American Olympic sprinter in 1896, and the very first-ever Olympic champion in a sprint event. He was an Olympic “Gold” medalist in the 100 (12 seconds) and 400 (54.2 seconds) meter events of the 1896 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, the first Olympiad of the modern era (first place finishers received a silver medal in the 1896 Olympics, second place a bronze medal, and third received no formal recognition). Burke was one of fourteen men comprising the US team, and one of nine members of the team who were associated with the Boston Athletic Club. Burke was from the West end of Boston; his father was an undertaker at Saint Joseph’s Church. Burke was a track star at English High School, where he set a schoolboy 600-yard dash that stood for many years