Track and field
b. Nov. 28, 1868, S. Boston, MA
d. Jan. 20, 1957
On April 6, 1896, Connolly became the first athlete to win a gold medal in the modern Olympics, taking the triple jump. He later won a silver medal in the high jump and a bronze in the long jump.
Connolly never went to high school, but he educated himself before entering Harvard College as a 27-year-old freshman in 1895. When he heard about the Olympics in Athens, he asked for a leave of absence so he could compete. He was turned down, but he left school and went anyway, paying his own passage.
He didn't return to Harvard until years later, when he was invited to lecture on literature. In the meantime, he had become a journalist, a war correspondent for Collier's magazine, a novelist, and a short story writer.
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