Remembering an Oconee Olympic athlete

The Olympic Games get underway tomorrow in Gay Paree, and the occasion has prompted the website The Sports Geek to look at the history books to find out which state produces the most gold for the USA.  It’s California, whose athletes have won 127 gold medals.  Athletes from South Carolina produced three gold medals.  An Oconee County woman did not win gold, but the late Kathlyn Kelley Owens placed 9th in the women’s high jump during the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin.  According to the free encyclopedia Wikipedia, Kathlyn Kelley Owens was never on her high school track team. but her principal encouraged her to try out for the Olympics and found Clemson track coaches willing to work with her.  She died in 2006.