John Overton, Yale Class of 1917, was only one of the thousands whose lives were lost in the trench-fighting of World War I. His obituary stood out from the others, for he had, before he enlisted, established himself as one of the country’s most promising middle-distance runners and, as a result of a rivalry with Joie Ray (three-time Olympian), had become one of the most celebrated as well.
Overton, a native of Nashville, Tennessee went to Yale via the Hill School in Pennsylvania. As the most flamboyant member of the Yale University track team, he set or tied current world records in the two-mile relay, the 1,000-yard event and the IC4A cross-country.
At the 1916 Millrose Games in New York’s Madison Square Garden, he won the Rodman Wanamaker one-and-one-half mile and was expected to do the same in 1917 with a challenge coming from Ray, who was then known for his national title in the five-mile. Ray won that race in 6:45 (a world indoor and outdoor record). Then at the Madison Square Games on March 7, both Overton and Ray won their respective best events. Overton won the Baxter Mile in 4:19.2, a second off the world record. Three days later, Overton broke the world record with a time of 4:16 at the Meadowbrook Games.
In AAU indoor nationals, he not only defeated his rival by 15 yards, but also did so in 2:14 beating a world record he had tied the year before. The promotion of a rematch began soon thereafter – a special mile race was set for March 21 at the John Wanamaker Commercial Institute Games called “THE GREATEST MILE RACE EVER RUN INDOORS” billed as an advertisement. More than 5,000 people watched Ray win that race.
Before a rematch could take place, world events intruded and Overton signed up for military service. Many colorful stories surrounded Overton and his feats.
By his own request, he was transferred to the front and assigned to the 80th Company of the Sixth Marines on June 14 in the “Bloody Red Triangle”. At the height of the Second Battle of the Marne, an allied offensive, he led his company across a wheat field toward the Germans. Overton lost his life in a heroic act of leadership.
He was awarded the Croix de Guerre with Palm from the French army. Sports-writer Grantland Rice even marked the occasion with a forty-line poem entitled “A Marine Comes Home.” After his death, Yale’s track coach, Billy Queal, said, “Johnny Overton was fully capable of becoming the world’s first four-minute miler if he could have continued running.”