Eddie Southern
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Silas Edward Southern (January 4, 1938 – May 17, 2023) was an American sprinter and hurdler who won a silver medal in the 400 metres hurdles at 1956 Olympics. He won another silver medal in the 4 × 400 m relay at the 1959 Pan American Games.


Early life

Southern was a 1955 graduate of Dallas' Sunset High School, where he won four individual State Championships and set two State and National High School Records, was an American athlete who competed mainly in the 400 meter hurdles, as well as sprints and relays. He was clocked at 20.7 seconds in the 220-yard dash, best ever by a high-school student in Texas or any other state. Then he turned right around and broke the state and national records in the 440-yard event with a time of 47.2 seconds.


College

Southern went on to compete in track & field at the
University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...
, where he was 1959
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. ...
440 yard champion and a member of World Record 440 and 880 yard relay teams. Running for Clyde Littlefield at the University of Texas, Southern led the Longhorns to
Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference also included schools from Oklaho ...
titles from 1957 to 1959. Individually, he earned three straight 440-yard SWC championships in 1957, 1958, 1959 and the 1959 NCAA quarter-mile title. Southern ran the anchor for the world-record 440 and 880-yard relays while at University of Texas.


International career

Southern competed at the
1956 Summer Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XVI Olympiad and officially branded as Melbourne 1956, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December ...
in the 400 meter hurdles, where he won the silver medal. As an 18-year-old, Southern as a Texas youth set the Olympic Record in the 400 metres hurdles (50.1 seconds) in the semifinals in 1956 at Melbourne on his way to taking the silver medal to fellow American Glenn Davis's gold. Southern won another silver medal in the 4 × 400 m relay at the 1959 Pan American Games.


Death

Southern died on May 17, 2023, at the age of 85.


Honors

In 1956, Southern was inducted into the Friar Society, the oldest honor society at The University of Texas, which recognizes students who made significant contributions to The University of Texas. The Friar Society's purpose is "to associate together leading members of the senior or graduate classes for mutual benefit and cooperation, and to promote the best interests of the
University A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...
and the student body." Southern was inducted into the Texas Track and Field Coaches Association Hall of Fame (2013), Sunset High School Hall of Fame, and Drake Relays Athletes Hall of Fame.
/ref> Southern was selected in the 29th round of the 1959 NFL draft by the
Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...
, but did not play in the league.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Southern, Eddie 1938 births 2023 deaths American male hurdlers Olympic silver medalists for the United States in track and field Athletes (track and field) at the 1956 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1959 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1956 Summer Olympics Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States in athletics (track and field) Texas Longhorns men's track and field athletes Track and field athletes from Dallas Medalists at the 1959 Pan American Games NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners 20th-century American sportsmen