Jesse Owens, Dillard’s boyhood idol and the winner of four gold medals in the 1936 Summer Games, had gone to the same high school. ![]() “He’s the best god damned athlete I’ve ever seen,” the general replied.Īmazingly, Dillard wasn’t the first runner from his neighborhood to win Olympic gold. The military newspaper Stars and Stripes asked Patton what he thought of Pfc. Dillard recalled winning four events – the 200-meter dash, high and low hurdles, and as part of a relay team. Patton was there to oversee the competition. Dillard, who had served with the all-black buffalo soldiers, had to get on a plane from Italy to compete (it was the first time he ever flew, and he describes the experience as “being scared s-less”), and Gen. military decided to hold a GI olympics in Frankfurt, Germany. After the Germans surrendered in 1945, the U.S. There is one memory that he relishes, though. He won 82 straight hurdles events in 19, and was the AAU 60-yard indoors hurdles champion seven straight years from 1947 to 1953.ĭillard was a star, but he doesn’t appear to be too impressed with his achievements. His victory in the 100-meter dash in London in 1948 was determined using a photo finish, the first time that had ever been used at the Olympics. athlete, an honor that’s also gone to golfer Bobby Jones, basketball star Bill Walton, swimmer Mark Spitz and quarterback Peyton Manning. He won the AAU Sullivan Award in 1955 as the most outstanding amateur U.S. Among African-American Olympians, his four gold medals – won in 19 – are second only to Carl Lewis’ nine. ![]() ![]() He is the only Olympic athlete in history to win golds in both the sprints and hurdles. “I always saw sports as a way to better myself through education and I worked hard to do that,” the 93-year-old says matter-of-factly.īut start digging and you realize the man across the table is a special American. It’s not because he’s shy or indulging in fake humility. Indeed, nothing out in the open – no pictures, trophies, or framed newspaper clippings – acknowledges his remarkable history. His four gold medals are packed away in a closet. Sitting down with Harrison Dillard at the dining room table in his house on a cul-de-sac in a Cleveland suburb, nothing tells you that this guy is one of the greatest American track athletes in Olympic history.
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