Hazelwood Hero: Herb Douglas, the oldest living Olympian | The Homepage

By JaQuay Carter

Herbert Paul Douglas, the “fastest runner to come out of Hazelwood,” recently said "I was born 57 years after the ending of slavery." I was shocked when I heard it. It seemed impossible. I had to do the math for myself. I subtracted the year he was born, 1922, from the year 1865, and of course I got the same answer.

Looking over his near century of life, nothing was impossible for Mr. Douglas. He was born on March 9, 1922 at 160 Hazelwood Avenue, across from Gladstone and the First Hungarian Lutheran Church. He would attend both Gladstone Elementary and Junior High. As a teenager, Herb idolized Jesse Owens’ performance in the 1936 Olympics. Gladstone did not include high school curriculum at this time, so he attended Taylor Allderdice High School in nearby Squirrel Hill. He excelled at sports, playing football and running track before graduating in June of 1940. Read More