James F. O’Connell was a member of the “Villanova College” track team in 1906 and 1907.
In 1908, O’Connell competed in the Long Jump at the Olympic Games in London.
How far he jumped is unknown. What is known, is that 21 other competitors did have the lengths of their jumps recorded. And all 21 of them had longer jumps than O’Connel.
Not to take anything away from O’Connell – in 1908, to merely have made the Olympic Team was a big deal, just as it is today.
Not a single Villanovan was able qualify for any of the six Summer Olympics that followed the 1908 Games.
Then in 1948, two members of the Villanova Track Team ran for the U.S. at the 1948 the Olympics, in London.,
George Guida, Browning Ross and the Irish Pipeline
One of those 1948 Olympians was a South Jersey boy, a distance runner, named Browning Ross. The other Villanovan at the 1948 games was a South Philly sprinter named George Guida.
Ross also ran in the 1952 Olympics at Helsinki, Finland.
Left, George Guida – Right, Browning Ross – Belle Air, Villlanova yearbook 1948
When Guida died in 2015, the Inquirer wrote –
In 1948, Mr. Guida and a Villanova teammate, Browning Ross, became the second and third Villanova track athletes to compete in the Olympics. Mr. Guida finished sixth in the 400 meters. Ross competed in the steeplechase.
It was off the track at those Olympics that Mr. Guida made his most lasting impact for his alma mater.
Mr. Guida and Ross struck up a friendship with an Irish runner, Jimmy Reardon. The friendship resulted in Reardon’s receiving a track scholarship of his own to Villanova.
And so began the so-called Irish Pipeline, the long tradition of elite Irish runners coming to Villanova and competing as Wildcats. More than two dozen standout Irish runners have since come to Villanova, including Sonia O’Sullivan, Eamonn Coghlan, Ron Delany, and John Hartnett, all Olympians and world-class champions.
One of the most successful Irish athletes to run for Villanova was miler Marcus O’Sullivan, who graduated in 1984. He competed in four Olympic Games and now directs the Villanova track and field program.
O’Sullivan said that he, and many other Irish athletes, would likely not have been able to come to Villanova if not for Mr. Guida and his friendship with Reardon, who was simply a fellow athlete in need of an education.
Wildcats take three gold medals at 1956 games.
On November 29, 1956, in Melbourne Australia, Charles Jenkins won the gold medal in the 400 meters. The next day, the American-born Jenkins (New York City) ran the first leg for the gold-medal-winning U.S. 4×400 meter relay team.
By the time Jenkins won his Olympic Medals, he was already well-known to Philadelphia-area track fans.
At the 1952 Penn Relays, his Rindge Tech team (Cambridge, Massachusetts) won the high school mile relay, with Jenkins running the anchor leg.
At the 1956 Penn Relays, Villanova won the Distance Medley, with Jenkins running the first leg for the Wildcats, and his teammate, famed Irish miler, Ron Delany, running the anchor leg.
On the same day that Jenkins bagged his second gold medal in Melbourne, Delany also got in on the action, winning the 1,500 meters (sometimes known as the Metric Mile).
Left, Ron Delany wins the 1,500 Meter Run at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. -Top right, Phil Reaves takes 7th in the High Jump – Bottom right, Charles Jenkins running his leg in a qualifying heat in the 4×400 Relay, passes the baton to Tom Courtney. U.S. goes on to take the Gold Medal in the event. Jenkins’ time for his leg, 45.5 seconds, is fastest of any competitors in the event. Belle Air, Villanova Yearbook, 1957. Click image above to expand.
Charles Jenkins’ son, Charles “Chip” Jenkins, also a Villanovan, ran at the 1992 Olympics, in Barcelona. Like his dad, Chip Jenkins was a “400-meter man.” The younger Jenkins only ran one qualifying heat for the 4×400 relay team, but that was good enough for him to take home a third gold medal for the Jenkins Family.
Altogether, 62 Villanova athletes and coaches have competed in the Olympics, winning 15 gold medals and 10 silver medals. Starting in 1948, Villanova has been represented at every Olympic Games.
Daily News | Villanova grad Summer Rappaport is hoping for a happy birthday at the Tokyo Olympics triathlon https://t.co/XXlsMwvs7D
— Philly Daily News (@PhillyDailyNews) July 23, 2021
Triathlete Summer Rappaport is joined in Tokyo by Villanovans, by Siofra Cleirigh Buttner who will be running the 800 meters for Ireland (The Pipeline is still flowing) and Patrick Tiernan, an Australian who will be running in the 5,000 meters as well as the 10,000. In addition to Rappaport, Buttner and Tiernan, Villanova’s iconic coach Jay Wright, is in Tokyo, hoping to help guide Team USA (Basketball, that is) to its 16th Gold Medal.
Wright, as always, is expected to easily the competition for the best-dressed person anywhere.
Will you be watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics tonight? FUN FACT: Villanova has had an Olympic competitor in the games every time they come around since 1948! #NovaOlympians pic.twitter.com/BBaDBqRT4N
— Villanova University (@VillanovaU) July 23, 2021