 Berlinger in 1933 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Bernard Ernst Berlinger (1908-03-13)March 13, 1908 |
| Died | December 2, 2002(2002-12-02) (aged 94) |
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) |
| Weight | 201 lb (91 kg) |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Athletics |
Event | Decathlon |
| College team | Penn Quakers |
| Achievements and titles | |
| Personalbest(s) | HJ – 1.88 m (1930) PV – 4.17 m (1931) SP – 15.15 m (1931)[1] Decathlon – 7,735 (1931)[2] |
Bernard Ernst "Barney" Berlinger (March 13, 1908 – December 2, 2002) was an Americandecathlete. He competed in the1928 Summer Olympics and won theJames E. Sullivan Award in 1931.
Barney Berlinger was a multi-sport athlete inhigh school, attendingWilliam Penn Charter School and laterMercersburg Academy, where he was coached by the Scots American trainerJimmy Curran.[3][4] In addition to competing in manytrack and field events, he played bothfootball andbasketball[3][4] and dabbled inwrestling,boxing andbaseball.[4] At theUniversity of Pennsylvania, however, coached byLawson Robertson,[4][5] he started focusing on track and field and especiallydecathlon.[1][3]
Berlinger pulled atendon at the 1928Penn Relays,[4] but recovered to place third at theOlympic Trials later that summer with 7362 points.[4][6] As the top four were selected, that was enough to make theOlympic team.[6] In theOlympic decathlon, however, he only scored 6619 points and placed 17th.[1]
Berlinger won the first of three consecutive Penn Relays decathlons in 1929[1] – his achievement being recognized by the decathlon trophy being retired.[7] He broke the meeting record on each of those occasions;[8][9] in 1930 he scored 7460 points, his new personal best.[10][11] Later that year he becamenational champion in the non-Olympicpentathlon.[1]
Berlinger became thePenn Quakers' team captain in 1931, hissenior year.[1] He won the Penn Relays decathlon for a third and final time that year, his tally of 7735 points being only 49 short ofKen Doherty'sAmerican record.[12]He was one of nine American star athletes sent on a goodwill tour ofSouth Africa that summer,[3][13][14]and he broke theall-comers records there in several events.[15] Despite only finishing fifth at the national championships,[16] Berlinger still topped the vote for that year'sJames E. Sullivan Award;[17] he was the first track and field athlete to receive the award, as golferBobby Jones had won the inaugural award the previous year.[17]
Berlinger missed most of the 1932 indoor season due to an injured back.[18] That summer he concentrated on starting his business career, deciding not to try out for a place at theOlympic Games inLos Angeles;[19] however, he resumed training the following winter.[20] At the start of the year in March 1933, Berlinger staged his comeback after the disappointments of 1932, by beating the defending Olympic decathlon championJim Bausch in a head-to—head 'septathlon' contest indoors atMadison Square Gardens in New York City.[21]He won his only national decathlon title in 1933 with a score of 7597[10][22][23][24] despite jogging through the final event,1500 meters, so slowly (7:03.1) that he received no points at all.[22]
Due to his versatility and key roles in his teams, Berlinger was at times called a "one-man track team".[3][25][26] In high school, he did indeed win Mercersburg a team title by himself.[3] 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,[27] and afterWorld War II he worked as an instructor forArmy coaches in Europe.[3] In 1952, he was honored by PresidentDwight D. Eisenhower by being nominated as a special emissary in the president's People-to-People Sports Program.[7]
Berlinger graduated from Penn in 1931 with a degree in economics.[7]
Berlinger started working for Quaker City Gear Works, a family-owned gear company, in 1932.[3][19] He remained with the company for the rest of his professional life, eventually retiring as its president in 1978.[1][3] He died ofheart failure at his home inCarversville, Pennsylvania, in 2002 and was survived by his wife, Marguerite, as well as two children and seven grandchildren.[3] His son, Barney Jr., was a topcollege football player at the University of Pennsylvania where he captained Penn's first formal Ivy League championship team in 1959.[28]
During his working life, Berlinger was issued with several patents, for example one for 'continuous shaft brake for fishing reels' in 1940.[29]
In 1931, Berlinger was awarded theJames 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.[30]
In 1996, Berlinger was inducted as a member of the inaugural class in the Penn Athletics Hall of Fame.[31] His son, Barney Berlinger Jr. was also inducted in the same class.
