John Hill Cronly 1912
Voted Best Athlete, Best Track Athlete, and School Adonis in the Senior Poll, Mr. Cronly excelled in football, baseball, and track and field.
He was the football team’s top running back for three seasons and scored the winning touchdown against Woodberry Forest School in The 10th Game. Mr. Cronly was a Monitor and won the Best Athlete Prize Medal at the School’s Athletic Day as both a junior and senior. “Whispers” declared him a “brilliant fielder and base runner.”
He captained the track and field team as a senior and set School records in the 120-yard high hurdles and 220-yard low hurdles. He competed annually at the University of Virginia State Meet, where he won the 120-yard high hurdles three years running and the 220-yard low hurdles for two consecutive years. As a senior, Mr. Cronly won the 50-yard high hurdles at both the George Washington University Indoor Meet and the Richmond Indoor Scholastic Meet, where he also placed second in the college division. He won the 120-yard high and 220-yard low hurdles at the Southern Intercollegiate Meet his senior year.
Mr. Cronly attended the University of Virginia, where he established himself as a track star. He won the 120-yard hurdles at the Penn Relays and set U.Va. records for both the 120-yard high hurdles and 220-yard low hurdles. Mr. Cronly also set a world record in the 100-yard indoor low hurdles at the Johns Hopkins Fifth Regiment Meet.
