Paul Rekers in uniform

1932 Los Angeles Olympics

  • NUMBER OF PENN STATERS COMPETING: 1
  • NUMBER OF PENN STATERS IN ALL ROLES: 3
  • NUMBER OF OLYMPIC ALTERNATES: 0

 

Just as Nate Cartmell was the only person with Penn State ties to compete at the first Olympics held on American soil, only one athlete challenged for Olympic glory at the 1932 games in Los Angeles. Penn State’s Hugo Bezdek traveled as a committee member for the International Olympic Committee, while Carl Schott served as the manager of the U.S. boxing team in California.

 

Profile: Paul Rekers

Paul Rekers portrait
Paul Rekers portrait (1931 LaVie, p. 139)

Instead it was the last of Cartmell’s Penn State track and field Olympic qualifiers, Paul Rekers, who represented the university on the track in competition. A star middle-distance runner during his high school career in Rochester, New York, Rekers came to Penn State in 1927 and raced both cross-country and track all four years in State College. Rekers was named captain of the cross-country team during his senior year prior to the Olympics.

At the Olympics in 1932, Rekers qualified second out of his semifinal heat to reach the 5000-meter finals. During a controversial final race won by Finland’s Lauri Lehtonen over American runner Ralph Hill, Rekers was unable to withstand the pace of the race and dropped out before the finish.

Once his running days concluded, Rekers returned to his native Rochester and graduated from the University of Rochester medical school. After medical school and postdoctorate work at Yale University and New York’s Sloane Kettering Hospital, Rekers served as an Army captain during World War II conducting medical research for the Manhattan Project. At the conclusion of the war, Rekers relocated to California and spent more than three decades in cancer research. Rekers passed away at age 78 in Corona del Mar, California.

 

SOURCES AND ADDITIONAL READING

  • “Funeral Announcements,” Los Angeles Times, June 15, 1987, J4.
  • Alan Gould, “Carr Sets World’s Mark to Beat Ben,” Lansing (MI) State Journal, August 6, 1932, 11.
  • Alan Gould, “United States Has Lead for Team Title; British Star Wins,” Harrisburg (PA) Telegraph, August 3, 1932, 6.
  • “Rekers Features Alfred Track Meet, Taking Two First Places,” Rochester (NY) Democrat and Chronicle, May 19, 1927, 31.