Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
Marshall Cohen—researcher and producer, CNN
Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
OLYMPIC GAMES
OLYMPIC GAMES. The Olympic Games, an international competition, find individuals and teams competing for their home country in a series of events. The modern Olympic Games began in 1896 and are based on a tradition that was started in ancient Greece. The Olympics occur every two years and alternate between summer and winter sports. Prizes for first, second and third place in each event are gold, silver and bronze medals, respectively.
In 1984 for the Summer Games held in Los Angeles, California, the Olympic torch was lit with solar-power in Greece and brought to New York City. On May 7th it was turned over to 250-telephone company employees divided into sixteen-runner cadres who relayed the torch 9,000 miles cross-country in an eleven-week course through thirty-three states.
Jim Braig, a Northwestern Bell employee in Dubuque and one of only two Iowans selected, was scheduled to run two four-mile sessions each day June 17 through 23 for a total distance of fifty-six miles from Lorenza, Texas, to Golden, Colorado.
In 1920 at the Seventh Olympiad, Edward Solomon "Sol" BUTLER, a student at Dubuque's German College (now the UNIVERSITY OF DUBUQUE) came close to being the school's first and only gold medal winner.
Other Dubuque residents to compete in the Olympics were Ann-Marie Pfiffner (JOHNSON), Ira DAVENPORT, and Sabin CARR.