Morgan winning Gold F. Morgan Taylor was one of Grinnell’s most decorated athletes of the 20th century. In the summer of 1924, while a student at Grinnell, Taylor won the U.S. Olympic trials for the 440-yard hurdle, setting a world record time of 52.6 seconds in the process (because a hurdle was knocked down, it did not count as an official world record). At the Paris games, Morgan again came in under 53 seconds, winning a gold medal (pictured here). In all, Morgan won four collegiate (AAU) titles, and two more Olympic bronze medals in 1928 and 1932 (loosing out to the famed British hurdler, Lord Burghley, who was fictionally immortalized in the film, Chariots of Fire). Morgan was widely respected by his colleagues and was elected as the captain of the U.S. track and field team for the 1932 Olympics (Los Angeles) as well as the official flag bearer for team U.S.A (pictured here) one of the highest honors in Olympic sports.