Year Inducted: 1968
Albina Osipowich (Van Aken) - Albina Osipowich (Van Aken), 1911-1964, was the women's swimming star of the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics. Albina, a member of the Pembroke swim team, won gold medals in the 100-meter freestyle in an Olympic record time of 1.11.0, and swam the third leg of the 4x100-meter freestyle relay that set a world record of 4:47.6. She… …
Alvin Loftes - Alvin Loftes (born Alvin Hjalmar Lofstedt), 1890-1971, won a bronze medal in cycling in the 1912 Stockholm Olympics in the four-man team time trial. The 320-kilometer race, the first and the longest team time trial in Olympic history, was won by Sweden due, in part, to its home course advantage. Loftes also finished eleventh in… …
Carole Garnett (Wheeler) - Carole Wheeler (Garnett) was a member of the U.S. women's swim team who competed in the 1924 Paris Games. Later she coached swimming and diving. After the death of her first husband, an army colonel, in an auto crash, Carole married Henry S. Wheeler, a mayor of Newport. As Mrs. Wheeler, she became very active… …
Clara Lamore (Walker) - Clara Lamore (Walker) was a member of the U.S. Women's swim team at the 1948 London Games where she was a finalist in the breaststroke. During the 1940's Lamore set two U.S. swim records and won five national championships. After her Olympic disappointment, she gave up swimming until 1981. From that time onward she became… …
David Patten - David Patten, 1888-1975, former managing-editor of The Providence Journal-Bulletin, was a Massachusetts native who spent school vacations and several winters at his grandfather's 260-acre farm in Little Compton, Rhode Island. His career in Providence newspapers as a reporter and editor lasted 35 years. He entertained thousands with his stories of old-time Rhode Island, especially those… …
Dr. William H.P. Faunce - Dr. William H. P. Faunce, 1859-1930, was most notable for being president of Brown University from 1899 to 1929. He is considered one of the great educational administrators and orators of his time. A Brown graduate, he taught freshman mathematics before leaving Brown to attend Theological Seminary and later Divinity School. Faunce accepted the presidency… …
Dudley Shaw Richards - Dudley Shaw Richards, 1932-1961, a nationally prominent figure-skater who competed in pairs with Maribel Y. Owen at the 1960 Winter Games at Squaw Valley, California, and finished tenth. They won the U.S. championships the following year and finished second at the North American Championships, earning the pair a berth on the World team. Richards, a… …
E. Doris Brennan (Weir) - E. Doris Brennen (Weir), a Providence native, held twenty national and world records in swimming during the late 1930's and 1940's. She was named to the U.S. Olympic Team in 1940, but the Games, scheduled in Finland, were cancelled due to the outbreak of World War II. She is a chartered member of the Rhode… …
Ellison M. “Tarzan” Brown - Tarzan Brown, a Native American from the Narragansett tribe, came from the south county village of Alton. He became a world-class marathoner in the 1930's. After a disappointing performance in the 1936 Olympics, Brown entered seven marathon races in close succession and won them all. Two of these races were won within twenty-four hours of… …
Frankie Carle - Frankie Carle, 1903-2001, a native of Providence who became world famous as a pianist and composer, began studying the piano at the age of 5, and wrote his first song at age 13. He was the author of "Sunrise Serenade", "Falling Leaves", and "Lover's Lullaby". Born Francis Nunzio Carlone on March 25, 1903 to a… …
Fred Friendly - Friend Friendly, 1915-1998, was a radio pioneer and executive, and a prime mover in the early development of Providence radio station WEAN. He became a professor of Journalism at Columbia University and broadcast advisor to the Ford Foundation. The broadcast newsroom at Columbia University's School of Journalism is named for Friendly, as is a professorship… …
Frederick D. Tootell - Fred Tootell, 1902-1964, became an Olympic champion in the hammer-throw at the 1924 Paris Games with a toss of 174'10". Tootell, the first American-born winner of the hammer event, became a legendary track and field coach at University of Rhode Island, where his Ram teams compiled a phenomenal winning percentage in dual meets. He remains… …
George Pulliam - George Pulliam, 1923-1956, is regarded by some as Rhode Island's greatest all-around schoolboy athlete. At Cranston High, he won All-State honors twice in football and hockey and once in baseball, where he played at every position but catcher. For his extraordinary efforts he was nicknamed "The Cranston Crusher." He was the fullback and star of… …
Gerald W. Kilmartin - Gerry Kilmartin, 1927-1970, won the silver medal at the 1952 Olympic Games as a member of the U.S. Hockey Team, which also included Brown University student athlete Donald F. Whiston. Previously he starred for LaSalle Academy winning All-State honors in hockey. Kilmartin was also a proficient Golden Gloves boxer. …
Henry F. Dreyer - Henry Dreyer, 1911-1986, a Providence native who competed for URI, participated in the 1936 and 1948 Olympics, and was the only American to make both teams. Each time he placed ninth. Between 1934 and 1952, Dreyer held twenty-one national championships in the weight throws. Dreyer was an AAU hammer-throw champion four times, 56-pound weight titleholder… …
Ivan Fuqua - Ivan Fuqua, 1909-1994, a football and track star at Indiana University, won a gold medal at the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles, as part of the world record-setting 4x400-meter relay. In 1946 he came to Rhode Island to coach track at Brown University from 1947-1973 where guided the outdoor track team to five New England… …
J. Harold Williams - J. Harold Williams, a native of Providence, served for forty-three years as a Boy Scout executive in Rhode Island. He was planner, lecturer, friend, and advisor to some 200,000 boys and men. He developed Camp Yawgoog in South County into one of the nation's leading scout camps and a model for boys' camping. …
Janet Moreau (Stone) - Janet Moreau (Stone) is a gold medalist with her team in the 4x100-meter relay in the 1952 Helinski Games. Her team established a world record in the event of 45.9 Moreau was a national champion in the fifty-yard dash, the 220-yard dash, the standing long jump (five times), and the 4x100-yard relay. In 1948, the… …
John Collier - John Collier, 1907-1984, was a bronze medalist in the 110-meter high-hurdles in the 1928 Amsterdam Games. He was a Providence resident and the son of noted Brown University historian Theodore Collier. This Phi Beta Kappa student was the long-time Brown University record holder in the hurdles events, and the national collegiate champion in the high… …
John Higgins - John Higgins, 1916-2004, was fourth place finisher in the 100-meter breaststroke at the 1936 Berlin Games. During his remarkable career, Higgins set world records and American records in the 100-meter and 200-meter butterfly breaststroke, the individual medley, and the medley relay. In these events he won eleven U.S. national championships. Later, he became swim coach… …
John Spellman - John Spellman, 1899-1966, won a gold medal in freestyle wrestling in the light heavyweight division (192 pounds) at the 1924 Paris Games. Spellman was a Brown University student-athlete and captain of the 1924 Brown Wrestling Team. John's older brother Bob, and his younger brother, Frank, were also Brown captains and competed on New England championship… …
Joseph Samuels - Joseph Samuels and his brother Leon had a vision of building a merchandising venture that would appeal to customers from all walks of life. By the mid-twentieth century, they had realized their dream by becoming two of the most innovative entrepreneurs in the country. Joseph and his brother Leon Samuels were born to James and… …
Joseph Whalen - Joseph Whalen, a former president of Bostich, Inc., developed a small stapling-machine plant into one of the state's major industries. His corporation became one of the world leaders in its field. …
Leonard Randolph “Lenny” Wilkens - Grew up the Bedford-Stuyvesant streets of Brooklyn, son of an African American father and an Irish mother. His father died when he was quite young, and the family was forced into welfare. He learned to play basketball on the playgrounds of Brooklyn and later earned a scholarship to Providence College. At Providence, Lenny matured, gained… …
Leslie Pawson - Les Pawson, 1905-1992, of Pawtucket was a world-class marathon runner of the 1930's and 1940's, and the chief local rival to the famed "Tarzan" Brown. Pawson had three victories in the Boston Marathon, including a record-breaking win in 1933, his first Boston triumph. He was named to the U.S. Olympic Team in 1940, but World… …
Lois Testa (Lynch) - Lois Testa (Lynch), a member of the U.S. Women's Track and Field Team, played as a shot putter in the 1956 Melbourne Games. She is one of the pioneers of women's athletics in Rhode Island. At Pawtucket East High School, the versatile Testa starred in swimming, basketball, and badminton. In Track and Field, she competed… …
Paula Deubel -Phillips - Paula Deubel-Phillips, 1935-1993, was a member of the U.S. Women's Track and Field Team as a shot putter in the 1956 Melbourne Games. Although a resident of Swansea, Massachusetts, she trained with and competed for the Little Rhody AC, a local track club that pioneered women's competition in track and field. In 1954, Paula Duebel,… …
Ralph A. Warburton - Ralph A. Warburton was was an All-State hockey selection at LaSalle Academy in 1941, and went on to star at Dartmouth College where he captained the Big Green's national championship team of 1947. Warburton was a member of the American Hockey Association team chosen to play in the 1948 Winter Olympics. George Pulliam was a… …
Robert Gaudreau - Robert Gaudreau, a member of the U.S. Hockey Team at the 1968 Olympics at Grenoble, France and a local schoolboy stand-out at Hope High School in Providence, where he made All-State. Later at Brown, he was selected twice to the All-American Hockey Team as a defenseman. …
Robert H. “Bob” Bennett - Robert “Bob” Bennett was born in Providence on August 8, 1919 to George E. and Margaret T. (Martin) Bennett; however, he grew up in Cranston and graduated from Cranston High School in 1937. Always involved in sports, Bob was an all-state football and track star at Cranston High School. He studied at the University of… …
