Chatham High School

While doing some organization in one of Chatham High School’s backroom closets recently, building secretary Sabrina Williams unearthed an age-worn trophy commemorating the gold medal Raymond J. Barbuti won in the 400-meter dash at the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam.

If you didn't know, Mr. Barbuti is the namesake of Chatham's annual Ray Barbuti Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot. Originally from Brooklyn, he chose Chatham as his home later in life and lived on Kinderhook Street before moving to Queechy Lake in Canaan. He died in 1988 and is buried in St. James Cemetery in Ghent.

According to legend, the very first Turkey Trot took place in 1977 on the Chatham Fairgrounds’ horse track, involved only two runners, and was observed by a total of two spectators. The event’s organizer, Bill McDowell, “competed” alone in a three-mile event while Chatham High School student-athlete John Stimmel ran a solo one-mile race. The event’s two spectators? Chatham physical education teacher and coach Edward Knight, and the man himself, Ray Barbuti. The rather uncontested nature of the “race” didn’t stop McDowell from gleefully calling in to a local radio station to declare himself and Stimmel as the winners of the first-annual Ray Barbuti Turkey Trot. These days, this Chatham Thanksgiving Day tradition is put on by the Morris Memorial and is a bit more competitive, attracting upwards of 400 runners per year.

Battling spider webs and dust bunnies, Ms. Williams rescued the trophy from its forgotten repository, gave it good cleaning, and put it on display in the CHS main office for the duration of the Paris Olympic Games.

The full inscription on the trophy reads:

Keith-Albee

Central Theatre

Cedarhurst LI

Testimonial to Raymond J. Barbuti

Winner of the Olympic

400 Metre Dash

Amsterdam Holland

August 23, 1928

Exactly how and why it came to be at Chatham High School is a bit of a mystery. Perhaps you know?