Seems appropriate to mention that, for the last 100 years, the Olympian with the most gold medals was Hoosier and Lafayette native, Ray “The Human Frog” Ewry. Michael Phelps has a chance to match or beat Ewry this Olympics, but he’ll have to take 5 golds to do it.

He jumped not for glory or gold, but to keep the wheelchair away. — Eric Adelson

Ewry went from suffering from polio to being the greatest standing jumper of all time. (“Standing jump” meaning there was no run-up before the jump.) He excelled in the standing high jump, standing long jump, and standing triple jump. In the standing high jump — just standing and jumping up, Ewry cleared 5 feet 4 inches.

As Eric Adelson wrote in his 2004 article, Ewry wasn’t even supposed to walk.

Raymond Clarence Ewry (YOO-re) was born in Lafayette, Ind., in 1873. He was orphaned at the age of 5, and he seemed destined to spend his entire life in the tiny town. Before he was old enough to fully understand, a doctor told Ewry he would never walk again. Ray had polio. He was bound to a wheelchair. There was no cure. He was 7 years old.

One doctor suggested leg exercises. A century later, the workout would be known as plyometrics, but back then it was a last resort. So Ray tried. He dreamed of getting out of that chair, of taking just one step. The boy wanted only to walk.

There was Ray, doing his exercises from the moment he woke up in the morning until the moment he fell asleep at night. There was Ray on a path by the Wabash and Erie canal, near his home. There was Ray, pushing himself out of his chair and onto the ground, pushing the Earth away, teaching himself to stand. There was Ray, balancing himself on his two feet. There was Ray, leaving the ground, jumping. Imagine the look on the boy’s face as he jumped for the first time. Ray jumped over and over again. He jumped simply because he could. He jumped not for glory or gold, but to keep the wheelchair away.

The crippled boy had become the 6-foot-3 college kid with legs of steel.

Ewry won 3 medals in 1900 in Paris; 3 medals in 1904 in St. Louis; 2 medals in 1906 in Athens (Greece had a non-Olympic year Olympics); and 2 medals in London in 1908.

Ray retired with 10 golds. He won four straight championships in each of two events — a mark that might never fall. No other Olympian in history has won as many gold medals without losing a single competition. Even Carl Lewis silvered once. But not Ray Ewry.