Former UCO Athlete Went to the Olympics During Hitlers Regime

Ray “Duke” Clemons from East Duke, Oklahoma, made history for the Bronchos in 1936 when he became the only athlete from the University of Central Oklahoma to ever compete in the Olympics. 

Representing the United States wrestling team in the Berlin Games, Clemons fought his way to a fifth-place finish in the 191-pound weight class despite battling with a 102-degree fever that sent him to a German hospital.  

His Olympic journey capped one of the greatest eras in the, at the time, Central State College athletics. The school’s 1936 yearbook called that season “Probably the greatest in the history of the school,” with Clemons at the center of it. 

A three-time All-American, he placed third in the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) National Tournament in 1934 and second in 1935, before winning the national AAU heavyweight crown in 1936. That same year, he led Central to the  National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Championships in Stillwater, where he tied for the team lead and earned runner-up honors against the Aggies before ultimately capturing the championship.

 In addition to wrestling, Clemons starred on the football field,  earning All-Conference honors twice as a lineman for the Bronchos.  

Winning the National Championship earned him a spot at the Missouri Valley Olympic  Wrestling Tryouts, hosted by Central’s campus, where he won in his weight class. Doake Stowe, who won the 145-weight class, and Ted Anderson advanced to the trials for the American  Olympic Team in Pennsylvania the next month, where 120 wrestlers fought for 14 coveted spots. 

 Only Ray “Duke” Clemens made the national team headed to the Olympics.  

The Berlin Olympics became ones like unlike any before. Adolph Hitler used the Games as a showcase, filling stadiums with swastikas and staging displays to impress the world. 

In the  United States, many questioned whether participation would appear as sympathetic to Hitler’s anti-Semitic policies. Russia and Spain chose not to compete, but the U.S. team went forward. 

The Games would become famous for Jesse Owens, a U.S. track and field athlete win of four gold medals, which directly challenged Hitler’s claims of Aryan superiority, but behind the headlines were athletes like Clemons, stepping onto the mat under extraordinary circumstances.  

Clemons battled through the 1936 Games with abscessed tonsils and a fever of 102 degrees. The illness overwhelmed him, and he collapsed during the competition. 

He spent a week in a Berlin hospital, where, according to reports, Adolf Hitler himself visited the stricken American. Though his condition kept him from the podium, Clemons still fought his way to a fifth-place finish.  

His story becomes even more remarkable considering his background. Clemons never wrestled or played football in high school, yet at Central, he became a three-time wrestling conference champion, national AAU champion, and two-time All-Conference football player. 

Today, Clemons’ legacy lives on not only in the record books but also in the archives. Without preserved yearbooks, photographs, and athletic reports, stories like his could easily be lost. The  UCO Library archives ensure that future generations can rediscover these moments, connecting local history to the world stage.