Home / Birthday profiles / John Woodruff (runner)
Portrait of John Woodruff (runner)

Birthday profile

John Woodruff (runner)

John Woodruff, American runner and commander (died 2007)

Find birthday twinsOpen interactive profile
Born
July 5, 1915
Died
October 30, 2007
Zodiac sign
Cancer
Birth year
1915

About John Woodruff (runner)

John Youie "Long John" Woodruff was an American middle-distance runner, winner of the 800 meter event at the 1936 Summer Olympics. He took the lead, lost it on the backstretch, but regained it on the final turn and won the gold medal. During a career that was curtailed by World War II, Woodruff won one Amateur Athletic Union title in 800 meter in 1937 and won both 440 yd (400 m) and 880 yd (800 m) IC4A titles from 1937 to 1939.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

The world when John Woodruff (runner) was born

John Woodruff (runner) was born in 1915. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1915

  • Top movieThe Birth of a Nation
  • Best-selling book"The Turmoil" – Booth Tarkington

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentJess Willard defeats Jack Johnson for heavyweight title in Havana
  • Top headlineLusitania sunk by German submarine — 1,198 die
  • Technology milestoneFirst transcontinental telephone call (Bell to Watson)
  • World population~1.75B

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderWoodrow Wilson
  • U.S. population98.4M

1915 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in John Woodruff (runner)'s birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19152026
Gas$0.25$3.45/gal
Movie ticket$0.10$11.95
Population98.4M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, International Olympic Committee, Olympedia, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.