Thomas Edward "Eddie" Tolan, nicknamed the "Midnight Express", was an American track and field athlete who competed in sprints. He set world records in the 100-yard dash and 100 meters event and Olympic records in the 100 meters and 200 meters events. He was the first non-Euro-American to receive the title of the "world's fastest human" after winning gold medals in the 100 and 200 meters events at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. In March 1935, Tolan won the 75, 100 and 220-yard events at the World Professional Sprint Championships in Melbourne to become the first man to win both the amateur and professional world sprint championships. In his full career as a sprinter, Tolan won 300 races and lost only 7.
William Harrison "Bones" Dillard was an American track and field athlete, who is the only male in the history of the Olympic Games to win gold in both the 100 meter (sprints) and the 110 meter hurdles, making him the “World’s Fastest Man” in 1948 and the “World’s Fastest Hurdler” in 1952.
Marjorie Jackson-Nelson is an Australian former athlete and politician. She was the Governor of South Australia between 2001 and 2007. She finished her sporting career with two Olympic and seven Commonwealth Games Gold Medals, six individual world records and every Australian state and national title she contested from 1950 to 1954.
Shirley Barbara de la Hunty AO, MBE, known as Shirley Strickland during her early career, was an Australian athlete. She won more Olympic medals than any other Australian in running sports.
The Illawarra Mercury is a daily newspaper serving the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. It has been published since 1855, making it one of Australia's oldest newspapers and the second oldest regional newspaper in New South Wales. It has been published daily since December 1949, and has had no local daily competition since the 1960s. It has strong links to the Illawarra community.
The Wollongong High School of the Performing Arts is a government-funded co-educational comprehensive and specialist secondary day school with speciality in performing arts, located in Fairy Meadow, a suburb of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia.
John Thomas Devitt, AM was an Australian sprint freestyle swimmer of the 1950s and 1960s, who won a gold medal in the 100-metre freestyle at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. He won in controversial circumstances, being awarded the gold medal despite the timekeepers recording a slower time than the American silver medallist Lance Larson. He also claimed a gold medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, in the 4×200-metre freestyle relay.
Oscar Forman is an Australian professional basketball player. He played 17 seasons in the Australian National Basketball League (NBL) between 2001 and 2018.
The Illawarra Rugby League is a rugby league competition in Wollongong, NSW. It is one of the oldest rugby league competitions in Australia, founded in 1911 with five clubs. The area provides a nursery of juniors for the Illawarra Steelers and St George Illawarra Dragons. The season is contested by seven teams and concludes with a finals series involving the top four teams.
Houston McTear was an American sprinter, who emerged from desperate poverty in the Florida Panhandle to become an international track star in the mid-1970s.
John Francis Treloar was a track and field athlete, who is considered to have been one of Australia's greatest male sprinters. He was ranked as one of the world's fastest men between 1947 and 1952. A triple gold medallist at the 1950 British Empire Games, Treloar made the 100 m final at the 1952 Summer Olympics finishing sixth – just 0.1 s behind the winner – in the closest finish in Olympic history.
Clara Decima Hamilton (née Norman), MBE was an Australian athlete. She was the only Australian woman who won five gold medals at the 1938 British Empire Games.
Bowen Dow Stassforth was an American competition swimmer who won a silver medal in the 200 m breaststroke at the 1952 Olympics and set two world records in the 200-yard breaststroke. and one world record in the 100 meter breaststroke
John Walton Smith is a former American athlete, who competed in the sprints events during his career. He is best known for winning the 400 m event at the 1971 Pan American Games. He remains the world record holder for the 440 yard dash at 44.5 seconds. He set the record while winning the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on June 26, 1971 while running for the Southern California Striders. The record has stood since then due to metrification in the sport. Contemporary athletes rarely run or are timed officially for the extra 2.34 meters to equal 440 yards.
Howard Porter Drew was an American track and field athlete who competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics.
Irene Joan Davidson was a New Zealand sprinter who, as Joan Hart, represented her country at the 1950 British Empire Games.
Benjamin Washington Johnson (1914–1992) was an American sprinter who was considered a serious rival to Olympic gold medalist Jesse Owens. Known as the "Columbia Comet", Johnson was the United States champion at 100 yards in 1938, but injuries and the outbreak of the Second World War denied him a chance to compete in the Olympics.
Philip Francis Sharpley was a New Zealand track and field athlete who represented his country at the 1938 British Empire Games.
Bob Sredersas was a Lithuanian-Australian art collector. Sredersas came to prominence after donating his private art collection of over 100 works to the City of Wollongong. The collection, which included pieces by artists such as Arthur Streeton, Grace Cossington Smith, Margaret Preston and Norman Lindsay, assisted in establishing the Wollongong Art Gallery.
William de Gruchy is an Australian former athlete who specialised in sprinting.
