Thomas Ralph CHURCHILL

Tom Churchill was a tremendous all-around athlete who excelled at Central High School in Oklahoma City where he played football, baseball, basketball, and competed on the swimming and track teams. At the University of Oklahoma, he could not play sports his freshman years, because of the rules at the time, so he boxed for the school and won the Big 8 Conference heavyweight title. He later played football and basketball for the Sooners, making All-American as a junior in basketball, and All-American as a senior in football. He eventually earned 10 varsity letters in four sports (also baseball and track), being named all-conference multiple times, and All-American in two sports. His track career outside of college was short. In 1928 he won the decathlon at the Kansas Relays, after his sophomore year, was third at the Penn Relays, then placed fourth at the US Olympic Trials, and fifth at the Olympic Games. In 1929 he again won the Kansas Relays decathlon and placed second at the Penn Relays. After his 1930 college graduation, he signed a minor league contract to play baseball with the New York Yankees, but played only briefly. In the summer of 1930 he married his college sweetheart, Marie Weeks, a newspaper society editor, in Bentonville, Arkansas.

Personal Best: Dec – 7417.115 (1912B tables) (1928); 6252 (1985 tables) (1929).