Phoenixville Olympian Passes Away At 94
Horace Ashenfelter, a Phoenixville native who set a world record in the steeplechase at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki, Finland, died at 94 years on Saturday morning, Janurary 6th.
His Olympic 3000m steeplechase victory was played up in the press because at the time the Cold War had just gotten under way and Ashenfelter was an FBI agent competing against a Russian. This race won him the Sullivan Award as outstanding amateur athlete of 1952!
Ashenfelter has been honored by induction into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame and by having the indoor track at Penn State named after him.
