Ray Ewry

Before Michael Phelps, Ray Ewry held the record as the U.S. Olympian with the most individual gold medals. A Purdue University mechanical engineering graduate (bachelor’s in 1894 and master’s in 1897) and engineering faculty member, he had overcome childhood polio. Ewry made history as the first Big Ten athlete to win Olympic gold – a feat he accomplished at the 1900 Paris Games, triumphing in the standing long jump, triple jump, and standing high jump. He secured five more gold medals at the 1904 and 1908 Olympic Games. Today, Purdue’s Ray Ewry Sports Engineering Center bears his name.