On April 17, 1937, John Fawcett of Coronado High came out of the chute on the straightaway at Chaffey High in Ontario and traversed 440 yards in 49.5 seconds.
Fawcett handily won his one-turn race in the Chaffey Invitational and set a San Diego County record that would last nine years and a school record that stood for 24 years.
Mr. Fawcett passed away recently in San Diego at age 93.
Fawcett’s County 440-yard record was bettered by San Diego High’s Norman Stocks, who ran :49.3 in winning the Southern Section championship in 1946 in Balboa Stadium.
Scott Knox broke Fawcett’s school record and Stocks’ County record when Knox won the San Diego Section championship in :49.2 at Kearny in 1961.
Fawcett went on to play football and compete in track at Redlands University.
After more than 30 years in education and athletics in the Panama Canal Zone, Mr. Fawcett and his family returned to San Diego and he retired in Rancho Bernardo, according  to UT-San Diego.
