Meredith Colket

{{Short description|American athlete (1878–1947)}} {{Infobox sportsperson |name= Meredith Colket |image=150px |caption= |birth_date= November 19, 1878 |birth_place= Philadelphia, USA | death_date = June 7, 1947 (aged 68) | death_place = Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, USA |sport=Athletics |event= pole vault |club= Penn Quakers, Philadelphia | show-medals = yes | medaltemplates = {{MedalSport|Men's athletics}} {{MedalCountry | the {{USA}} }} {{MedalCompetition | Olympic Games}} {{MedalSilver|1900 Paris|Pole vault}} }}

thumb|Meredith Colket competing in pole vault at the 1900 Summer Olympics '''Meredith Bright Colket''' (November 19, 1878 – June 7, 1947) was an American pole vaulter who competed in the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris and won the silver medal in the men's pole vault ahead of Norwegian Carl-Albert Andersen who won bronze. Irving Baxter won gold.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/78247 |title=Meredith Colket |work=Olympedia |accessdate=24 December 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://archives.upenn.edu/exhibits/penn-people/biography/meredith-bright-colket |title=Meredith Bright Colket |website=archives.upenn.edu |access-date=November 7, 2021}}</ref>

== Biography == Colket was born on November 19, 1878, in Philadelphia. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.S. degree in 1901 and a LL.B degree in 1904. He was a member of Phi Gamma Delta and the varsity track team for all four of his undergraduate years. Colkert finished second in the pole jump at the British 1900 AAA Championships.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://nuts.org.uk/Champs/AAA/index.htm |title=AAA, WAAA and National Championships Medallists |website=National Union of Track Statisticians |access-date=30 July 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000893/19000709/019/0001 |title=The Amateur Athletic Association Championships |work=Sporting Life |date=9 July 1900 |via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |access-date=30 July 2024}}</ref>

He organized the first tennis team at Penn and won second place at the intercollegiate tennis doubles championship in 1902. He worked as an attorney for the General Accident Fire & Life Insurance Corporation and continued to play tennis at the Merion Cricket Club.<ref name=Penn/> He married Alberta Kelsey on April 12, 1911, in London.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Lafayette Negative Archive |url=http://lafayette.org.uk/col4757.html |website=www.lafayette.org.uk |access-date=24 July 2021}}</ref>

[[File:Meredith Colket gravesite.jpg|thumb|Meredith Colket gravesite in Laurel Hill Cemetery]] He died of a heart attack at his home in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, on June 7, 1947,<ref name=Penn>{{cite web |title=Meredith Bright Colket |url=https://archives.upenn.edu/exhibits/penn-people/biography/meredith-bright-colket |website=www.archives.upenn.edu |publisher=University of Pennsylvania |access-date=24 July 2021}}</ref> and was interred at Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia.<ref>{{cite web |title=Meredith B Colket |url=https://remembermyjourney.com/memorials/meredith-b-colket?id=azxm82Qn |website=remembermyjourney.com |publisher=webCemeteries |access-date=18 December 2024}}</ref>

Colket's son, Meredith B. Colket Jr. (1912–1985), was a noted genealogist.<ref>{{cite web |title=Colket, Meredith Bright Jr. |url=https://case.edu/ech/articles/c/colket-meredith-bright-jr |website=www.case.edu |date=11 May 2018 |publisher=Case Western Reserve University |access-date=24 July 2021}}</ref>

== References == {{reflist}}

==External links== *[https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F00716FB3B5A147B93CBA9178DD85F438485F9 New York Times obituary, June 9, 1947 (subscription required)] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20060819150807/http://www.phigam.org/history/Lists/olympics.htm Phi Gamma Delta in the Olympics] *{{sports links}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colket, Meredith}} Category:1878 births Category:1947 deaths Category:American businesspeople in the insurance industry Category:American men pole vaulters Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1900 Summer Olympics Category:Burials at Laurel Hill Cemetery (Philadelphia) Category:Medalists at the 1900 Summer Olympics Category:Olympic silver medalists for the United States in track and field Category:Pennsylvania lawyers Category:Penn Quakers men's tennis players Category:Sportspeople from Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania Category:Track and field athletes from Philadelphia Category:University of Pennsylvania alumni Category:19th-century American sportsmen Category:20th-century American businesspeople Category:20th-century American lawyers