March 19, 2024

Newton native won gold in 1920 Olympics

Did you know a Newton native competed and medaled in an Olympics?

I did. The Newton Daily News asked readers to nominate and vote for Jasper County’s 25 Greatest Sports Figures of All Time. The promotion was done the first summer-fall I was on the newspaper’s staff in 2013.

When the votes were tallied, three of us divided up the top 25 to do short biographical stories on the sports figures. One of mine was Jay Clark Jr., of Newton, who helped the Americans win a gold medal in the team clay pigeons event at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium.

It wasn’t easy to find information on Clark. I did find out he was born in Newton in 1880, attended Grinnell College and graduated from Harvard Law School. He began practicing law in Worcester, Mass. Clark died in 1948.

He was an excellent shooter, which led to his selection as captain of the United States men’s Olympic team. In 1920, it was the third appearance of team clay pigeon shooting event in the Summer Olympics. There were 48 shooters from eight nations competing.

The maximum team points to receive was 600 and the American team put up 547 points. Eighty-four of the team’s points were attributed to Clark, who had won the 1913 Westy Hogan Trapshoot at Atlantic City.

Clark was far better know in Massachusetts as a race car driver. He competed in hill climbs and dirt track races all over New England.

Clark was No. 25 on the list compiled in 2013 by readers of the Newton Daily News and Jasper County Tribune.

The 2016 Olympic gold medalist in the men’s long jump Jeff Henderson of the United States worked out for a Kansas City Chiefs’ scout in March. Henderson attended the Chiefs’ rookie minicamp tryout in May, working out as a receiver.

Henderson won the gold medal in Rio de Janeiro with a leap of 27 feet, 6 inches last Saturday. He is 5-feet-7 inches and 187 pounds. His athleticism was evident, and he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.33 seconds but needed work on being able to catch the football since he hadn’t played football since he was 15. He ran track at Stillman College in Alabama, winning the NCAA Division II long jump in 2013 and 2014.

In his Monday press conference, Chiefs’ head coach Andy Reid said, “Congratulations to Jeff Henderson for winning a gold medal in the long jump at Rio. He was with us during the offseason, and we’re proud of him for bringing home the gold. I think he probably had his mind set on going to get the gold,” Reid said. “He worked his tail off here, but (track) was probably his primary focus.”

The 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio conclude Sunday.

Right here in our backyard: area fall sports teams are ending a second week of practices as 2016 fall high school sports begin next week.

Volleyball and swimming kick things off Tuesday. Newton hosts a tournament and Prairie City-Monroe is at a tournament hosted by Dallas Center-Grimes. The NCMP Aquagirls go to Linn-Mar to open the swimming season.

On Thursday, cross country teams from Newton, PCM and Collins-Maxwell/Baxter compete in the Gilbert Invitational meet on the Iowa State cross country course in Ames. Colfax-Mingo’s cross country team is at Marshalltown. Colfax-Mingo’s volleyball team opens the season at BGM on Thursday.

Friday night football begins in a week. Newton hosts Ottumwa while Colfax-Mingo plays at Lynnville-Sully, Nevada plays at CMB and Pella Christian plays at PCM.

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at

jsheets@newtondailynews.com