Track and Field team wins the Penn Relays

A photograph of the relay team of Springfield College. The relay team of Springfield College won the Relay Carnival of the University of Pennsylvania. Coach Vern Cox stands in the middle of the picture.Cox graduated from Springfield College in 1944 and immediately joined the Army Air Corp, where he fought in the Pacific Theater. In 1947, joined the Springfield College faculty as a physical education instructor, where he coached soccer, basketball, tennis, lacrosse, cross country and track and field. In 1977, Cox became the college’s alumni director. He passed away in 1991, after forty-four years of serving the college community. The Penn Relays Carnival is the oldest and largest track and field competition in the United States, hosted annually since April 21, 1895 by the University of Pennsylvania at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Relay Carnival regularly attracts more than 15,000 participants from high schools, colleges, and track clubs throughout North America and abroad, competing in more than 300 events over five days. Historically, the event has been credited with popularizing the running of relay races. The picture on the bronze plaque that every person in the photo is holding, features the founder of the University of Pennsylvania, Benjamin Franklin, sitting in his library chair holding a laurel sprig in his left hand. Four nude runners stand facing him in a line all holding hands. The last runner in the line is holding the baton of the relay