About Ray Barbuti
Raymond James Barbuti was an American football player and sprint runner who won two gold medals at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Barbuti traveled to Amsterdam to initially only compete for the 400 meter sprint however the US medal position was meek and then US Olympic committee president, Major General Douglas MacArthur insisted after Barbuti won the 400 meter gold that he run in the 4 × 400 meter relay the next day. Barbuti was interrupted by MacArthur during his celebratory evening to start preparing to run the anchor for the event the next day. Barbuti initially, vehemently refused, claiming he would not displace a fellow US runner in search for further medals. However MacArthur was relentless and finally prevailed and history commenced with the team winning the gold. Raymond James Barbuti (June 12, 1905 – July 8, 1988) was an American football player and sprint runner who won two gold medals at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, Netherlands. In 1924, while playing fullback, Barbuti set a New York state high school record, which still stands (2013), scoring eight touchdowns in one game. He attended Syracuse University, where he won the IC4A championship in the 400 m sprint in 1928 in a time of 48.8 seconds.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.