Joe McCluskey

Joseph ("Joe") P. McCluskey (June 2, 1911 – August 31, 2002) was an American athlete. During his career, he won 27 national titles in various distance events and captured the steeplechase title a record nine times in a 13-year period.

At the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California, McCluskey won the bronze medal in the 3,000-meter steeplechase event that could have been a silver. A substitute lap counter failed to hold up the number of the laps remaining the first time the runners went past, and the athletes wound up running an extra lap. McCluskey was second at the end of the regular race but dropped back to third during the extra lap. When offered the opportunity to rerun the race the next day, McCluskey said, "A race has only one finish line" [cite web
last =Litsky
first =Frank
title = Joe McCluskey, 91, Track Medalist, Dies
publisher =The New York Times
url =http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9503EFD7103FF932A3575AC0A9649C8B63
accessdate =2007-12-31] and chose to let the results stand making it the only 3,490-meter steeplechase event ever held in Olympic history.

McCluskey, born in South Manchester, Connecticut, was also a 1936 Olympian and coached the New York Athletic Club for fourteen years. A 1933 graduate of Fordham University, McCluskey was inducted into the Fordham University Hall of Fame as well as the USATF Hall of Fame in 1996.

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