Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League

 
John Woodruff is one of the most daring middle-distance track stars in history. The first time he ran in a scholastic competition, he won both the 880-yard and mile runs. Before Woodruff graduated from Connellsville High School in 1935, he set new school, county, WPIAL, and PIAA marks, plus broke the national school mile record with a 4:23.4 winning time. His crowning achievement came in the 1936 Summer Olympic Games in Berlin where he took gold in the 800 meter event A 21 year old freshman at the University of Pittsburgh, Woodruff placed second at the National AAU meet and first at the Olympic Trials with a time of 1 :49.9 (a tenth of a second shy of the then-world record). In one of the most exciting races in Olympic history, Canadian Phil Edwards set an extremely slow pace with Woodruff boxed and trapped inside by the other runners. Knowing he had to break loose, John instantly decided to come to a stop. The move allowed the pack to run around him. At 6'3" with a stride of almost 9 feet, "Long John" Woodruff sprinted to the front but lost the lead on the backstretch. He regained it on the final turn to win the gold. John also won the 1937 AAU title in the 800 and both the 400 and 800 IC4A titles in 1937, 1938 and 1939. He and his mates on the national team set the world 4x880 yard relay record. He graduated from Pitt in 1939 with a major in sociology, then earned his Masters from NYU in 1941. In a career curtailed by World War Il, Woodruff entered military service in  941 as a second lieutenant and was discharged as a Captain in 1945. He re-upped during the Korean War and left as a lieutenant colonel in 1957. Woodruff was the battalion commander of the 369th Artillery and later the 569 Transportation Battalion New York Army National Guard. While residing in New York and New Jersey, John coached young athletes and officiated at local and Madison Garden track meets. Woodruff worked as a teacher, special investigator for the Department of Welfare, recreation center director for the Police Athletic League, state parole officer, and salesperson in New York and an assistant director for a job corps center in New Jersey. He retired to Arizona in the 1990's and his final public appearance was in 2007 when he, along with members of the Tuskegee Airmen, were honored by throwing out the first pitch at a Diamondbacks baseball game. Today, the sapling from Germany's Black Forest he was given to commemorate his victory in Berlin is a massive oak tree that towers over the end zone at Connellsville's stadium. His hometown still holds the annual John Woodruff 5-K Run and Walk in his honor.