John E. Twomey (September 10, 1923 – April 28, 2025) was an American

track and field athlete 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 ...

, who competed in the

1951 Pan American Games The 1951 Pan American Games, officially known as I Pan American Games () and commonly known as Buenos Aires 1951, were held in Buenos Aires, Argentina between February 25 and March 9, 1951. The Pan American Games' origins were at the Games of the ...

Life and career

Twomey was born on September 10, 1923 and originated from

Roseville, Illinois Roseville is a village in Warren County, Illinois, United States. The population was 892 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is part of the Galesburg, Illinois, Galesburg Galesburg micropolitan area, Micropolitan Statistical Area. ...

. He attended Roseville High School, where he managed the basketball team, before attending the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

, where he graduated in 1941. Twomey served in the

U.S. Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical ri ...

during

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 ...

, from 1943 to 1945. He worked as a corn farmer, and was a member of the Illinois Athletic Club. Twomey tried out for the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and officially branded as London 1948, were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus cau ...

, but fell just short of being selected. In 1951 Twomey won the

silver medal A silver medal, in sports and other similar areas involving competition, is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, ...

in the

5000 metres The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a sta ...

event and the

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...

in the

1500 metres 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 kilomet ...

competition. As of 2014, Twomey was still giving presentations about track and field athletics, at the age of 90. He died in

Sarasota, Florida Sarasota () is a city in and the county seat of Sarasota County, Florida, United States. It is located in Southwest Florida, the southern end of the Tampa Bay area, and north of Fort Myers, Florida, Fort Myers and Punta Gorda, Florida, Punta Gord ...

on April 28, 2025, at the age of 101.Jay Redfern
From the track to the trenches: John Twomey’s notable life ends at 101
wgil.com, 2 May 2025. Retrieved 23 May 2025.

References

External links

John Twomey profile
at Track and Field Statistics 1923 births 2025 deaths American men centenarians American male middle-distance runners American male long-distance runners Athletes (track and field) at the 1951 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1951 Pan American Games Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States in athletics (track and field) Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States in athletics (track and field) 20th-century American sportsmen Illinois Fighting Illini men's track and field athletes {{US-middledistance-athletics-bio-stub