Relays is a 60-year tradition for Penn alum Charles Sutter

Remember the Cold War, Woodstock, World War II? Long before Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt sat together at Yalta, Charles Sutter, 82, sat at the Penn Relays. The 1938 Wharton graduate and self described "track star wannabe" has attended every Relays since 1928 except for two years he missed while otherwise occupied saving the world in World War II. And things were different back when the century was still young. Sutter remembers a dirt track, less crowds, even less black athletes and no women at all. "Things have changed," he said, sharp blue eyes casting a direct stare out over the diverse spectators, international athletes and the state-of-the-art track. "But, they have changed for the better," he added. The Relays enthusiast was born in Philadelphia to a postman and his homemaker wife in 1916. Although his father "was a quiet, studious type," young Sutter was a born athlete, faithfully practicing and excelling at football. Later, his skills would win him a scholarship and enable him to attend Penn during the heart of the Depression. Nevertheless, while throwing that perfect pass or making that winning catch, Sutter could not ignore the runners lapping the track. "I always saw track as a perfect mix of grace and power," Sutter explained. "My father really appreciates the sheer athleticism of the sport," said Sutter's son, also named Charles, who has accompanied his father to the Relays since his early teens. At age 12, Sutter saved up earnings from his newspaper delivery job to pay the 50 cents he remembers as the Relays' admissions cost. Usually, he attended alone, but he soon found new companions at Penn, joining Phi Kappa Sigma, Phi Kappa Beta, a junior honor society and Sphinx Senior Society. Most important, however, was still football. "My greatest thrill was being out on the field, in my uniform, with all the crowds yelling and then going out there to play for Penn," Sutter reminisced, noting that Penn was ranked 10th in the nation at that time. After graduating from Penn in 1938, Sutter funneled his Wharton expertise into an entrepreneurial paper business with his brother. However, soon he would hear a greater calling, the only thing to ever come between him and the Relays -- the war. Sutter might have foreseen what was coming when Jesse Owens -- long his ideal athlete ever since he had seen him run at the Relays for Ohio State -- was denied his medal at the 1936 Olympics due to the Nazi racial policy. "People were really upset when that happened," Sutter remembered. "But they didn't know how much worse it would get." Hoping to stem the tide, Sutter enlisted and helped push the Germans back through Belgium in the Battle of the Bulge, winning a bronze star. Upon leaving the army in 1946, Sutter married and started a family which would include two children and eventually three grandchildren. As things changed, the one thing that remained constant was the Relays. Now, 70 years later, Sutter sits in his specially-reserved seat in section SE, located next to the pole vault, in prime viewing distance of the hurdles -- his favorite -- and directly across from the finish line. "I'm just keeping an eye out on the next generation," he said.