Olympic gold medalist and former long-time Livingston resident Thomas William Courtney died Tuesday, August 22, at an assisted living facility in Naples, Florida. He was 90 years old.
One of Livingston’s most famous athletes, Courtney was a track star who won two gold medals at the 1956 Summer Olympics and held two world records.
Born in Newark on August 17, 1933, Tom Courtney grew up in Livingston, the son of Mr. and Mrs. James Courtney of 50 Virginia Avenue. He attended high school in Caldwell, as Livingston did not then have its own high school in those years.
From early on, he was well known as a very strong – and extremely fast – runner. At Caldwell, he was the state 880 yard champion in his senior year, clocking in at 2:00.2. His personal best times include 45.8 seconds in the 400 meter; 1:45.8, in the 800 meter; and 1:46.8 in the 880 yard race. He was later inducted into the Caldwell High School Athletic Hall of Fame.
Courtney came into national prominence while a student at Fordham University, winning the 1955 NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) 880 yard (805 meter) title.
Along with Fordham teammates Terrence Foley, Frank Tarsney and Bill Persichetty, Courtney had also anchored a world record two-mile relay at a meet in California in 1954. The following year, he won at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. That May, the Fordham senior graced the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine in his college uniform.
Today remembered as one of Fordham University’s greatest athletes, Courtney was inducted into Fordham’s inauguralAthletic Hall of Fame in 1971. Since 1994, his autographed varsity jacket from his college track days has hung in a display case along with similar memorabilia from other great Fordham athletes, including Vince Lombardi.
Courtney went on to win the 1956 Olympic Trials 800 meter race, setting a new American record of 1:46.4.
In 1957, he set the world record for 880 yards of 1:46.8 and tied Mal Whitfield’s 600 yard indoor world record of 1:09.5. His three AAU (AmateurAthletic Union) titles were at 400 meters in 1956, and 800 meters in 1957 and 1958. His half mile world record time stood unbroken for years, until 1961.
Hard-Won Olympic Glory
An AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) champion in the 400 meter in 1956 and in the 880 yard in both 1957 and 1958, Courtney is perhaps best remembered for his dramatic “duel” with Great Britain’s Derek Johnson in the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia – one of the closest, most dramatic races in Olympic history.
In the 800 meter final, Johnson had taken a narrow lead with just 40 meters to go, but Courtney squeezed past him and won the race – and the gold medal – by just 0.13 seconds. Immediately after crossing the line, Courtney collapsed with exhaustion. In fact, the medal ceremony had to be delayed for an hour while both he and Johnson recovered.
He later recalled, “It was a new kind of agony for me. My head was exploding, my stomach ripping, and even the tips of my fingers ached. The only thing I could think was, ‘If I live, I will never run again.’” His time of 1:47.7 set an Olympic record.
But Courtney did run again. He earned another gold medal for the U.S. Olympic team by anchoring the 4x400 meter relay team at 45.7.
He later set a world record of 1:46.8 in the 880 yard (805 meter) run on May 24, 1957.
After retiring from competition, Courtney served as assistant track coach at Harvard University for one year before obtaining his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. According to a posting on the Track and Field News website, he then enjoyed a successful career as an investment banker; according to a piece printed in the West Essex Tribune in 1963, he was at that time vice president of an insurance company in Florida. A July, 2013 interview with GaryCohenRunning. com noted that Courtney had retired from business in 2001.
