morning in a nursing home in West Orange, N.J.... He retired in 1993 but continued to run frequently in Glen Ridge, N.J., where he lived. The town’s annual Thanksgiving Day run is called the Ashenfelter eight-kilometer classic."

References

* Wallechinsky, David and Jamie Loucky (2008). "Track & Field (Men): 3000-Meter Steeplechase". In ''The Complete Book of the Olympics – 2008 Edition''. London: Aurum Press Limited. pp. 169–70.

External links

Running Past profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ashenfelter, Horace 1923 births 2018 deaths Track and field athletes from Pennsylvania People from Collegeville, Pennsylvania Military personnel from Pennsylvania People from Glen Ridge, New Jersey Sportspeople from Montgomery County, Pennsylvania American male middle-distance runners American male steeplechase runners Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field Athletes (track and field) at the 1952 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1956 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1952 Summer Olympics Pan American Games track and field athletes for the United States Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 1955 Pan American Games James E. Sullivan Award recipients Penn State Nittany Lions men's track and field athletes Federal Bureau of Investigation agents United States Army Air Forces pilots of World War II Medalists at the 1955 Pan American Games Military personnel from New Jersey

Biography

Personal life

See also

References

External links