Warren Jay Cawley (July 6, 1940 – January 21, 2022) 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 ...

, winner of 400 m hurdles 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 ...

. Cawley was born in

Highland Park, Michigan Highland Park is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 8,977 at the 2020 census. Along with its neighbor of Hamtramck, Highland Park is an enclave city surrounded by the city of Detroit. History The area tha ...

. He attended Farmington High School. Cawley still holds the record time for the 100 yard dash at Farmington High School that he set in 1959. He was ''

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 ...

'' "High School Athlete of the Year" in 1959. He won the AAU championships in 440-yard hurdles in 1963 and 1965 and as a

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

student, he won an

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 in 440 yd hurdles in 1963. At the Olympic Trials in 1964, Cawley set a

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 ...

in 400 m hurdles with a time of 49.1, thus becoming a main favorite at the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

. Cawley won the gold medal in

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 ...

with a commanding performance in which he beat his nearest competitor John Cooper from

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 ...

by 0.5 seconds. He died on January 21, 2022, at the age of 81.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cawley, Rex 1940 births 2022 deaths American male hurdlers World record setters in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field People from Highland Park, Michigan Track and field athletes from Michigan USC Trojans men's track and field athletes Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics