J. Ira Courtney - 1912 Olympic Games

1912 Olympic Games

At the Games, Courtney won both of his heats, but was later eliminated in the semi-finals of the 100 metres event as well as the 200 metres competition. The 100-meter final was won by his teammate Ralph Craig, followed by two more Americans who won the silver and bronze. Craig also won the 200-meter final.

Courtney was selected for the 4x100 meter relay and would almost certainly have won a gold medal in that race if the U.S. team had not been eliminated in a semi-final round of the 4x100 metre contest after two of the other men on the team failed to complete the baton pass in the allotted 20-meter zone on the first transfer. It would be the first and only time the United States team failed to win the 400-meter relay until 1960, when they were again eliminated for another passing fault during the finals at the Rome Olympics in which they would have set a world record if not for the disqualification. Courtney also played on the U.S. team in the baseball event which was held as a demonstration sport. Among his teammates, was Abel Kiviat, who was the silver medalist in the 1500 meters, and would go on to become America's longest-living Olympic medal-winner. He died in 1991 at the age of 99.

Today, the 1912 Olympics are best remembered as the "Jim Thorpe Olympics," due to the Native-American's wins in both the pentathlon and the decathlon. Thorpe later had his medals taken away and his records expunged from the books when it was discovered that he had briefly played some semi-pro baseball before the games. In 1950 a panel of sports writers named him as the greatest athlete of the first half-century. After a long campaign to restore his reputation, Thorpe’s name was finally cleared, and his medals were returned to his family in 1982. In a 1964 interview with the San Bernardino County Sun, Courtney remembered his famous teammate as a "wonderful athlete...however he did like firewater." Courtney also thought it unfair that Thorpe's medals were taken away for playing under an assumed name because "they were all doing it in those days." Courtney didn't mention whether or not he was one of them.