Edward Patrick Francis Eagan (April 26, 1897 – June 14, 1967) was an American boxer and bobsledder who is notable as being the only person to win a gold medal at both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games in different disciplines.

Gillis Grafström Gillis Emanuel Grafström (7 June 1893 – 14 April 1938) was a Swedish figure skater. He was born in Stockholm, Sweden. He won three successive Olympic gold medals in Men's Figure Skating (1920, 1924, 1928) as well as an Olympic silver medal in ...

won gold in both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games but it was in the same event. That is because in 1920, prior to the

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

, figure skating was part of the Summer Olympics. Eagan won his summer gold in

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

and his winter gold in four-man bobsled. Finally, Eagan is one of the few athletes who have competed in both the Summer and Winter Olympic games.Eddie Eagan
sports-reference.com

Early life

Eagan was born into a modest family in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

. He graduated from Longmont High School and attended college at Denver University for one year, during which time he won the western middleweight title. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he was an artillery lieutenant and was the middleweight champion of the

American Expeditionary Forces The American Expeditionary Forces (A. E. F.) was a formation of the United States Army on the Western Front of World War I. The A. E. F. was established on July 5, 1917, in France under the command of General John J. Pershing. It fought along ...

. After the war he attended

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

. In 1919 he won the AAU's heavyweight title. After graduating from Yale in 1921, Eagan attended Harvard Law School and the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. In 1923 he won Amateur Boxing Association heavyweight title.

Olympics

Summer Olympics

In 1920, he competed as a boxer at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, and won the gold medal in the light-heavyweight division. He also competed at the 1924 Summer Olympics, but this time as a heavyweight. He failed to medal, having lost in the first round to

Arthur Clifton General Sir Arthur Benjamin Clifton KSA KSW (17718 March 1869) was a British soldier who fought in the Peninsular War and commanded the Second Union Cavalry Brigade at the Battle of Waterloo on 18June 1815. Biography Clifton was the third ...

(see Boxing at the 1924 Summer Olympics - Men's heavyweight).

Winter Olympics

Eagan returned to the Olympics eight years later, this time as a member of the bobsled crew of Billy Fiske, who steered to victory at the 1932 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. Eagan became the first of six Olympians to medal in both the Winter and Summer Games, followed by

Jacob Tullin Thams Jacob Tullin "Tulla" Thams (7 April 1898 – 27 July 1954) was a Norwegian Olympian, who competed in ski jumping and sailing. Career He won the first Olympic ski jumping gold medal in 1924, and became the third person (after Gillis Grafström wh ...

(

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

), Christa Luding-Rothenburger (

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

), Clara Hughes (

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

), and

Lauryn Williams Lauryn Williams (born September 11, 1983) is an American sprinter and bobsledder. She was the gold medalist in the 100 meter dash at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics and won silver medals at the 2004 Summer Olympics, 2007 World Champ ...

(

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

). Eddy Alvarez joined Eagan and Williams in 2020 as the only Americans to win medals in both the Winter and Summer Olympics. Eagan is one of two competitors to win gold in both Olympic seasons (the other being

whose only summer gold was in figure skating).

Personal life

In 1927 Eagan married Margaret Colgate, who was a member of the family that founded Colgate-Palmolive. In 1932 he was admitted to the New York bar and began a career in private practice. He spent five years as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York before joining the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, he served in the Air Transport Command and visited nearly every place where the Army had planes. He retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel and earned numerous decorations. After the war, Egan was appointed chairman of the

New York State Athletic Commission The New York State Athletic Commission or NYSAC, also known as the New York Athletic Commission, is a division of the New York State Department of State which regulates all contests and exhibitions of unarmed combat within the state of New York, ...

. He resigned in 1951 to focus on his law practice. Eddie Eagan set a world record for the fastest circumnavigation of the globe by scheduled airlines on December 13, 1948. He traveled 20,559 miles stopping at 18 different stations and beat the previous record by 20 hours and 15 minutes. He died at age 70 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

and was interred at Greenwood Union Cemetery.

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Eagan, Eddie 1897 births 1967 deaths Boxers from Denver American male bobsledders American male boxers United States Army personnel of World War II Bobsledders at the 1932 Winter Olympics Boxers at the 1920 Summer Olympics Boxers at the 1924 Summer Olympics Harvard Law School alumni Medalists at the 1920 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1932 Winter Olympics New York State Athletic Commissioners Olympic boxers of the United States Olympic gold medalists for the United States in bobsleigh People from Rye, New York United States Army colonels Winners of the United States Championship for amateur boxers Olympic gold medalists for the United States in boxing Light-heavyweight boxers