Northwest student 赫歇尔 尼尔。 attended the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, 德国, prior to World War II. Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party allowed only members of the Aryan race to compete for 德国 to promote his ideological belief of racial supremacy. 杰西·欧文斯, who 尼尔。 competed against in the Olympic Trails, proved that ideology a fallacy when he won gold for the United States.
尼尔。 placed fourth in the Olympic Trials in New York City because one of his long jumps was disqualified, 因此, missing his chance to compete against 欧文斯 in Berlin. 尼尔。 traveled with the Olympic Team to 德国 and was proud to see 欧文斯 win four gold medals for the United States. 赫歇尔 praised 欧文斯 as an "outstanding athlete.“赫歇尔, who competed against 杰西·欧文斯 in the Triple Jump during the Olympic Trials, was considered by 欧文斯 to be the "better jumper that day." What 欧文斯 saw on 尼尔。's first leap was a distance of almost 51 feet, a mark that would have won the event for the 熊猫 All-American, who was the 1936 NCAA Champion in the Triple Jump. 欧文斯 was in fact "relieved" when the Olympic officials judged 尼尔。's first jump a foul and disallowed the jump.
Born in Gentry County, 赫歇尔 won five individual Missouri High School State Championships while at Grandview High School in Worth County. During his sports career, 赫歇尔 was the NCAA record holder in the Triple Jump and had 17 individual MIAA conference titles. He also achieved eight school records while attending Northwest and obtained NCAA All-American in 1936 and 1937. Additionally, 赫歇尔 was a two time AAU National Champion. 赫歇尔, who is a member of the M-Club Hall of Fame, was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 1972. 尼尔于1961年去世. The 熊猫体育场 track is named after 尼尔。. For a complete list of M-Club Hall of Fame inductees, click 在这里.