BUTLER, Ill. — A century ago, an athlete from central Illinois became a legend at the 1924 Paris Olympics. 100 years later, Harold Osborn's legacy lives on.
Born the son of a dairy farmer in Butler, Illinois, Osborn was preparing for greatness at a young age. Even if he didn’t know it quite yet.
“The story is that he and his brothers would race to school, and they would run in the road and he would run in the fields and jump over the fences and the shrubs," Osborn's daughter Susan Jones said.
All that jumping carried Osborn to a legendary career at the University of Illinois in Champaign, and eventually, the 1924 Olympics in Paris. And 100 years ago, he pulled off something truly special in the city of light.
“To be the only man in Olympic history to have won the decathlon plus an extra gold in another event is an accomplishment no other man on earth can claim," former University of Illinois Sports Information Director Mike Pearson said.
Yes, not only did Osborn win the decathlon, where the winner can often claim the title of world’s greatest athlete, he also won the high jump. No athlete before or since has won the decathlon and an additional gold medal at an Olympics.
But Osborn's feat only gets more impressive.
“It becomes even more exceptional when you consider that Harold Osborn only had sight in one of his eyes," Pearson said. “He had to create some cues as he was doing the high jump to put himself in the right place at the right time because he only had sight in one eye.”
“That story has to do with a buggy ride that he and his older brother Clarence were I think on their way to the high school in Hillsboro, and the buggy overturned and it was an icy day and he fell on the ice and a piece of ice pierced his right eye. So he was nearly blind in that eye for the rest of his life," Jones said.
After his athletic career, Osborn was a coach, teacher and Osteopathic doctor back in Champaign. Becoming an Osteopath was actually an endeavor stirred in Osborn after receiving help from a doctor over in France.
“The fact that he kind of remained so humble to his patients. They had no idea they were being treated by a two-time gold medal winner," Pearson said.
He was incredibly humble about his athletic achievements, keeping his gold medals in a chest in his attic and not sharing much about his dominance on the track.
“We didn’t really know that much about it growing up. He wasn’t very boastful. He didn’t talk about it much. There were a few of his trophies around, the medals were in a box up in the attic. We didn’t see the medals that much. He had the two beautiful diplomas hanging on the wall in his office, so we knew about that. But he just didn’t talk about it much," Jones said.
But he had to still show his talents from time to time in his everyday life.
“When he was teaching in high school, he was a coach, and at halftime of basketball games and football games he would bring out the tallest player and jump over them," Jones said.
This year, two of Osborn’s grandsons attended the games in Paris, honoring their historic grandfather by wearing shirts stating his accomplishments 100 years ago.
And back at home, his family is continuing to learn and share the story of their legendary ancestor.
“It’s been very rewarding and so much fun. The interest people have shown is a really neat thing. I love doing this research because I feel like I’m kind of in touch with my dad more than I was when he was alive. And he kept such good records. It’s almost like he was thinking about, ‘Someday somebody is going to look at this’. I think he’d be proud to know it was me," Jones said.