When thinking about the living legends of Penn State, chances are the first name that comes to mind is Joe Paterno.

Horace Ashenfelter is a name that is also included with the names of living legends at Penn State.

Ashenfelter, a Phoenixville native, graduated from Penn State in 1949 and competed for the United States in the 1952 Olympics held in Helsinki, Finland.

July marked the 50th anniversary of Ashenfelter's gold medal performance in the 3000-meter steeplechase as well as one of the biggest upsets in Olympic's history.

To this day, Ashenfelter is the only American to earn an Olympic gold medal in the event.

His victory over the heavily favored Vladimir Kazantsev also set a new world record for the event.

"My assumption was that I was going to do my best," said Ashenfelter, who now resides in Glen Ridge, NJ. "Before the race, I was excited and enthusiastic."

At the age of 29, Ashenfelter was competing against the much younger Kasantsev, who was in his early twenties at the time.

Much of the media coverage at the time regarded Ashenfelter's victory over Russia's Kasantsev as a victory of the FBI over a Communist party member, as the Cold War era was in its infancy.

"There was no Cold War competition, it was a runners competition," said Ashenfelter.

"It's the media, they do what they want, but I just didn't pay attention."

Although the two runners did not interact with each other before or after the race, Ashenfelter said the two had a lot of respect for one another.

"He didn't speak English, so we couldn't talk to each other," he said.

In the years since the 1952 Olympics, Ashenfelter's world record has been broken numerous times, but he has not been able to get in contact with Kasantsev.

"I've tried to locate Kasantsev, but I can't even find out if he's alive or not", said Ashenfelter.

Ironically, Ashenfelter did not start out his Penn State athletic career as a track star.

He first started out as a boxer, but one day while running on the golf course at Penn State, he met up with some cross country runners who were also training.

The nimble Ashenfelter was able to keep up with them, and was later convinced by a cross country team member to run.

After the Olympics, Ashenfelter stopped working for the FBI and worked in the precious metals business.

He is a football season ticket holder and still makes trips up to Happy Valley every year for various events.

Ashenfelter said he is just as interested in the academics at Penn State than he is the athletics.

"I follow all the sports at Penn State," said Ashenfelter.

"I'm not an avid fan, just a normal everyday Penn State fan. If it's Penn State it's got to be good."

One recent event in particular was well worth the four-hour drive from New Jersey.

In May of 2001, the indoor track at the university's Multi-Sport Facility was named after Ashenfelter.

The main reason being for his generous contributions to Penn State as well as his gold medal performance.

"If there was one person we were going to name the track after it was him," said Harry Groves, head coach of the Penn State men's track team.

"What made him unique was that he set the precedent. He was a pioneer"

Groves said that the majority of Ashenfelter's success came after he finished college.

"What he did was unique in track and field," said Groves. "I've coached a whole mess of years, but Horace was a real inspiration."