New Britain, CT Sports Hall of Fame
Jack Rourke
Born in New Britain in 1887, John F. "Jack" Rourke went on to serve 45 years, from 1912 to his retirement in 1957, as track coach and trainer at Colgate University.....Jack was an honorary coach of the U.S. team in the 1932 Olympics, and was also president of the Track Coaches Association of America from 1934-36.....Additionally, Rourke was also on the Association's Board of Governors from 1933-43.....In his years at Colgate, Jack played a major role as no fewer than nine Red Raider football players gained All-American laurels, and in 1942, one of his great track stars, Alfred Diebolt, set a world record time of 57.1 seconds in the 500 yd. run.....In 1949, he was honored as the Walter J. Smith VFW Post 511 "Sportsman of the Year," and in 1996 he was inducted into the New Britain Sports Hall of Fame.....The training quarters at Colgate's Reid Athletic Center were named in Rourke's honor. And, university alumni oversubscribed the cost of a physiotherapy room as a tribute to him at the Community Memorial Hospital in Hamilton, N.Y. ....Jack Rourke died in November 1969.
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