KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City region has a deep, rich history with respect to the Olympic Games.
As the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games approach with the Opening Ceremony scheduled for July 23, check back daily for a profile of an Olympic athlete with ties to KC, Missouri or Kansas.
41 Action News and KSHB.com is your home for the Tokyo Olympics. Follow our coverage all summer atkshb.com/sports/olympics.
July 22 | Maurice Greene, track
For nearly six years, Maurice Greene was the World’s Fastest Human — the title bestowed on the reigning 100-meter world-record holder. He’s also arguably the greatest Olympian ever from the Kansas City area, winning two gold medals at the 2000 Sydney Games and two medals at the 2004 Athens Games.
July 21 | Keith Weber, baseball
Former University of Missouri pitcher Keith Weber, a native of Jefferson City, remains the NCAA leader in career ERA and also participated in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
July 20 | Clyde Coffman, decathlon
Clyde Coffman was born in tiny Ford, Kansas, in 1911 and started with the University of Kansas track and field team as a pole-vault specialist. He eventually made the Olympics in 1932 in the decathlon.
July 19 | Christian Cantwell, shot put
Lightly recruited in high school, Christian Cantwell was never a Missouri high school state champion or NCAA champion at the University of Missouri, but he went on to be a world champion, two-time Olympian and Olympic medalist in the shot put.
July 18 | Jo-Jo White, basketball
Jo-Jo White, whose jersey was retired by the University of Kansas and the Boston Celtics, averaged 11.7 points for the U.S. men’s basketball team at the 1968 Mexico City Games, helping the U.S. claim a seventh straight gold medal.
July 17 | Matt Tegenkamp, track
Matt Tegenkamp established himself as one of the finest distance runners in his age group early in his career at Lee’s Summit High School and went on to become a two-time Olympian.
July 16 | Craig Wilson, baseball
Craig Wilson is among the best players in Kansas State baseball history. He was a four-year starter, three-time All-Big Eight player and went on to play for the U.S. in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, the first with baseball as an official medal sport.
July 15 | Bill Nieder, shot put
Lawrence High School graduate Bill Nieder was a national high school and college record-holder in the shot put, won two Olympic medals, set the Olympic and world record in the event and also helped prevent a possible plane hijacking at age 77.
July 14 | Ray Watson, track
Ray Watson was born in Garden City, Kansas, emerged as a champion track star at Kansas State and competed in three straight Olympic Games from 1920 to 1928. He is the first Olympian and first national champion in Wildcats history.
July 13 | Terin Humphrey, gymnastics
Terin Humphrey, a St. Joseph native who later graduated from Odessa High School and trained at the GAGE Center in Blue Springs, won two silver medals at the 2004 Athens Olympics on the uneven bars and in the team competition.
July 12 | Terry Porter, pole vault
Terry Porter was a two-time Texas 3A state pole vault champion at Azle High School, a two-time national champion at Ranger (Texas) Junior College and later won an NCAA title at the University of Kansas. He also competed in the 1976 Montreal Olympics.
July 11 | Courtney Frerichs, steeplechase
Growing up in Nixa, Missouri, Courtney Frerichs was a star in four sports — cross country, gymnastics, soccer, and track and field — and now she’s a two-time Olympian.
July 10 | Tom Poor, high jump
Tom Poor — a Bismarck, Missouri, native known as the “Kansas Grasshopper” — won the high jump at the inaugural Kansas Relays, won a national championship at the University of Kansas and finished fourth at the 1924 Paris Olympics.
July 9 | William Becklean, rowing
William Becklean was born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1936, and struck Olympic gold 20 years later. He started rowing as a student at New Hampshire's prestigious Phillips Exeter Academy and emerged as a star coxswain for the Yale University men's eight, which won a gold medal at the 1956 Olympics.
July 8 | Wes Santee, track
Wes Santee was the top miler in the U.S. during the 1950s, owning three of the four fastest times ever run in recorded history at one point. He went on to be a three-time national champion at the University of Kansas and competed in 5,000 meters for the 1952 Olympics Games.
July 7 | Bill Lienhard, basketball
The last of the eight 1952 men’s basketball Olympic champions from the University of Kansas, Bill Lienhard was born in Texas but moved to Newton, Kansas, as a high school sophomore. He went on to win an NCAA title at the University of Kansas and a gold medal at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.
July 6 | Conrad Nightingale, steeplechase
Raised on a farm outside Halstead, Kansas, Conrad Nightingale went on to be a national champion at Kansas State University and competed in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.
July 5 | Clyde Lovellette, basketball
Two-time University of Kansas first-team All-American Clyde Lovellette became the first player to win NCAA (1952), Olympic (1952) and NBA (1954) championships. He was the leading scorer on the gold medal champions at the 1952 Helsinki Games.
July 4 | Christian Smith, track
Perhaps no athlete from the Kansas City area qualified for the Olympics in more dramatic fashion than former Kansas State national champion Christian Smith, whose dive at the finish line during the 800-meter final earned him a spot in the 2008 Beijing Games.
July 3 | Merwin Graham, triple jump
Merwin Graham was born in West Virginia and grew up in Oklahoma, but he rose to prominence as a track and field athlete at the University of Kansas in the mid-1920s. He competed at the 1924 Paris Olympics in the triple jump.
July 2 | Andrea Norris (née Geubelle), triple jump
Andrea Norris competed in the triple jump at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games. Before that, Norris was a three-time NCAA champion and 11-time All-American in the long jump and triple jump, competing under her maiden name, Andrea Geubelle, at the University of Kansas.
July 1 | Larry Young, racewalk
The only U.S. athlete ever to medal at the Olympics in racewalking is a Fort Osage graduate and internationally renowned sculptor. Larry Young was born in February 1943 in Independence and went on to win bronze medals in the 50-kilometer racewalk at the 1968 and 1972 Olympic Games.
June 30 | Marc Thompson, cycling
Marc Thompson, a Kansas City, Missouri, native, competed in the Olympics as a cyclist in 1976. Thompson, who won the 1974 Tour of Kansas City, competed in the 100-kilometer Team Time Trial at the 1976 Montreal Games.
June 29 | John Keller, basketball
John Keller was born in 1928 in Page City, Kansas, an unincorporated town founded in 1884 in western Kansas as a Union Pacific Railroad depot. Keller helped lead the University of Kansas to the 1952 NCAA championship and won a gold medal at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.
June 28 | Thane Baker, track
Four-time Olympic medalist and two-time Olympian Thane Baker was born in 1931 in Elkhart, Kansas, and became one of the greatest sprinters of his generation, including an NCAA championship at Kansas State to go with a gold medal, two silvers and a bronze in the 1952 and 1956 Olympic Games.
June 27 | Bud Houser, track and field
Three-time Olympic gold medalist Lemuel Clarence “Bud” Houser is one of two men to win the shot put and discus at the same Olympics (1924). Houser, who was born in north-central Missouri in 1901 and moved to California in 1911 after his parents died, repeated as the Olympic discus champion in 1928.
June 26 | Dennis McComak, archery
Dennis McComak was a three-sport athlete growing up in Columbus, Kansas. He was an All-Southeast Kansas Conference performer at wide receiver in football, played basketball and ran track, but archery is what led him to the 1972 Munich Olympics.
June 25 | Ed Broxterman, high jump
Ed Broxterman grew up in Baileyville, Kansas, a speck of an unincorporated town in Nemaha County near the Nebraska border, so it was fitting in a way that Broxterman came out of nowhere to qualify for the 1996 U.S. Olympic track and field team in the high jump.
June 24 | Brutus Hamilton, decathlon
Two-time Olympian Brutus Hamilton was born in Peculiar (or Belton), became a star at Harrisonville High School, refined his track and field skills at the University of Missouri, won a silver medal at the 1920 Antwerp Games then went on to even greater acclaim as a coach.
June 23 | Charlie Hoag, basketball
Four-sport letterman Charlie Hoag was another member of the 1952 NCAA champion University of Kansas men’s basketball team, which subsequently won a qualifying tournament and formed the bulk of the winning Olympic basketball team later that year.
June 22 | Dick Cochran, discus
Dick Cochran, a native of Brookfield, Missouri, emerged as one of the best discus throwers in the U.S. during the late 1950s. He was a two-time NCAA champion at the University of Missouri and bronze medalist at the 1960 Rome Olympics.
June 21 | Erik Kynard Jr., high jump
Former Kansas State star Erik Kynard Jr. won a gold medal in the men's high jump at the 2012 London Olympics and finished sixth at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. He will try to make a third straight Olympic team later this week.
June 20 | Cliff Cushman, hurdles
Cliff Cushman was a national champion at the University of Kansas and won a silver medal during the 1960 Rome Olympics. The plane he was piloting was shot down over North Vietnam in 1966 and he was presumed killed in action.
June 19 | Archie San Romani, track
An 8-year-old Archie San Romani nearly lost his right leg at age when doctors considered amputation after he was run over by a truck. Instead, he took up running as part of his rehabilitation, a decision that led him into the world record books and the 1,500-meter final at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
June 18 | Stanton Babcock, equestrian
Born at Fort Leavenworth in 1904, Stanton Babcock competed in the men's equestrian dressage at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. He also served as commanding officer of the 7th Cavalry at Fort Riley, Kansas, during a distinguished military career.
June 17 | Sam Colson, javelin
Sam Colson — a native of Beloit, Kansas, and the 1973 NCAA champion in the javelin for KU — narrowly missed a medal at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, finishing fifth. He was later convicted for providing prescription drugs, including steroids, illegally to student-athletes at Clemson.
June 16 | J’den Cox, wrestling
Former University of Missouri wrestling star J’den Cox initially waffled about whether he’d enter the Olympic Wrestling Trials in 2016. He eventually qualified for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and went on to win a bronze medal to go with his three NCAA titles.
June 15 | Mitch Richmond, basketball
Hall of Famer Mitch Richmond played college basketball at Moberly (Missouri) Area Community College and Kansas State before becoming one of the top 50 scorers in NBA history. Richmond won a bronze medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and a gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
June 14 | Kym Carter, heptathlon
Kym Carter set the National Federation of High Schools record in the high jump during her time at Wichita East, clearing 6 feet and 2 1/4 inches. She parlayed that into a track and field career that took her to the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
June 13 | John Kuck, discus
John "Johnny" Kuck was arguably the greatest thrower of his era, setting world records in the shot put and javelin during the 1920s. A native of Wilson, Kansas, who attended Emporia State University, Kuck set a world record in winning the shot put at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics.
June 12 | Mason Finley, discus
Mason Finley was born in Kansas City, but he’d moved to Colorado by the time he reached high school and became a star in throwing events at Buena Vista High School. He set U.S. records in the discus, went on to be an 11-time All-American in college and won the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials.
June 11 | Trish Roberts, basketball
Trish Roberts is a University of Tennessee basketball legend. But before she set the single-season and single-game scoring records for the Volunteers, Roberts was a star for the upstart Emporia State University women’s basketball team.
June 10 | Jim Ryun, track
The list of accolades for Jim Ryun, the first high school runner to crack 4 minutes in the mile is long as you’d expect, though his Olympic record isn’t as burnished. He won a silver medal in three Olympic appearances to go with four NCAA titles and five world records during his amateur career.
June 9 | Jim Bausch, decathlon
James “Jarrin’ Jim” Bausch was a three-sport athlete at the University of Kansas and Olympic champion in the decathlon in 1932. He was considered by some as the greatest athlete in U.S. history to that point and later served in World War II.
June 8 | Diamond Dixon, track
Diamond Dixon sprinted to a gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics. Dixon, a 14-time All-American at the University of Kansas, competed in the early rounds of the 1,600-meter relay for the U.S. women’s track team.
June 7 | Bob Kenney, basketball
Bob Kenney, a member of the 1952 U.S. Olympic gold medal men’s basketball team, also played for the University of Kansas’ NCAA championship squad that year.
June 6 | Kenny Harrison, triple jump
Kenny Harison’s gold medal-winning performance at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics set the gold standard in the triple jump for all U.S. competitors for nearly two decades. He was a 16-time conference champion, three-time NCAA champion and 11-time All-American in the long and triple jumps at Kansas State.
June 5 | Shannon Vreeland, swimming
Blue Valley West graduate Shannon Vreeland delivered the first gold medal for a Kansas City-area athlete in more than a decade during the 2012 London Olympics, swimming the third leg of the victorious 800-meter freestyle relay.
June 4 | Doug Lytle, pole vault
Doug Lytle was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and became arguably the greatest pole vaulter in Kansas State University history. A four-time All-American with the Wildcats, Lytle finished sixth in the pole vault at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
June 3 | Matt McKeon, soccer
Matt McKeon appeared in 163 games, including the playoffs, during two three-year stints with the former Kansas City Wizards. But early in his MLS career, McKeon, a St. Louis native and the No. 1 pick in the 1996 MLS College Draft, also was an Olympian that year.
June 2 | Amy Hastings-Cragg, track
Amy Hastings was a three-time state champion at Leavenworth High School in the early 2000s. She went on to be an NCAA and national champion as well as a two-time Olympian.
June 1 | Danny Manning, basketball
Danny Manning authored one of the greatest college basketball careers in history at the University of Kansas. Six months after leading the Jayhawks to the 1988 NCAA title, Manning helped the U.S. men’s basketball team earn a bronze medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
May 31 | Shawn Dulohery, shooting
A seven-time medalist at the World Shooting Championships, Shawn Dulohery narrowly missed a medal in men’s skeet at the 2004 Athens Games. Dulohery — who was born in 1965 in Kansas City, Missouri, and grew up in Lee’s Summit — tied for third place, but was awarded fifth after a shootoff.
May 30 | Muna Lee, track
There’s never been a faster female athlete in Missouri high school history than Muna Lee — who grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, and graduated from Central High School. She was a 20-time All-American at LSU and two-time Olympic sprinter.
May 29 | Al Kelley, basketball
Al Kelley — a native of Dearing in southeast Kansas — played a limited role on the 1952 NCAA champion University of Kansas men’s basketball team, but he emerged as a star the next two seasons and went on to win a gold medal with the 1960 U.S. men's basketball Olympic team.
May 28 | Dean Kelley, basketball
Dean Kelley grew up in Monmouth, Kansas, an unincorporated community in southeast Kansas and went on to play basketball at the University of Kansas, winning a national championship in 1952 and adding an Olympic gold medal later that year.
May 27 | Lori Endicott, volleyball
Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Lori Endicott became a prep volleyball star at Willard High School in southwest Missouri and rose to greater prominence at the University of Nebraska. She later emerged as one of the best setters in the world, helping the U.S. win a bronze medal at the 1992 Olympics.
May 26 | Al Oerter, discus
Al Oerter is the greatest discus thrower in Olympic history. Oerter — a native of Astoria, New York, who attended the University of Kansas on a track scholarship — and Carl Lewis are the only Olympic athletes to repeat as champions four times in the same event.
May 25 | Maurice Mitchell, track
Maurice Mitchell became a star at Raytown South and an NCAA champion at Florida State. He capped a standout sprint career by making the semifinals in the 200-meter dash at the 2012 London Olympics.
May 24 | Catherine Fox, swimming
Roeland Park native Catherine Fox, a two-time gold medalist at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, is one of the most-decorated swimmers in Kansas City history. It all started with the Kansas City Blazers swim club.
May 23 | Adolphus Roffe, equestrian
Born in 1890 in Independence, Adolphus Roffe competed in the equestrian event at age 37 during the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics. Roffe, who attended the University of Missouri, was a cavalry and infantry officer in the U.S. Army. during World War II.
May 22 | Emerson Norton, track and field
Emerson Norton was on track to win a gold medal with only two events left in the decathlon at the 1924 Paris Olympics. Poor performances in the javelin and 1,500 meters ended Norton’s championship hopes, but the Kansas City, Kansas, native held on for a silver medal.
May 21 | Terry Gautreaux(née Poindexter)
Terry Gautreaux grew up in Independence, graduating from Blue Springs High School and Rockhurst University. Along the way, she also picked up an affinity for martial arts, which took her Olympic heights. She won a bronze medal in taekwondo at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
May 20 | Steve Fritz, decathlon
Before Steve Fritz narrowly missed a medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, he competed in the decathlon and played basketball at Kansas State University. Fritz, a Salina, Kansas, native, was an All-American and Big Eight champion in the decathlon in 1989 and 1990. He was fourth at the 1996 Olympics.
May 19 | Glenn Cunningham, track
Glenn Cunningham, "The Iron Man of Kansas," nearly had his legs amputated when he was a child but went on to become one of the greatest milers in U.S. history and an Olympic medalist.
May 18 | Natasha Brown, track
Natasha Brown put together one of the most storied track careers in University of Missouri history and backed it up with an Olympic medal in the 1,600-meter relay at the 1992 Barcelona Games.
May 17 | Bob Boozer, basketball
Bob Boozer, a two-time All-American for the Kansas State University men’s basketball team, put off his NBA career after being drafted first overall to compete in the 1960 Rome Olympics. He went on to win a gold medal, and eventually was an NBA All-Star and champion.
May 16 | Richard Beauchamp, swimming
Richard Beauchamp was born in Leavenworth in 1901. By age 19, he had enlisted in the U.S. Navy and made the U.S. team in plain high diving at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics.
May 15 | Margaret Murdock
The first female member of the U.S. Olympic shooting team, Margaret Murdock was born in Topeka and won a silver medal in the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Murdock, a nurse and former U.S. Army officer, was the first woman to win any Olympic shooting medal and won four individual world championships.
May 14 | Nathaniel Semple, tennis
Nathaniel Semple grew up in Liberty and earned his undergraduate degree at William Jewell College before attending medical school at Washington University in St. Louis and doing post-graduate studies in Germany and Paris. He played singles and doubles tennis at the 1904 St. Louis Olympics.
May 13 | Ivan Riley, track
Kansas State’s first Olympic medalist, Ivan Riley, was born in Newton, Kansas, in 1900. He was an NCAA champion in the 120-yard hurdles for the Wildcats as a senior in 1923, setting the collegiate record along the way, and later won a bronze medal in the 400-meter hurdles at the 1924 Paris Olympics.
May 12 | Mary Phyl Dwight, handball
Mary Phyl Dwight was ahead of her time. Dwight, a 1970 Raytown South graduate, went on to star for Southwest Missouri State in softball, volleyball, track, cross country and basketball. She later served as captain for the U.S. Olympic handball team at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.
May 11 | Jackson Scholz, track and field
Jackson Scholz became the first person in Olympic history to compete in the final at three different Olympic Games — and he did far more than merely compete, winning two gold medals and a silver medal at Olympics between 1920 to 1928.
May 10 | Pete Mehringer, wrestling
Pete Mehringer became the first University of Kansas athlete to win an Olympic gold medal in 1932, but it wasn’t for track or basketball. He was the light-heavyweight champion in wrestling at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics.
May 9 | Elizabeth Wilde, track and field
Born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1913, Elizabeth Wilde was 18 years old when she finished sixth in the women’s 100-meter dash at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. She later taught at Notre Dame de Sion.
May 8 | John Nicholson, track and field
John Nicholson, who was the first Olympian in University of Missouri history, was poised to win a medal at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics. He was the fastest qualifier for the final and was in medal position midway through the race before falling on the eighth hurdle and finishing sixth.
May 7 | Kent Floerke, track and field
Jumps specialist Kent Floerke was a Big 8 champion and All-American at the University of Kansas in the 1950s. He went on to be an Olympian as well, finishing 21st in the triple jump at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
May 6 | Lydia Paterson, shooting
Kansas City, Kansas, native Lydia Paterson became a sensation in the world of shooting sports as a teenager, collecting junior championships and earning a spot on the national team. Paterson represented the United States in the women’s 10-meter air pistol at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
May 5 | John Willems, equestrian
Born at Fort Leavenworth in 1901, John Willems competed in the three-day equestrian event at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, but his decorated military career overshadowed his Olympic achievement.
May 4 | Jack Sock, tennis
Jack Sock moved to the Kansas City area at age 12 to train at the Mike Wolf Tennis Academy, which helped springboard him to international success as one of the top U.S. men’s tennis players. He went on to become an Olympic champion and four-time Grand Slam champions in doubles competition.
May 3 | Janie Wagstaff, swimming
Janie Wagstaff was a swimming sensation in the early 1990s. Wagstaff, a junior at Shawnee Mission East at the time, emerged as one of the best backstrokers in the world in 1991 and went on to compete in three events during the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.
May 2 | Tim Harden, track and field
Tim Harden — a Kansas City, Missouri, native and 1992 graduate of Northeast High School — won a silver medal on the men’s U.S. 400-meter relay at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. He also was a world indoor champion at 60 meters and three-time NCAA champion.
May 1 | Eric Mueller, rowing
Two-time Olympian Eric Mueller won a silver medal in men's quadruple sculls at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. He was born in Kansas City, Missouri, before moving with his family to Wisconsin at a young age and taking up rowing.
April 30 | Lynette Woodard, basketball
Before Lynette Woodard became the first female Harlem Globetrotter, before she regularly hung out with U.S. presidents, before she was a renowned international champion, she was a two-time state champion at Wichita North and four-time All-American at the University of Kansas.
April 29 | Melvin Douglas III, wrestling
Wrestling champion Melvin Douglas III is an international gold medalist, two-time Olympian and one of the most accomplished freestyle wrestlers in U.S. history. And it all started in the Kansas capital for Douglas, who was a three-time state champion at Highland High in Topeka.
April 28 | Joseph Cranston, boxing
Joseph Cranston was born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1898, but he was a U.S. Army lieutenant at Fort Benning, Georgia, by 1920. That’s also when he made an appearance at the 1920 Antwerp Games, representing the U.S. in the middleweight division in the boxing competition.
April 27 | Jennifer Nichols, archery
Jennifer Nichols, who was born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1983, qualified for the 2004 Athens Olympics, 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2012 London Olympics in archery. She finished as high as ninth in the individual competition and sixth in the team competition.
April 26 | Dan Pippin, basketball
Dan Pippin was a two-time All-Big 6 honoree for the University of Missouri basketball team in the 1940s. During a standout career with the Peoria Cats, Pippin went on to become a two-time AAU All-American and captained the 1952 Olympic men’s basketball team to a gold medal.
April 25 | Chuck Dobson, baseball
Chuck Dobson, a Kansas City, Missouri, native and University of Kansas graduate, pitched for the U.S. baseball team during the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. He went on to play nine big-league seasons — and turned out to be a social pioneer as well as an accidental whistleblower.
April 24 | Courtney McCool, gymnastics
Courtney McCool, a Lee's Summit North graduate, won an Olympic silver medal with the U.S. women's national gymnastics team in the team competition during the 2004 Athens Games.
April 23 | Fay Moulton, track and field
Fay Moulton, a University of Kansas Athletics Hall of Famer and former Kansas State football coach, also won two Olympic medals — a bronze medal in the 60 meters at the 1904 St. Louis Olympics and a silver medal in the 100 meters at the 1906 Intercalated Athens Games.
April 22 | Lee Talbott, track and field/wrestling
Leander “Lee” Talbott, a Kansas City, Missouri, native, was a rarity among U.S. Olympic athletes, competing in three sports and a total of five events during the 1908 London Olympics. He’s the only athlete to compete in three sports at a single Olympic Games.
April 21 | Christie Ambrosi, softball
Christie Ambrosi played left field for the gold medal-winning U.S. softball team at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Ambrosi, 44, a Blue Valley Northwest graduate and Overland Park native, helped Team USA repeat as Olympic champions, but it wasn’t an easy path.
April 20 | Carl Schutte, cycling
More than a century ago, Carl Schutte won a pair of bronze medals as the top U.S. cyclist at the 1912 Stockholm Games. The Kansas City, Missouri, native finished third in the men’s individual road race, a 196-mile cycling event, and led the U.S. to a third-place team finish.
April 19 | Charles McGinnis, track and field
Born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1906, Charles McGinnis was an All-American track and field star at the University of Wisconsin and later won a bronze medal in the pole vault.
April 18 | Anna Seaton Huntington, rowing
A two-time Olympian, Anna Seaton Huntington was part of the U.S. women’s eight rowing team at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, then won a bronze medal with Stephanie Maxwell-Pierson in women’s coxless pairs in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. She was born in Topeka.
April 17 | Fred Etchen, shooting
Fred Etchen was born in Coffeyville, Kansas, in 1884 and went on to become one of the greatest trapshooters in U.S. history. Etchen was inducted into the Trapshooting Hall of Fame in 1979, having captained the U.S. trapshooting team to the gold medal during the 1924 Paris Olympics.
April 16 | Billy Mills, track and field
Billy Mills graduated from the Haskell Institute and University of Kansas in Lawrence, where he became a champion distance runner. He was the surprise winner of the 10,000 meters at the 1964 Tokyo Games.
April 15 | Tara Nott-Cunningham, weightlifting
Tara Nott-Cunningham, who was raised in Stilwell and graduated from Blue Valley High School, became the first U.S. woman in Olympic history to win a gold medal in weightlifting, which debuted at the 2000 Sydney Games.
April 14 | Bill Hougland, men's basketball
Bill Hougland, a native of Caldwell, Kansas, was an NCAA champion with the University of Kansas in 1952 and became the first two-time gold-medalist in men’s basketball in 1952 and 1956.
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The Kansas City region has a deep, rich history with respect to the Olympic Games. As the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games approach with the Opening Ceremony scheduled for July 23, we will profile an athlete with ties to Kansas City, Missouri or Kansas each day.
41 Action News and KSHB.com is your home of the Tokyo Olympics. Follow our coverage atkshb.com/sports/olympics.