Leamon King (February 13, 1936 – May 22, 2001) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

athlete An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...

who jointly held the

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

for the 100-meter

sprint Sprint may refer to: Aerospace * Spring WS202 Sprint, a Canadian aircraft design *Sprint (missile), an anti-ballistic missile Automobiles *Alfa Romeo Sprint, automobile produced by Alfa Romeo between 1976 and 1989 *Chevrolet Sprint, a rebadged v ...

for men from 1956 to 1960. King, a graduate of the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, became joint holder of the record on October 20, 1956 in

Ontario, California Ontario is a city in southwestern San Bernardino County, California, United States, east of downtown Los Angeles and west of downtown San Bernardino, the county seat. Located in the western part of the Inland Empire metropolitan area, it lies ...

, with a time of 10.1 seconds, equal with Willie Williams and Ira Murchison, and repeated the time a week later in

Santa Ana, California Santa Ana (Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, California, United States. Located in the Greater Los Angeles region of Southern California, the city's population was 310,227 at the 2020 census. As ...

. (In 1956, times were only recorded to the nearest tenth of a second.)

Ray Norton Otis Ray Norton (born September 22, 1937) is a former American sprinter who competed in the 1960 Olympics in Rome. As a top-ranked sprinter, Norton's speed was highly coveted by the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL), wh ...

also recorded a time of 10.1 seconds in 1959. The first person to run unambiguously faster in competition was

Armin Hary Armin Hary (; (born 22 March 1937) is a retired German sprinter who won the 1960 Olympic 100 meters dash. He was the first non-American to win the event since Percy Williams of Canada took the gold medal in 1928, the only German to ever win t ...

in 1960. He also jointly held the world 100 yard record with a time of 9.3 seconds. King, along with Murchison, Thane Baker, and

Bobby Morrow Bobby Joe Morrow (October 15, 1935May 30, 2020) was an American sprinter who won three gold medals at the 1956 Olympics. He has been called "the dominant sprinter of the 1950s" and "the most relaxed sprinter of all time, even more so than his ...

, won a gold medal 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 ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

in the 4 × 100 metre relay. He ran the second leg of the race. After retiring from athletics, King returned to his job as a schoolteacher, living in

Delano, California Delano ( ) is a city in Kern County, California, United States. Delano is located about north-northwest of Bakersfield, California, Bakersfield at an elevation of . The population was 51,428 in 2020, down from 53,041 in 2010. It is Kern Count ...

. He had been a successful student athlete, breaking and making records, at

Delano High School Delano Joint Union High School District (DJUHSD) is a public school district based in Kern County, California, United States. Schools * Chavez High School (Delano, California), Cesar E. Chavez High School * Delano High School * Robert F. Kenne ...

, making the finals at the

CIF California State Meet The CIF California State Meet is the annual championship track and field meet for the California Interscholastic Federation. The meet was started in 1915 for boys and 1974 for girls. Every athlete in every high school in California has a direc ...

in both the 100 yard dash and 220 yard dash each of his four years, winning the 100 once and the 220 twice.

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1936 births 2001 deaths American male sprinters Athletes (track and field) at the 1956 Summer Olympics California Golden Bears men's track and field athletes Medalists at the 1956 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field Track and field athletes from California People from Delano, California Sportspeople from Kern County, California USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-athletics-Olympic-medalist-stub