Alvin C. Kraenzlein, DDS and Walter B. Tewksbury, DDS: Olympic medal winners

As contemporaries, Alvin C. Kraenzlein, and Walter B. Tewksbury had a great deal in common. They were both outstanding athletic performers and each became an intercollegiate record holder in track and field. In 1898, the New York Times reported that the University of Pennsylvania "at present has the best college athletes in the world, its two particular stars being Kraenzlein and Tewksbury." As close friends and college roommates during their student years at the University of Pennsylvania College of Dentistry, these two young men graduated in close succession (Walter, 1899; Alvin, 1900). Between them, Alvin and Walter won nine Olympic medals in Paris in 1900. Ultimately, as dentists and athletes, they individually and corporately left indelible imprints on track and field for all time.