Arie Gluck

Arie Gluck was an Israeli runner and coach. He competed in the 1952 [Summer Olympic Games] under the surname Gill or Gill-Glick.

Early and personal life

Gluck was born in Czechoslovakia on April 13, 1930. In 1933, Gluck emigrated with his parents with him to the British Mandate of Palestine and settled in the city of Tel Aviv.
At age 15, Gluck served in the Haganah, Israel's pre-state army. At age 17, he served in the Palmach, the Haganah's elite special forces. As a teenager, Gluck fought in the 1947–1949 Palestine war and was wounded.
In later life, Gluck and his wife Elaine lived in Voorhees Township, New Jersey. He named his son Gill, and also had two daughters, Roni and Ruth. He attended synagogue at Temple Emanuel and Congregation M'kor Shalom, both in Cherry Hill.

His personal bests were 49.6 in the 400 metres, and 1:59.7 in the 800 metres, both in 1952.
He competed for Israel at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki at the age of 22. In the Athletics at the [1952 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metres|Men's 400 metres] he came in 5th in Heat 5 with a time of 50.2, and in the Athletics at the 1952 [Summer Olympics – Men's 800 metres|Men's 800 metres] he came in 6th in Heat 7 with a time of 2:00.9.

He was a physical education teacher at the time that he competed in the Olympics. After the Olympics he was recruited by the track coach at Adelphi University on Long Island, New York, for whom he competed in track. In 1959 he then worked in South Jersey as a physical education director at the Jewish Community Center. In 1966, he was named director of the Jewish Reform movement's Camp Harlam near Kresgeville, Pennsylvania in the Poconos for 37 years. He ultimately was in charge of all 12 of the movement's camps, and retired in 2002. Arie Glick died at the age of 86 in 2016, at Virtua Voorhees Hospital.