'A tear comes to my eye': 2024 Paris Games remind Akron's Lester Carney of Olympic power
Lester Carney doesn't know who will win the men's 200-meter final Aug. 8 during the Paris Olympics, but the longtime Akron resident can predict how he'll react when he sees the race on TV.
“When I watch the 200, a tear comes to my eye,” Carney told the Beacon Journal during a recent interview.
Carney won a silver medal in the 200 during the 1960 Rome Games, and the event still evokes powerful memories. Sixty-four years ago, Carney proved he was among the top sprinters in the world.
“How many people get to do that?” he said.
1960 silver medal winner Les Carney knew Jesse Owens after the legend's Olympic track and field career
Carney, 90, is grateful for an extraordinary life highlighted by family and friends. He considers the people he met and relationships he built through track and field the best aspect of being an Olympian.
He became a close friend of the legendary hurdler from Barberton High School, three-time gold medalist Glenn “Jeep” Davis. He also got to know iconic track athlete Jesse Owens, who attended East Technical High School in Cleveland and Ohio State before winning four gold medals in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Long after their track days, Carney and Owens dined in Akron when the latter visited for an event.
Carney's maternal grandfather, George Broughton, had framed photographs of Owens and boxing great Joe Louis hanging on a wall in his house in Bellaire, Ohio, Carney's hometown. As a boy, Carney drew inspiration from the images.
“I said, 'Wow!'” Carney recalled. “[My grandfather] said, 'You want your picture up there?' I said, 'It would be great.'”
Yet, becoming an Olympian didn't sit atop Carney's wish list as he grew into a young man. Instead, he envisioned an NFL career after blossoming into a star halfback at Wintersville High School and continuing to thrive on an athletic scholarship at Ohio University.
The Colts picked Lester Carney in the 1958 NFL draft
As a sophomore in 1953, Carney aided the Bobcats in winning their first Mid-American Conference football championship before serving in the Army as a Morse code radio operator in Germany. He returned to OU in 1957 and played his final two seasons of collegiate football.
The Baltimore Colts noted his achievements and picked him in the 15th round (178th overall) of the 1958 NFL draft. The draft, however, wasn't even a fraction of the hype machine it is nowadays.
“My girlfriend's mother called her and told her, 'Do you know that Lester got drafted?' And I said, 'Drafted by who? When?' That's how I found out. They didn't contact me,” Carney said.
Actually, Carney is still waiting to hear from the Colts. They didn't communicate with him at all.
“Not one word,” he said.
Carney, who often goes by Les, had a change of heart about football being his future anyway. A stellar track career at OU took off after he returned from Germany and influenced his trajectory.
As a junior in 1958, he made national news by setting an NCAA meet record with a time of 20.8 seconds in the 220 yards during a semifinal heat in Berkeley, California. He earned All-America status the next year as a senior and finished second in the 200 meters in the 1959 Pan American Games in Chicago.
After graduating from college, Carney arrived in Akron in 1959 to work as an executive for the M. O’Neil Co. He has lived in the Rubber City ever since. O'Neil's granted him a leave of absence to train for and compete in the Olympic trials in California. He prepared for the trials under the guidance of then-OU track coach Stan Huntsman and ultimately qualified for Team USA.
Summit County Sports Hall of Fame: Class of 2024 has NFL stars, plus NCAA and world champs. Find out who they are here
Akron's Les Carney and Barberton High School graduate Jeep Davis grew closer as members of Team USA track and field
On the Olympic team, Carney strengthened his bond with a familiar face from Northeast Ohio.
Carney remembers reading about Davis scoring all 20 of Barberton High School's points in the 1954 Class A meet and thereby delivering the school a state championship. Later, Carney and Davis competed against each other in some relays while running for Ohio University and Ohio State, respectively. In Rome, Carney hit it off with Davis, who had won a gold medal in the 400-meter hurdles in the 1956 Melbourne Games. They remained friends until Davis' death in 2009.
“Anytime we had something going on and we would be together, we'd eat at the same table and go out and have a couple of beers,” Carney said. “The families got to be [close].”
In Rome, Davis won two more gold medals (400 hurdles and 4x400 meter relay).
Carney estimates he was 1½ inches away from capturing gold in the 200. He surged toward the end along with Italy's Livio Berruti, and they both fell after crossing the finish line. Berruti seized gold with a time of 20.5 seconds. Carney took silver with 20.6.
“When I look at YouTube and watch it again,” Carney said, “I just say to myself, 'That close.'”
Carney holds his head high, though. He peaked at the right moment, producing the best time of his life in the 200 when the stakes were the highest.
The death of Carney's paternal grandmother about a week and a half before the 1960 Games nearly dissuaded him from traveling to Rome. As he trained in San Diego, his family called to inform him of the unfortunate news.
“I said, 'I'm coming home for the funeral,'” Carney recalled. “My grandfather says, 'No, you're not.' I said, 'But that's grandma.' He said, 'No, you're not.' He says, 'Stay on the team, go over there and make us proud.' Hung up the phone. I was that close to not even being there.”
Lester Carney was inducted into the Summit County Sports Hall of Fame and serves on its board of directors
On the heels of the Olympics, Carney married his college sweetheart, Barbara. They had two daughters, Corrie and Leslie Beth, and a son, Lester Jr. The couple were married for 48 years until Barbara died in 2009.
Carney remarried. He and his wife, Mary, recently celebrated their 12-year wedding anniversary. Mary had been previously married for 32 years before her first husband passed away. A few years later, Mary's oldest daughter introduced her to Carney.
Carney retired in 1989 from O'Neil's, where he had become the first Black person to hold the title of buyer on the executive team. He then spent another decade working for Summit County Job and Family Services.
The Summit County Sports Hall of Fame inducted Carney in 1984, named him to its board of directors in 1991 and presented him with the Ed Kalail Volunteer Award in 2019. Carney continues to volunteer for the Summit County Sports HOF and several other local organizations, including First Tee of Greater Akron and the Towpath Credit Union.
“He's obviously a perfect example of someone who is a giver,” Summit County Sports HOF president Jeff Kurtz said of Carney. “He doesn't ever do anything expecting something in return. He's humble. He's genuine. I think if you look up the definition of gentleman in the dictionary, you've got a picture of Les Carney right next to it.”
Carney returned to work after his Olympics appearance without a subsequent attempt to compete in the 1964 Tokyo Games. Meanwhile, the president of O'Neil's often brought him to speaking engagements, and a mannequin donned his silver medal in the front window of the company's downtown Akron department store for a few weeks.
Carney is among the torchbearers who combined to carry the Olympic flame across the U.S. en route to Atlanta for the 1996 Summer Games. His quarter-mile leg went through the east side of Cleveland.
People from Carney's old stomping grounds are proud of him. In 2015, Indian Creek High School named its track in Wintersville in honor of Carney.
Although Carney stopped dominating races long ago, he stays active by golfing two to four times a week and jogging or walking with wife Mary around the perimeter of Hardesty Park, not far from his West Akron home.
Did he make the right choice by eventually picking track over football?
“For longevity, I think I did,” he said.
Carney is still going strong. And with the 2024 Paris Games upon us, he remains an inspiration.
How to watch the 2024 Paris Olympics: Stream the Games with these tips
Akron, Canton, Akron Zips and Kent State Golden Flashes athletes to watch in the 2024 Paris Olympics
Hunter Armstrong, Dover/formerly of the Canton City Schools club team, swimming
Marcus Christopher, Lake Township, BMX freestyle
Corey Conners, formerly of Kent State, golf (Canada)
Stephen Curry, Akron, basketball
LeBron James, Akron, basketball
Jonny Marshall, Akron, swimming (Great Britain)
Grace Nuhfer, Akron Zips, Paralympic swimming
Chris Ortiz, formerly of Kent State, basketball (Puerto Rico)
Danniel Thomas-Dodd, formerly of Kent State, track and field (Jamaica)
Note: The athletes are representing the U.S., unless otherwise noted.
The story of a local Olympian: Lake High School graduate Marcus Christopher makes Olympics in BMX freestyle
Summit County Sports Hall of Fame awards Bruce Buchholzer scholarships to four local student-athletes
This summer, the Summit County Sports HOF awarded a $1,000 Bruce Buchholzer scholarship to each of the following local student-athletes who graduated from high school in 2024: Kennedy Boal (Manchester), Demetrion Duvall (Buchtel), Samuel Su (Woodridge) and Isabelle Ubelhart (St. Vincent-St. Mary).
The scholarship recipients will be recognized during the Summit County Sports HOF’s 66th induction ceremony and banquet, which will be held Oct. 1 at Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, 129 S. Union St., Akron. Tickets for the banquet may be purchased online at akronroundtable.org beginning Aug. 1.
Donations to the Bruce Buchholzer scholarship fund can be made by visiting www.summitcountyshof.org/donations and clicking the link at the bottom of the page to the Akron Community Foundation's website.
Like Carney and Kurtz, Nate Ulrich is a member of the Summit County Sports Hall of Fame's board of directors. He can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Paris Games stir emotions for Akron Olympian Lester Carney
