U of I Archives detail story of Illini Olympian 100 years after gold medal wins

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) — The 2024 Summer Olympics kick off this week in Paris, exactly 100 years after the city last hosted the games. The United States won 45 gold medals in 1924, and two of them were won by a Fighting Illini.

Harold Osborn was a member of the Illinois track and field team from 1920 to 1922, setting six world records and helping the Illini to Big Ten team championships all three years of his collegiate career. He individually won 17 national championships and his world record in the standing high jump still stands today.

Two years after ending his collegiate career, Osborn went to Paris and won gold in the decathlon and the high jump. He is, to date, the only athlete to win the decathlon and another individual event in the same Olympics.

For his achievements, Osborn was inducted into two Halls of Fame as a charter member: the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1974 and the Illinois Athletics Hall of Fame in 2017.

With the 100th anniversary of Osborn’s victories in Paris upon us, the University of Illinois archives is showcasing their collection of Osborn’s personal belongings from those Olympics. The belongings include a wool track jersey, a pair of his track shoes, Olympic diplomas documenting his 1924 victories, newspaper clippings and photographs, and of course, his two gold medals.

Osborn’s daughters, Elizabeth and Susan, will also take part in a webinar hosted by the University Archives to talk about their father’s life and athletic career. The webinar is scheduled for Thursday at noon.

“I regret that he didn’t get this attention when he was alive, but he didn’t want attention,” Elizabeth said. “He competed for the love of trying to be the best you could be.”

Elizabeth and Susan said their father never talked about his accomplishments with his family. While he displayed his Olympic diplomas in the waiting room of his osteopathic medicine practice, most of his memorabilia, including the gold medals, were stored in the attic.

The other thing that the sisters said Osborn competed for was being an amateur athlete. At that time, professional athletes were strictly forbidden from competing in the Olympics.

“It had to have been for the love of the sport because he wasn’t getting any money for it,” Susan said.

After his career as an athlete was over, Osborn served as an assistant coach for the Illini track and field program in the 1940s and was an avid supporter of the Champaign High School (now Champaign Central) football and basketball teams. Coaches and athletes were frequent visitors in the Osborn home, including fellow Illinois Athletic Hall of Famers Dike Eddleman and Bob Richards and high school coaches Tommy Stewart and Lee Cabutti.

Following Osborn’s death, his wife Margaret donated to the University Archives many of her husband’s papers that documented his athletic career. After Margaret died in 2003, the Osborn daughters found love letters that Osborn wrote to her while competing in Europe and donated those as well. More recently, the family donated the medals, jersey and shoes in 2022.

“It’s been a really nice relationship with the Osborn family, working to make it more accessible,” said Ellen Swain, an archivist for student life and culture. “You can see how much they care about the legacy and history. It’s really a testament to them it’s all been saved and taken care of so well.”

When the Olympics return to Paris this week, Osborn will be represented by two of his grandsons at both the opening ceremony and the decathlon; they will wear shirts bearing his name and photograph. In addition, his legacy as an Illini high jumper at the Olympics will be carried on by one of the athletes competing this year.

Rose Yeboah, who won the NCAA women’s high jump championship this year, will compete for her home country of Ghana .

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