Harold Barron

Harold Barron, 1920

Harold Earl "Hal" Barron (born August 29, 1894 in Berwyn , Pennsylvania , † October 5, 1978 in San Francisco , California) was an American athlete who specialized in the 110 meter hurdles . He started for the Meadowbrook Club and Pennsylvania State University , was 1.83 m tall and 64 kg.

Barron won several national titles.

• State championships:
  • 1917 and 1920 over 120 yard hurdles (15.0 and 15.2 s)
  • 1918, 1921 and 1022 70 yard hurdles in the hall
• University championships (NCAA or IC4A):
  • 1922 over 120 yard hurdles (15.4 s)
  • 1922 over 70 yard hurdles in the hall

In the period 1917–1922 he was able to place himself five times in the top ten of the world rankings:

• 1917: 3rd place (15.0 s, run September 1st in St. Louis )
• 1919: 9th place (15.4 s, May 31st in Colombes )
• 1920: 2nd place (15.0 s, August 17th in Antwerp)
• 1921: 8th place (15.2 s, May 21 in Pittsburgh )
• 1922: 10th place (15.2 s, June 12th in State College)

In 1920 he won the eliminations for participation in the Olympic Games in Antwerp with 15.2 s . There he was able to repeat this time as the winner of his run before setting a new Olympic record in the semifinals with 15.0 s. In the final, however, he had to give way to the Canadian Earl Thomson , who ran a world record in 14.8 s. Harold Barron came in second, 2 meters behind, and won silver. His time was estimated at 15.1 s, as was that of his compatriot Feg Murray , who finished third just behind Barron.

Harold Barron was a graduate of Pennsylvania State University . After finishing his sporting career, he became head coach at the Georgia Institute of Technology . He was married to Ann Morgan and had one son (Joseph Charles).

Web links

• Harold Barron in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Harold Barron in the database of trackfield.brinkster.net (English)