“Harold Osborn was my great grandfather, my dad’s grandfather and he has been a legend in our family since I was born,” Jonna Seline said. “He won two, gold medals at the 1924 Paris Olympics in the decathlon and high jump.”
Seline and her father, Scott Huneryager, talked about their great sense of pride in what someone in their family was able to accomplish all those years ago.
“He was competitive, competitive and competitive,” Huneryager said. “He spent until 1936 competing competitively from 1922 and right after that he jumped straight into osteopathy and became a doctor of osteopathy.”
That’s why they often refer to him as “doc” because he became a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine after his time competing in two Olympics. Huneryager said he still has fond memories of his grandfather from decades ago.
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“I spent 17 years on the planet with him, and he was very, very humble, not a braggart, not the most outgoing of people, I mean in this day and age you would see somebody who wanted a decathlon, and they'd be all over Sports Illustrated and stuff like that, 132 but he would never even in this day and age want that kind of fame,” Huneryager said.
Osborn died in 1975 at the age of 75, but his grandson said he can remember their time together like it was yesterday.
"I really [am] feeling so much of his presence even though he's no longer with us and hasn't been for almost 50 years,” he said.
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That brings us to now and when the family found out the 2024 Games would be held in Paris, exactly 100 years after Osborn competed and won two, gold medals, they felt as a family, they had to go to also be part of that history.
"I think it's important for the kids also to realize that they come from this awesome legacy, and my daughter was able to take the gold medal when we had it in possession to Pre-K show and tell, which is just such a cool experience," Seline said.
His medals, the jersey he wore during the Olympics and even his cleats have been donated to his alma mater, the University of Illinois. The family allowing the university to display those items in a special exhibit that should be ready soon.
Harold Osborn is a man his family will never forget and an Olympian they hope the world won’t either.
