LRC sleuths this is for you: What happened to Florida HS star who won 7 state titles 100 years ago? No one knows.

This could be an interesting bit of research but I confess I have no clue where to start.n

Picking up on the clue about a potential family ties to the school principal, I.T. Pearson, the link below appears to show that I.T. did have a son Raymond who later became Judge Ray H. Pearson.

http://www.afcfcare.com/obits/obituaries.php/obitID/90988/print/1

But, Ray H. Pearson had at least two brothers, Tillman and C. Dade, born in 1913 and '20 respectively. For I.T.'s son Ray H. to be our mystery trackster in '15 and '17 he would most likely been born in 1899-1900. Which would make him about 20 years older than his younger brother. Not impossible but unlikely.

Also it seems like the Judge might have bragged a bit about being a 7-time state track champ in high school. I think the I.T. Pearson link is a red herring, the Pearson name is all over that area of Florida.

Isaiah's T.'s son is too young.

1940 Census Miami, Florida

Isaiah T Pearson Head M 52 Georgia

Edna Pearson Wife F 48 Georgia

Tillman Pearson Son M 27 Georgia

Laurita Pearson Daughter F 25 Florida

Dade Pearson Son M 20 Florida

Ray Pearson Son M 17 Florida

It's hard to search for this person, because you really want to look in the 1910 Census records, and they are not fully indexed for searching yet.

https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1727033

The 1900 Census is too early - he might not have been born at the time the census was taken.

1920 may be too late - he might have been a casualty in WW I.

I tried to see if he died in WW1 and couldn't find anything. Anyone know how to do that?

Casually Searching various census websites, and nothing comes up for a Pearson family with a family member named Raymond living in Florida circa 1910 (Granted, the data could be incomplete). There were certainly several people born @1900 named Raymond Pearson, but not in Florida that I see.

That missing year between his state track championship appearances might be explained by Pearson moving back and forth between Florida and somewhere else??

I should have bookmarked it, but I found a site with copies of WW1 draft cards, but none for a Raymond Pearson living in Florida. But, again, he may have left Florida by then.

This is interesting. And who knows, Raymond could have been his middle name.

I found a Quinton R. Pearson who was born April 30, 1900 in Desoto Co. FL and died in nearby St. John's Co. in 1975. There were some dates that were inconsistent and I could not find an obit.

Usually tracking people is easy but this one was difficult.

You can search for American World War I casualties on ancestory.com :

http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?htx=List&cj=1&offerid=0%3a679%3a0&dbid=7399&netid=cj&o_xid=0001029688&o_lid=0001029688&o_sch=Affiliate+External

I tried it for Ray Pearson, and several Pearsons were listed, but none had the first name Ray. A few had middle initial R.