Benjamin Van Doren Hedges, Jr. (June 8, 1907 – December 31, 1969) was an American athlete who competed mainly in the high jump. He graduated from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

in 1930. He competed for the United States 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 ...

held in

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Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

in the high jump where he won the silver medal, clearing 1.91 meters (6' 3-1/4"). Prior to graduating from Princeton in 1930, Ben Hedges won the IC4A high jump in 1929 With his second place in the 1928 high jump, Hedges is the last Princetonian to have won an Olympic track & field medal. In 1931, Hedges joined

Bankers Trust Bankers Trust was a historic American banking organization. The bank merged with Alex. Brown & Sons in 1997 before being acquired by Deutsche Bank in 1999. Deutsche Bank sold the Trust and Custody division of Bankers Trust to State Street Corp ...

Co. as a personnel administrator and later became executive vice-president of the Big Brother Movement. He was also a war hero, winning 13 Battle Stars and receiving a Presidential Unit Citation for his work in the Pacific as an air combat intelligence officer.

References

American male high jumpers Princeton University alumni Olympic silver medalists for the United States in track and field Athletes (track and field) at the 1928 Summer Olympics 1969 deaths 1907 births Medalists at the 1928 Summer Olympics Loomis Chaffee School alumni 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-athletics-Olympic-medalist-stub

See also

References