16 Facts About Barney Berlinger

Bernard Ernst "Barney" Berlinger was an American decathlete.

Barney Berlinger competed in the 1928 Summer Olympics and won the James E Sullivan Award in 1931.

Barney Berlinger was a multi-sport athlete in high school, attending William Penn Charter School and later Mercersburg Academy, where he was coached by the Scots American trainer Jimmy Curran.

Barney Berlinger broke the meeting record on each of those occasions; in 1930 he scored 7460 points, his new personal best.

Barney Berlinger became the Penn Quakers' team captain in 1931, his senior year.

Barney Berlinger won the Penn Relays decathlon for a third and final time that year, his tally of 7735 points being only 49 short of Ken Doherty's American record.

Barney Berlinger was one of nine American star athletes sent on a goodwill tour of South Africa that summer, and he broke the all-comers records there in several events.

Barney Berlinger missed most of the 1932 indoor season due to an injured back.

Barney Berlinger won his only national decathlon title in 1933 with a score of 7597 despite jogging through the final event, 1500 meters, so slowly that he received no points at all.

Barney Berlinger remained active in the sport even after retiring from competition for good; in 1936 he returned to the University of Pennsylvania as a deputy for the injured Robertson, and after World War II he worked as an instructor for Army coaches in Europe.

Barney Berlinger graduated from Penn in 1931 with a degree in economics.

Barney Berlinger started working for Quaker City Gear Works, a family-owned gear company, in 1932.

Barney Berlinger remained with the company for the rest of his professional life, eventually retiring as its president in 1978.

Barney Berlinger died of heart failure at his home in Carversville, Pennsylvania, in 2002 and was survived by his wife, Marguerite, as well as two children and seven grandchildren.

In 1931, Berlinger was awarded the James E Sullivan Award for being judged the outstanding amateur American sportsman that year.

In 1996, Barney Berlinger was inducted as a member of the inaugural class in the Penn Athletics Hall of Fame.