Jeremiah Alfred Le Coney (November 3, 1901 – November 11, 1959) was an American athlete, winner of the gold medal in the 4x100 meter

relay race A relay race is a racing competition where members of a team take turns completing parts of racecourse or performing a certain action. Relay races take the form of professional races and amateur games. Relay races are common in running, oriente ...

at the 1924 Summer Olympics. Le Coney was raised in

Moorestown, New Jersey Moorestown is a township in Burlington County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is an eastern suburb of Philadelphia and geographically part of the South Jersey region of the state. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the township's population was ...

, where he first started showing his ability as a sprinter at

Moorestown High School Moorestown High School (MHS) is a four-year comprehensive public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from Moorestown in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone secondary school of the M ...

.Le Coney, Bill
"1924 Gold Medalist In Family Spurs Press Writer's Search"
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The Press of Atlantic City ''The Press of Atlantic City'' is the fourth-largest daily newspaper in New Jersey. Originally based in Pleasantville, it is the primary newspaper for southeastern New Jersey and the Jersey Shore. The newspaper designated market runs from Ware ...

'', September 27, 2000. Accessed March 1, 2011. "J. Alfred Le Coney was a great American sprinter of his time achieving local fame at Moorestown and then at Lafayette in the early 1920s." In 1922, Le Coney won the AAU championships in the 220

yard The yard (symbol: yd) is an English unit of length in both the British imperial and US customary systems of measurement equalling 3 feet or 36 inches. Since 1959 it has been by international agreement standardized as exactly ...

race and, as a

Lafayette College Lafayette College is a private liberal arts college in Easton, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1826 by James Madison Porter and other citizens in Easton, the college first held classes in 1832. The founders voted to name the college after General Laf ...

(Class of 1923) student, the

IC4A IC4A Championships (Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America) is an annual men's competition held at different colleges every year. Association was established in 1875, the competition (started in 1876) served as the top level col ...

championships in both the 100 and 220 yard races. At the 1924 Summer Olympics in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, Al Le Coney ran the anchor leg for the American 4x100 meter relay team which won the gold medal with a

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 organization ...

time of 41.0 seconds. After the Olympics, Le Coney covered the 100 yard distance in 9.4 seconds, but the effort was later disallowed when judges ruled that the time was wind-aided. In 1932, Le Coney received an unusual honor when a picture of him at the 1924 Olympics was used by the U.S. Post Office in developing a commemorative stamp.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Le coney, Al 1901 births 1959 deaths American male sprinters Athletes (track and field) at the 1924 Summer Olympics Lafayette College alumni Moorestown High School alumni Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field Sportspeople from Moorestown, New Jersey Track and field athletes from New Jersey Medalists at the 1924 Summer Olympics