Osborn, Harold M. (1899-1975) | University of Illinois Archives
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Harold Marion Osborn (1899-1975) graduated from the University of Illinois in 1922, with a degree in agriculture. "Osie" (his campus nickname) was an involved student, being part of the Kappa Delta Rho fraternity, the Sachem honorary society, the Hoof and Horn Club, the Agriculture Club, and, most significantly, competing for the University in Track & Field and Cross Country.
Following his time at the University, he taught in Lewiston, Illinois, where he met his future wife, Margaret Estelle Bordner (LAS, English, 1932). They married in 1928.
In the 1924 Olympic Games, held in Paris, he won gold medals in both the High Jump and Decathlon, and remains (as of 2024), the only athlete to ever win the Decathlon and an individual event in the same Olympics. He also competed in the 1928 Games in Amsterdam, almost medaling again in the High Jump. All told, he won 17 national titles and set numerous world records.
After his athletics career, he earned his Doctor of Osteopathic medicine and practiced in Champaign-Urbana. He also helped coach the University of Illinois track team.
He died in 1975, and is buried in Mount Hope Cemetery, within sight of the University of Illinois Campus. Margaret outlived him by 28 years, and was buried at his side in 2003.