Commodore Shelton "Com" Cochran (January 20, 1902 – January 3, 1969) was an American

athlete An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...

, winner of a gold medal in 4 × 400 m

relay A relay Electromechanical relay schematic showing a control coil, four pairs of normally open and one pair of normally closed contacts An automotive-style miniature relay with the dust cover taken off A relay is an electrically operated switc ...

at the

1924 Summer Olympics The 1924 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the VIII Olympiad () and officially branded as Paris 1924, were an international multi-sport event held in Paris, France. The opening ceremony was held on 5 July, but some competitions had al ...

. He was born in

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

and died in

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. As a

Mississippi State University Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Mississippi State, Mississippi, Un ...

student, Commodore Cochran won the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

championships in

440-yard dash The 440-yard dash, or quarter-mile race, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. In many countries, athletes compete in the 440 yard The yard (symbol: yd) is an English units, English unit of length in both the British im ...

in 1922 and 1923. At the

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Olympics The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competit ...

, Cochran ran the opening leg in American 4 × 400 m relay team, which won the gold medal with a new

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

of 3:16.0. After his running career, Cochran coached his younger brother

Roy Cochran LeRoy Braxton Cochran (January 6, 1919 – September 26, 1981) was an American sprinter and hurdler, winner of two gold medals at the 1948 Summer Olympics. Born in Richton, Mississippi, as the ninth of ten children to a sportive family. Cochran ...

, who won two gold medals at the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and officially branded as London 1948, were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus cau ...

References

External links

Con Cochran at databaseOlympics.com
1902 births 1969 deaths American male sprinters Athletes (track and field) at the 1924 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1924 Summer Olympics Mississippi State Bulldogs men's track and field athletes Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field Track and field athletes from Mississippi 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-athletics-Olympic-medalist-stub