As the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad in Paris, France draw closer to their opening ceremonies on Friday, July 26, local historian Chuck Langerman shared two former Olympians who graduated from Cheltenham High School.

Charles Horter (above and below left) and the late Don Cohan (above and below right) teamed up to win a bronze medal in Yachting at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany.

According to Langerman, Horter, a 1965 CHS graduate, and Cohan, a 1947 graduate, are the only Cheltenham High alumni in school history to win medals at the summer games.

Horter, a member of the Drexel University Athletic Hall of Fame, was a former captain of Drexel’s sailing team before going on to a successful career in real estate management. He competed in the 1968, 1972, 1976 and 1980 Olympic Trials.

Cohan, a member of the Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and recipient of the Senatorial Medal of Freedom, was the first Jewish athlete to win an Olympic medal in the yachting event. He attended Amherst College and Harvard Law School before embarking on a successful career in law and real estate.

“For all of Don’s academic, business, and sporting accomplishments, his biggest triumph came later in life by beating back Stage 4 cancer (Hodgkin’s Disease) several times when doctors gave him little chance of surviving each time,” Langerman said.

He came back to win a U.S. sailing championship at the age of 72.

For all the latest news, follow us on Facebook or sign up for Glenside Local’s “Daily Buzz” newsletter here.

Photos: Olympedia.org