Chuck Hornbostel

Charles Christian Hornbostel (September 26, 1911 - January 13, 1989) was an American middle-distance runner. He made two Olympic finals at 800 meters and once tied the world record at 880 yards.

Career

As a sophomore at Indiana University, Hornbostel won the 800 meters at the 1932 NCAA Championships in a meeting record time of 1:52.7.[1] As the NCAA Championships were simultaneously an early Olympic tryout meet, he qualified for the Olympic Trials in Stanford, where he placed second behind Edwin Genung and qualified for the team.[2] At the Olympics in Los Angeles Hornbostel won his heat, running 1:52.4 and beating the eventual silver medalist, Alex Wilson of Canada.[3] In the final he placed sixth, again running 1:52.7.[3]

Hornbostel repeated as NCAA champion in 1933, beating mile champion Glenn Cunningham by inches as both clocked 1:50.9 for 880 yards.[1][4][5][nb 1] This equalled Ben Eastman's world record from the previous year.[4][5][7] Two weeks later Cunningham beat Hornbostel at the national championships in 1:51.8 (800 m).[8]

Hornbostel won the NCAA championship for a third and final time in 1934, this time in 1:51.9 (880 yards).[1] At the Princeton Invitational, however, he was decisively beaten by Eastman, who ran 1:49.8 to break his own and Hornbostel's record.[9] Hornbostel was some five yards behind in 1:50.7, also under the old record.[3][5]

Hornbostel qualified for the Olympics again in 1936, placing second to eventual gold medalist John Woodruff at the Trials in 1:51.3.[10] In the slow and tactical Olympic final Hornbostel finished fifth.[11] After the Olympics he took part in two world-record-setting relays on the same day, running 4 x 880 yards in 7:35.8 and 4 x Mile in 17:17.2.[3][12]

Prior to the Berlin Olympics, he earned an MBA from Harvard Business School[13]

Notes
  1. 880 yards is 804.672 meters. At that pace, the difference in time between these two distances is about 0.6-0.7 seconds; thus, Hornbostel's time is worth 1:50.2 or 1:50.3 for 800 meters.[1][6]

References
  1. Hill, E. Garry. "800 Meters" (PDF). Track & Field News. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  2. Hymans, Richard. "The History of the United States Olympic Trials - Track & Field". Track & Field News. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 24, 2013. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  3. "Chuck Hornbostel Bio, Stats and Results". Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 18, 2020. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
  4. "Hard to Predict Outcome in Metcalfe-Owens Race". The Milwaukee Journal. June 20, 1933. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
  5. Jukola, Martti (1935). Huippu-urheilun historia (in Finnish). Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiö.
  6. "Track and Field Statistics". trackfield.brinkster.net. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
  7. "Track Star Busy". Lawrence Journal-World. June 20, 1933. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
  8. Mallon, Bill; Buchanan, Ian; Track & Field News. "A History Of The Results Of The National Track & Field Championships Of The USA From 1876 Through 2011". Track & Field News. Archived from the original on 2013-05-23. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
  9. "Princeton Ace, Bill Bonthron, Trails Kansan". The Palm Beach Post-Times. June 17, 1934. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
  10. Hymans, Richard. "The History of the United States Olympic Trials - Track & Field". Track & Field News. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 24, 2013. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
  11. "Athletics at the 1936 Berlin Summer Games: Men's 800 metres". Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
  12. "New 4-Mile Mark". Lawrence Journal-World. 15 August 1936. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
  13. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/146649464/charles-christian-hornbostel
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