The "A World Class Athlete Graduated From Lancaster JP McCaskey High School" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading in my local Sunday News about a fellow I have written about a few other times in the past.  Guy by the name of Barney Ewell who happened to be a world-class sprinter who graduated from Penn State University in 1946.  Barney was a classmate of my dad's when they were both students at JP McCaskey High School in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  During Barney's lifetime he set American and world records and won numerous medals as one of the fastest men alive.  A fellow by the name of John Fulton graduated from State College High School the same year that Barney set a few of his records.  John was also a top sprinter at State College High School where he was the front leg of his high school relay team.  Only problem was that the high school did not have a standard quarter-mile track, so John and his relay team members had to practice on the nearby Penn State University's regulation track.  One day John had just arrived at the Penn State University's track to begin practice when a fellow said to him, "Do you want to race?"  The fellow was in street clothes and wasn't wearing running shoes.  Plus...he was a good ten years older than John.  Well...the two men---one an 18-year-old in track clothes and the other a 28-year-old who wasn't wearing running shoes---raced 100 yards.  John said, "He beat me by about a yard and he was pretty good!"  John said, "We laughed together after the race, and I never saw him again.  Then I found out he was Barney Ewell.!"  Fulton's relay team went on to the Penn Relays in Philadelphia several weeks after their race.  A member of an opposing team fell in front of Fulton and ended his team's hopes.  Fulton now lives with his wife in Dauphin County and recently turned 95 years old.  Barney lost an opportunity to win multiple gold medals when the 1940 and 1944 Olympics were canceled due to World War II. He did compete in the 1948 Olympics at the age of 30.  He won a gold as the front leg of the USA 400-meter relay team.  He also won two Silver medals even though he was 30 years old at the time.  Barney died in Lancaster in 1996 at the age of 78.  My dad did top Barney in one thing since he lived to be 89 years old.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.