April 26, 1943: Jerry Karver Halts Running Career to Serve Country, Returns as College Mile King

By Margaret Leidy Harner from her book One Day at a Time: A Social History of Boyertown, PA.

April 26, 1943: Jerry Karver, ranked Number One in the world for the 1000-yard indoor race, is not representing Penn State at the Penn Relays this year. As the Nittany Lions medley relay team ran on to the track today in Philadelphia, someone from the crowd yelled, “Where’s Karver?” The announcer shouted back, “Karver went into the Army last Tuesday.” Jerry had enlisted in the Army Air Corps and had just been called into active duty. He cheerfully and willingly put his running career on hold to serve his country.

After the war, back at State College three years later, Karver resumed his winning record, capturing the triple crown of long-distance racing, winning all of the national major mile titles: the IC4A, NCAA, and the NAAU, and becoming only the second athlete to hold all three titles in the same year. He was also a member of the Nittany Lions distance medley and four mile relay teams that won the national titles at the Penn Relays that year, and repeated the feat the following year, when he was named the College Mile King of 1947. Jerry had returned.

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