Appeared in Spring/Summer 2025 Gazette
by Paul Weaver

On the east side of New Trier’s Winnetka campus next to the old Phelps football field sits a large sign listing the all time school track and field records. An older sign was replaced in 2018 and records updated but the oldest entry on the board remains – the boys long jump, set in 1944 and unbroken in 86 years. It reads: H Aihara and J. Ludford – 23 feet 1.5 inches.

New Trier track record board, 2025.

Who were those guys? Could that record possibly be accurate? What happened to them?

The record keeping is thanks to the New Trier Athletic department and former Woodland Avenue resident and NTE 1976 graduate David Waitley. In 2016, Waitley, now a physician specializing in infectious diseases living in Oak Brook, learned that New Trier’s track logs had fallen out of date. Specifically, the pre-1982 New Trier merger track records were lost and other records were inaccurate. Working with the high school staff, Waitley was able to find, update and harmonize track records for the 18 Track and Field events including the record setting 1976 3200 meter men’s relay team that he ran anchor on. Waitley has also assembled the top 50 times/ distances across all the New Trier track events.

New Trier track team, 1944.

Back to the record setting long jumpers. Henry Aihara and Jim Ludford were members of New Trier’s legendary 1944 state championship track team – the last New Trier squad to win a state track title. This was a time when Track and Field was a major sport and their victory made the front page of the Chicago Tribune as the team dominated the state meet, scoring points in eight of twelve events and winning three events outright.

Record keeper Waitley reports that there was no luck involved with the long jump record as both Ludford and Aihara each posted 6 long jumps in the top 50 of all time at New Trier. Ludford, a Wilmette native, appeared to use speed and power to achieve his record and finished third in the state meet in the long jump and fourth in the 220 yard dash. His finish in the 220 yard dash was noteworthy because he spiked his hand in the long jump on the prior day, an injury that required 17 stitches to close. Despite this, he still ran in the 220 yard state final. Following graduation, Ludford served in the army and later joined his twin brother and father in the family printing business.

Aihara jumping, undated.

Henry Aihara appeared to be more of a leaper as he finished second in both the long jump and high jump in the state meet. Aihara had just come to Winnetka as part of a resettlement work program for his senior year in high school after spending 15 months at the Japanese internment camp. He was raised with three siblings on his family’s fruit farm in Garden Grove, California where they grew asparagus, tomatoes, oranges, and strawberries. In May, 1942, Henry, his mother and older sister were sent to an internment camp in Postun, AZ and his father was sent to a camp in Santa Fe. Aihara was one of five Japanese American students New Trier welcomed from internment camps in 1943. Per a Chicago Daily News article, NT coach John Nay identified Aihara as a solid prospect for the track team the first time he saw him. “I didn’t know who he was, his name, or anything about him. But when he cleared 5 feet 10 inches in that gym class… well that’s going some, and you can bet I found out right away who the new kid was.”

Relocation records indicate that Aihara left the Poston camp on August 9, 1943 shortly before the start of the school year. He stayed with the family of Walter T. Fisher at 949 Fisher Lane in Winnetka. After New Trier, Aihara went on to the University of Illinois and won the 1945 NCAA long jump event. According to a 2023 U of I exhibit on the Illini Japanese American experience in World War II, Henry was initially denied entrance to the university based on his academic performance but later was accepted as the university received letters of support describing him as “an exceptional athlete with an older brother serving in the army medical corps”. In 1945, Henry joined the US Army, and returned to college in 1949 and 1950 as a member of the national champion track team at USC (University of Southern California) including serving as team captain in 1950.

Ludford died in 1970 at age 44 in Chicago and Aihara passed away in his hometown of Garden Grove, California in 2014 after a career as a chemical engineer. What an incredible story to an amazing record. I guess New Trier students are stronger and faster than they used to be but they sure don’t jump as far. ■