Thomas Churchill

Thomas Churchill Sr. (February 26, 1908 – April 29, 1963) was an American star athlete in the 1920s who participated in the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, Netherlands as a decathlete, and was a multi-sport standout for the University of Oklahoma between 1927–28 and 1929–30.

Early life Churchill was born in Blair, Oklahoma. Even though he was a star athlete in multiple sports, basketball was considered his best sport. He repeated as the Kansas Relays decathlon champion in 1929.

Churchill also qualified to participate in the 1928 Summer Olympics as a member of the United States track and field team. In the field of 38 decathletes, Churchill finished in fifth place in the Olympic decathlon competition. Churchill was once again named all-conference, and at the end of the season he was also honored as a consensus All-American.

In 1929–30, his senior year at Oklahoma, Churchill had the most success of his football career. Playing at the end position, and occasionally as a running back, he was honored as an all-conference performer and was also named as a third-team All-American by the United Press and Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA). He was invited to play in the East–West Shrine Game as well. The Sooners had great success that season and were crowned co-conference champions under head coach Lawrence Haskell.

When Churchill's collegiate athletics career was over, he had earned 10 varsity letters in four sports, earned multiple all-conference selections and played on teams that won three total conference championships (not including boxing titles).

Later life and death Churchill later managed the El Macero Country Club in El Macero, California. He died on April 29, 1963, in Sacramento, California, after a surgery for cancer.

Head coaching record