Gilbert CruterAn all-around athlete at Denver West High School, Cruter's career in athletics had many distinguished accomplishments, including an alternate berth on the 1936 Olympic track and field team and national ranking in the high jump, including a career best 6-10 in 1938, ranking him among the world's best.
Cruter became the first black male teacher hired by the Denver Public Schools, then became the first black coach in the DPS when he took over the head track post at Manual High School in 1948. During his tenure, Cruter elevated the school's prominence to the level it continues to enjoy. His teams won three Denver championships and the 1956 CHSAA state championship.
He is credited with providing hundreds of young black students with the opportunity to compete during the early 1950s. His professional life has included government service as a Goodwill Ambassador to Ghana for the United States State Department, as a Cultural Affairs Attache to West Africa and as a Congressional Liaison Officer for the State Department's Agency for International Development. Cruter served in the DPS's School Community Relations department from 1964 until his retirement in 1983, serving since 1975 as the Executive Director of the department.
