Galen Elliott (1928) - Patterson Medal Winners - University of North Carolina Athletics

Galen Elliott

Induction:
1928
Class:
1928

1928— Galen Elliott: Men's Track and Field (Bath, N.C.)
Known as "The Dixie Flyer," Elliott won All-America honors in the mile in 1926 and 1927 and won Southern Conference championships at that distance in 1926, 1927 and 1928. He also won the first two Southern Conference titles in cross country in 1926 and 1927.

Elliott, who was inducted into the Order of the Golden Fleece, one of the University's highest honorary societies, was ordained into the Presbyterian ministry in 1953 and served as pastor at several North Carolina churches until his retirement in 1975. He then served as an interim minister in the Durham area until the age of 90.

He held every distance record at Carolina from the half mile to the six-mile run. Regarded as the fastest collegiate miler in America, he won that event in the National and Field Championships in Chicago and the International Track Championships at Madison Square Garden.

In 1928 suffered food poisoning the night before the Olympic Trials and missed making the U.S. Olympic Team by two-tenths of a second.