James Armstrong Cathcart '55

The following is an excerpt from an article written in the fall 1996 issue of the High School: "His road to EHS track and field began rather inauspiciously when, at 5 feet, 3 inches and only 85 pounds, he was cut from the junior basketball team and joined the outdoor winter track team. When he left EHS four years later, James Cathcart, a self-professed 'late bloomer: had grown 11 inches and had captured the 100-yard dash, 220-yard dash and long-jump records at EHS."

Although his record in the boys' 100-yard dash was broken in 1974 by Oran Rowe II 74, Mr. Cathcart still holds the school records in the boys' 220-yard dash (21.6 sec.) and the boys' long-jump (22' 2").

Mr. Cathcart, nicknamed "Squeedunks," by his coach, was a member of the varsity football team and was captain of the winter and spring varsity track teams during his senior year at EHS. He was a Monitor and also a member of the Choir, Glee Club, E-Club and Fairfax Literary Society. Mr. Cathcart went on to pursue his running career with a track scholarship at the University of South Carolina where he was captain of the varsity track team and was named an Atlantic Coast Conference Scholar-Athlete. He broke the freshman state 440-yard record and later in his career beat Duke University graduate and world record holder Dave Sime in the 220-yard dash. He still carries pieces of cinder in his knee from the fall he took after beating Sime to the finish line.

After almost 10 years of competitive running at the high school and collegiate levels, Mr. Cathcart retired his running shoes for a successful 35-year business career in the reinsurance industry, and although he is retired, he continues to do some reinsurance consulting and expert witness work.
An avid supporter of The High School, Mr. Cathcart established the James A. Cathcart III Scholarship in memory of former EHS coach, C.V. Tompkins, in 1988. "Every time you did something excellent, he expected more," Mr. Cathcart said about his mentor, C.V. Tompkins." He brought out more in me than I ever thought possible."

Mr. Cathcart and his wife, Charlen, reside in Tuxedo Park, N.Y., New York City and Kiawah Island, S.C.
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