John Woodruff

John Youie Woodruff ( born July 5, 1915 in Connellsville, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, † October 30, 2007 in Fountain Hills, Arizona) was an American middle distance runner and Olympic champion.

Woodruff, as a student at the University of Pittsburgh, 1936 won the silver medal over 880 yards in the national AAU championships and qualified for the U.S. Olympic team. At the Olympic Games in Berlin in 1936, he was its role as favorite and won the gold medal in the 800 -meter run, before the Italian Mario Lanzi ( silver) and the Canadian Phil Edwards ( bronze). In 1937 he again won the National AAU Championships in the 800 meters and the 440 yards and 880 yards of the IC4A Championships, as well as 1938 and 1939.

In 1941 he went with the rank of Second Lieutenant ( Lieutenant ) to the military and was founded in 1945 as a Captain ( Hauptmann ) dismissed. During the Korean War he served again in the military before he left in 1957 with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel ( Lieutenant Colonel ). He then worked in the Children's Aid Society of New York City, was a special investigator for the New York Dept. of Welfare, was director of the Recreation Center for the New York City Police Athletic League and worked as a probation officer for the state of New York.

In Connelsville every summer finds him in honor of John Woodruff place 5000 -meter run and 5000 -meter walk. John Woodruff died on 30 October 2007 at the age of 92 from heart problems and chronic renal failure. At the time of his death he was the last surviving gold medalist at the 1936 Olympic Games in the United States.