Oregon City honors 1924 Olympian Chet Newton Remembrance Month proclamation

One-hundred years after Paris hosted the Olympics in 1924, world-class athletes from around the world returned to the French city to compete for gold this summer.

To commemorate Oregon City’s Olympic history, Mayor Denyse McGriff proclaimed August 2024 as Chet Newton Remembrance Month.

“As many of you know, we just recently celebrated some fabulous gold medals at the Olympics, and some of you know about the plaque that’s right at the entrance on John Adams street library. Oregon City has a lot of notable people, including this gentleman, but we also have a former Poet Laureate. We now know we had a silver medalist from the Olympics in 1924 who was an Oregon City hometown guy,” said McGriff when the proclamation was issued during a City Commission meeting Aug. 21.

Chester “Chet” Newton was born in Canby in 1903. He competed in the featherweight class in Olympic wrestling and attended what was then known as Oregon State College with fellow Olympian Robin Reed.

At the 1924 Olympics, Newton earned the silver medal in wrestling while Reed won gold. Newton had defeated Reed at the United States Olympic trials earlier that year.

After graduating from Oregon State, Newton coached wrestling at the university before moving to Tillamook to work as a teacher and wrestling coach. Eventually, Newton moved to Oregon City to teach at t Gardiner Junior High and coach wrestling at Oregon City High School.

Newton died in 1966 and was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1980 and the Oregon State University Athletics Hall of Fame in 1991.

“I call upon the people of Oregon City to learn about and celebrate Oregon City’s Olympic silver medalist, Chester ‘Chet’ W. Newton’s remarkable achievement,” said McGriff.