Edward 'Ned' Gourdin (1897-1966), as a Harvard athlete, set a new world's record in the running broad jump - 25 feet, 3 inches - the first human to leap beyond 25 feet. A graduate of Cambridge Latin High and Harvard Law School (1924) he was crowned National Amateur Athletic Union Junior 100-yard dash champion and National Pentathlon champion (1921 and 1922). In 1952 he was appointed as a Special Justice of the Roxbury District Court, the third Black to serve on the state bench. In 1958 he was appointed to the Massachusetts Superior Court.