Hall of Fame
Clement P. Wilson, Class of 1912, was the first athlete from Coe College and from the state of Iowa to qualify for Olympic competition. On his way to the 1912 Games in Stockholm, Clem Wilson set world records in the 100-yard dash and the 100-meter dash. In one of his rare losses, he took second place in a disputed finish in the Olympic 100-meter dash, in an era when the human eye rather than an electronic eye judged the winner. It has been said records are made to be broken. But Clem Wilson's Coe records in the 100-yard dash at 9.6 seconds and in the 220-yard dash at 21.2 seconds have stood up for more than 50 years against the assaults of generations of Kohawks runners. As a student Clem Wilson ran in the 100, 200, and 440 yard races, winning 55 of the 58 events he ran. He sprinted to state championships in all three events in the three years he entered. His victories came in the prestige meets of his day -- the Drake Relays, the National Intercollegiate Athletic Association Meet, and the Missouri Valley Meet. If Coe College had had a sports publicist in those days, he surely would have dubbed Clem Wilson with the title, "Coe's fastest human." October 26, 1973
