Clark, Ellery H.
Track and field
b. March 13, 1874, W. Roxbury, MA
d. July 27, 1949
The only person to win the Olympic high jump and long jump, Clark did it in 1896, at the first modern Olympics in Athens. A Harvard student, he was given a leave of absence to compete because of his high grades--in contrast to another gold medal winner from Harvard, John B. Connolly.
Clark fouled on his first two attempts at the long jump, but won the gold medal with his third and final jump. He never won a national championship in either jump, but he was the 1897 and 1903 AAU champion in the all-around, an event similar to the decathlon. He also competed in the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis, finishing fifth in the all-around.