Barney Berlinger
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Bernard Ernst "Barney" Berlinger (March 13, 1908 – December 2, 2002) was an American
decathlete The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of 10 track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ἄθλος (''áthlos'', or ἄθΠ...
. He competed in the
1928 Summer Olympics The 1928 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the IX Olympiad (), was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from 28 July to 12 August 1928 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The city of Amsterdam had previously bid for ...
and won the James E. Sullivan Award in 1931.


Sports career

Barney Berlinger was a multi-sport athlete in
high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...
, attending
William Penn Charter School William Penn Charter School (commonly known as Penn Charter or simply PC) is an elite private school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1689 at the urging of William Penn as the "Public Grammar School" and chartered in 1689 to b ...
and later
Mercersburg Academy Mercersburg Academy (formerly Marshall College and Mercersburg College) is an independent college-preparatory boarding and day high school in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, in the United States. Founded in 1893, the school enrolls approximately 4 ...
, where he was coached by the Scots American trainer
Jimmy Curran James Michael Curran (January 7, 1880 – February 7, 1963) was an athletics coach who trained and coached five Olympics, Olympic gold medalists. From 1900-1902, he fought with the Highland Light Infantry in the Second Boer War, serving much of t ...
. In addition to competing in many
track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...
events, he played both
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
and
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
and dabbled in
wrestling Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...
,
boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...
and
baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...
. At the
University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...
, however, coached by Lawson Robertson, he started focusing on track and field and especially
decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of 10 track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ἄθλος (''áthlos'', or ἄ ...
. Berlinger pulled a
tendon A tendon or sinew is a tough band of fibrous connective tissue, dense fibrous connective tissue that connects skeletal muscle, muscle to bone. It sends the mechanical forces of muscle contraction to the skeletal system, while withstanding tensi ...
at the 1928
Penn Relays The Penn Relays (officially The Penn Relay Carnival) is the oldest and largest track and field competition in the United States, hosted annually since April 21, 1895 by the University of Pennsylvania at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. In 2012 ...
, but recovered to place third at the Olympic Trials later that summer with 7362 points. As the top four were selected, that was enough to make the Olympic team. In the
Olympic decathlon ''Olympic Decathlon'' is a sports video game written by Timothy W. Smith for the TRS-80 and published in 1980 by Microsoft. In the game, the player competes in ten track and field events. The gold medalist for decathlon in the Montreal 1976 Summ ...
, however, he only scored 6619 points and placed 17th. Berlinger won the first of three consecutive Penn Relays decathlons in 1929 – his achievement being recognized by the decathlon trophy being retired. He broke the meeting record on each of those occasions; in 1930 he scored 7460 points, his new personal best. Later that year he became national champion in the non-Olympic
pentathlon A pentathlon is a contest featuring five events. The name is derived from Greek language, Greek: combining the words ''pente'' (five) and -''athlon'' (competition) (). The first pentathlon was documented in Ancient Greece and was part of the Anci ...
. Berlinger became the
Penn Quakers The Penn Quakers are the athletic teams of the University of Pennsylvania. The school sponsors 33 varsity sports. The school has won three NCAA national championships in men's fencing and one in women's fencing. Sponsored teams Men's varsit ...
' team captain in 1931, his senior year. He 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 Kenneth Joseph Doherty (born 17 September 1969) is an Irish professional snooker player who also works as a commentator and pundit on televised snooker broadcasts. From Ranelagh in Dublin, he is the sport's only World Snooker Championship, wor ...
's American record. He was one of nine American star athletes sent on a goodwill tour of
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
that summer, and he broke the all-comers records there in several events. Despite only finishing fifth at the national championships, Berlinger still topped the vote for that year's James E. Sullivan Award; he was the first track and field athlete to receive the award, as golfer Bobby Jones had won the inaugural award the previous year. Berlinger missed most of the 1932 indoor season due to an injured back. That summer he concentrated on starting his business career, deciding not to try out for a place at the
Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...
in
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
; however, he resumed training the following winter. At the start of the year in March 1933, Berlinger staged his comeback after the disappointments of 1932, by beating the defending Olympic decathlon champion
Jim Bausch James Aloysius Bernard Bausch (March 29, 1906 – July 9, 1974), also known as "Jarring Jim", was an American athlete who competed mainly in the decathlon. Bausch grew up in and attended school in Garden Plain, Kansas, before finishing and gra ...
in a head-to—head 'septathlon' contest indoors at Madison Square Gardens in New York City. He won his only national decathlon title in 1933 with a score of 7597 despite jogging through the final event,
1500 meters The 1500 metres or 1500-metre run is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletics since 1983. It is equivalent to 1.5 kilometers ...
, so slowly (7:03.1) that he received no points at all. Due to his versatility and key roles in his teams, Berlinger was at times called a "one-man track team". In high school, he did indeed win Mercersburg a team title by himself. He 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 World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
he worked as an instructor for
Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...
coaches in Europe. In 1952, he was honored by President
Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...
by being nominated as a special emissary in the president's People-to-People Sports Program.


Later life

Berlinger graduated from Penn in 1931 with a degree in economics. Berlinger started working for Quaker City Gear Works, a family-owned gear company, in 1932. He remained with the company for the rest of his professional life, eventually retiring as its president in 1978. He died of
heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome caused by an impairment in the heart's ability to Cardiac cycle, fill with and pump blood. Although symptoms vary based on which side of the heart is affected, HF ...
at his home in Carversville, Pennsylvania, in 2002 and was survived by his wife, Marguerite, as well as two children and seven grandchildren. His son, Barney Jr., was a top
college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...
player at the University of Pennsylvania where he captained Penn's first formal Ivy League championship team in 1959. During his working life, Berlinger was issued with several patents, for example one for 'continuous shaft brake for fishing reels' in 1940.


Accolades and awards

In 1931, Berlinger was awarded the James E. Sullivan Award for being judged the outstanding amateur American sportsman that year. The same year he was awarded the title of the United States best amateur athlete by the National Sportswriters Association. In 1996, Berlinger was inducted as a member of the inaugural class in the Penn Athletics Hall of Fame. His son, Barney Berlinger Jr. was also inducted in the same class.


References


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berlinger, Barney 1908 births 2002 deaths Sportspeople from Bucks County, Pennsylvania Businesspeople from Philadelphia Wharton School alumni Mercersburg Academy alumni Track and field athletes from Philadelphia Penn Quakers men's track and field athletes American male decathletes Athletes (track and field) at the 1928 Summer Olympics Olympic track and field athletes for the United States James E. Sullivan Award recipients 20th-century American businesspeople United States Army soldiers 20th-century American sportsmen