6/19/08

Bert H.W. Kerrigan, 1906: He was the two-time Pacific Northwest high jump champion while competing for the Multnomah Athletic Club and was favored to win gold in Athens. But Kerrigan was hurt when the ship carrying the U.S. team across the Atlantic was hit with a wave in stormy seas, and he settled for bronze.

Alfred Gilbert, 1908: Born in Salem and a graduate of Pacific University in Forest Grove, Gilbert won gold in the pole vault. But he is better known for inventing the Erector Set, a set of building toys that was hugely popular through much of the 20th century. Gilbert is the subject of the biography "The Man Who Changed How Toys and Boys Were Made: The Life and Times of A.C. Gilbert" and the 2002 CBS Movie "The Man Who Saved Christmas." Gilbert was played by "Seinfeld" star Jason Alexander.