Charles Reidpath
Charles Decker Reidpath ( born September 20, 1889 in Buffalo, New York; † 21 October 1975, in Kenmore, NY) was an American municipal architect, city planner, track and field athlete and Olympic champion.
Reidpath studied from 1908 to 1912 at Syracuse University. During this time he became a college star when he won the 220 and 440 yards. After completing his studies, he should end his commitment to sport and accept a position in the parents' business in Buffalo. Nevertheless, he allowed himself to take in the Olympic team and traveled to Sweden.
In the Fifth Summer Olympics in Stockholm in 1912 he won the gold medal in the 400 -meter run with a new Olympic record of 48.2 seconds before the German Hanns Braun and the American Edward Lindberg as well as the team gold medal in the 4 - x 400 - meter relay with a new world record of 3:16,6 minutes, along with his teammates Mel Sheppard, Edward Lindberg and Ted Meredith, before the teams from France and Britain. His Olympic record in the 400 meters was broken only in 1924 by Eric Liddell. The 400 -meter run at that time was highly controversial, as the preliminary rounds and the semi-finals did not start in individually prescribed paths but free. The result was a confrontation between the German Hanns Braun and the Americans Donnell. Brown is said to have hindered Donnell, Donnell but was disqualified. As a result, the final between Braun and Reidpath was decided. At the finals led the first 200 meters Hanns Braun, but in the last half of the race took Reidpath on and eventually won the race by the slimmest of margins.
After the Olympics, he accepted a position at a construction company, where he remained until 1937. Thereafter, he was appointed city architect and town planner in Buffalo and was responsible for the construction of the Federal Reserve Bank, had overall responsibility for the architectural design. His military career was amazing. During World War II he served in England, France and Belgium in the supply corps. In Belgium, he was appointed after the war as an officer of the Crown, in recognition of his services to the important port of Antwerp in 1944 and 1945., When he took his departure in 1948, he was with the rank of brigadier-general.
Reidpath died in 1975 in Kenmore Mercy Hospital after a brief illness at the age of 86 years.