Robeson Center To Honor Memory Of Barney Ewell

4-22-97

University Park, Pa. -- Penn State is giving tribute to one of its best in a community celebration of the life of Olympic sprinter Henry Norwood "Barney" Ewell, a 1947 graduate of the College of Health and Human Development who died last year. The tribute will be held at 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 27, at the Paul Robeson Cultural Center, and the public is invited to attend.

Vice President for Student Affairs William Asbury will open the program, which will include remarks by Harry Groves, Penn State track coach; a member of Ewell's family; and Herman Gossberg, former classmate and friend and a fellow Olympic athlete. NOMMO Dance Company will perform a work choreographed for the occasion and Andrew Jackson in the College of Education will lead a jazz accompaniment to the following reception.

Also included are a videotape of the 1948 Olympics with Barney Ewell in action and a display of photographs and newspaper accounts of Ewell's achievements.

Ewell died April 4, 1996 in Lancaster at the age of 78. He set world records in 50- and 60-yard and 100-meter sprints, yet is probably best known for his gracious loss of a gold medal in the 1948 Olympics in a photo finish against Harrison Dillard.

Ewell was a nine-times collegiate All-American, a career that was interrupted by a three-year stint in the Army during World War II. The 1940 and 1944 Olympic Games were canceled, but at the age of 30, Ewell qualified for the 1948 Games in London. Called the "Lancaster Flash," he won silver medals in the 100 and 200 meters, and ran in the 400-meter relay teams that won the gold.

Considered one of the 10 greatest sprinters of all time, he was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame, and was honored by Penn State in 1955. A park in Lancaster was dedicated to Ewell's honor last year.

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Contact: Christy Rambeau (814) 865-7517 or email at cmr7@psu.edu