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Pete Welsh clearing a hurdle for the Pomona-Claremont track and field team. Words over the photo read: Great Moments from 75 Years of Athletics. 1948 Men's Track and Field: Welsh Becomes CMC's First SCIAC Champion
Pete Welsh competing in the hurdles. Below: Welsh playing for Pomona-Claremont football and basketball teams
Posted: Apr 14, 2021

CMC75 Moments: Welsh Wins 100-Yard Dash at 1948 SCIAC Championships

As part of the buildup to the 75th Anniversary celebration for Claremont McKenna College (visit CMC's 75th Anniversary Countdown Page to learn more), we are reliving many of the great moments from CMS athletic department history over the 75-day countdown from April 17 to July 1. If you were a part of this great moment and would like to add to the memories, or if you would like to submit your memories of your own favorite CMS Athletics moment, fill out the form on our main 75th Anniversary page.

Pete Welsh running the football for Pomona-Claremont Great Moments from 75 Years of Athletics
1948 Track & Field: Pete Welsh wins First SCIAC Title for CMC 
 As a member of one of the first classes in Claremont McKenna history, beginning school in the fall of 1947, Welsh participated in four sports for the newly-formed Pomona-Claremont athletic department, competing for the football, basketball, tennis and track and field teams, including four years in basketball and track and field. In 1948, Welsh won the SCIAC championship in the 100-yard dash, officially becoming the first CMC student-athlete to win a league title.

He graduated with four individual records for Pomona-Claremont, the 100 yards, 200 yards, high jump and long jump, and his long jump record (23 feet, 2 1/2 inches) held for 57 years until it was finally broken in 2006. He was the first winner of the CMC Alumni Athlete Award in 1950, and became the first inductee into the CMS Hall of Fame in 1989. Later nicknamed "the foundation of CMS Track & Field", Welsh continued his athletic success long after graduation, winning the USTA National Indoor Singles Tennis Championship in 1992 in the Men's 65 Division.

Welsh also spread his influence to other sports beyond track and field while on campus. He joined the football team in his second year in the spring of 1948 and had an impact on that program right away, while also earning Second-Team All-SCIAC honors on the basketball team.

Pete Welsh shooting a lay-up for Pomona-Claremont basketball "In addition to being an outstanding CMC athlete, Pete was all-conference in all three sports and was a nationally ranked tennis player," said Robert Emett '50, a Board of Trustees member who graduated with Welsh from CMC in that first class. "He could do anything."

"Pete was one of a kind. He performed an incredible amount of work on behalf of the alumni of CMC, and also was the greatest athlete in CMC history," said member of the CMC Alumni Association Board and former Trustee, Gene Wolver '51.

"Pete was a vital part of CMC," said Jack L. Stark, who served as the third president of the College from 1970-1999. "He was known by all alumni and the Board as a terrific guy and as the best athlete in the history of this institution, with records that lasted well into my presidency."