Meredith Bright Colket (November 19, 1878 – June 7, 1947) was an American

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the Myc ...

er who competed in the

1900 Summer Olympics The 1900 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1900, link=no), today officially known as the Games of the II Olympiad () and also known as Paris 1900, were an international multi-sport event that took place in Paris, France, from 1 ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and 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), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and won the

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 ...

in the men's pole vault ahead of

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

Carl-Albert Andersen who won

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

Irving Baxter Irving Knott Baxter (March 25, 1876 in Utica, New York – June 13, 1957 in Utica, New York) was an American athlete, who won the gold medal in both the men's high jump and the pole vault at the 1900 Summer Olympics, in Paris, Fr ...

won

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

. Colket was born on November 19, 1878 in Philadelphia. He graduated from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

with a B.S. degree in 1901 and a LL.B degree in 1904. He was a member of

Phi Gamma Delta Phi Gamma Delta (), commonly known as Fiji, is a social fraternity with more than 144 active chapters and 10 colonies across the United States and Canada. It was founded at Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, in 1848. Along with Phi Kappa Psi, Phi ...

and the varsity track team for all four of his undergraduate years. He organized the first

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

team at Penn and won second place at the intercollegiate tennis doubles championship in 1902. He worked as an attorney for the General Accident Fire & Life Insurance Corporation and continued to play tennis at the

Merion Cricket Club Merion Cricket Club is a private club in Haverford, Pennsylvania, founded in 1865. The current clubhouse is its sixth, the last four having been designed by Philadelphia architect Frank Furness and his partner, Allen Evans, who was also a founder ...

. He married Alberta Kelsey on April 12, 1911 in London. Meredith Colket gravesite

He died of a heart attack at his home in

Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania Bryn Mawr, pronounced , from Welsh for big hill, is a census-designated place (CDP) located across three townships: Radnor Township and Haverford Township in Delaware County, and Lower Merion Township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. It i ...

on June 7, 1947. He was interred in the family plot at

Laurel Hill Cemetery Laurel Hill Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery in the East Falls neighborhood of Philadelphia. Founded in 1836, it was the second major rural cemetery in the United States after Mount Auburn Cemetery in Boston, Massachusetts. The cemetery is ...

in Philadelphia. Colket's son, Meredith B. Colket Jr. (1912–1985), was a noted

genealogist Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinsh ...

References

External links

New York Times obituary, June 9, 1947 (subscription required)
1878 births 1947 deaths American businesspeople in insurance American male pole vaulters Athletes (track and field) at the 1900 Summer Olympics Burials at Laurel Hill Cemetery (Philadelphia) Medalists at the 1900 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for the United States in track and field Pennsylvania lawyers Penn Quakers men's tennis players People from Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania Track and field athletes from Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania alumni {{US-polevault-athletics-bio-stub