Year Inducted: 1968
Albina Osipowich (Van Aken) - Albina Osipowich blazed across the horizon in 1928 as a double gold medal winner at the Amsterdam Olympics in the 100-meter free and the freestyle relay, setting a World and Olympic record. She also won two National A.A.U. titles in the 100 and 220 free and held American long course records in the 200, 220,…
Alvin Loftes - Alvin Loftes (born Alvin Hjalmar Lofstedt), won a bronze medal in cycling in the 1912 Stockholm Olympics in the four-man team time trial. His team, which included Albert Krushel, Walter Martin, and Carl Schutte, had a time of 11:13.51.3, which earned a bronze medal. He was born in Providence, RI, on January 1, 1890. The 320-kilometer…
Carole Garnett-Wheeler - Carole Garnett-Wheeler was a competitive swimmer from Rhode Island. Born in Narragansett, Rhode Island, on September 6, 1898, she was a U.S. women's swim team member during the 1924 Paris Olympics. Eleven swimming events were contested, six for men and five for women. The competitions were held from Sunday July 13, 1924, to Sunday July 20, 1924. There…
Catherine (Clara) LaMore-Walker - Catherine (Clara) LaMore was a swimmer who represented the United States at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. She placed 7th in the 200 breaststroke. Clara was born into a postman’s family in Providence, Rhode Island on July 2, 1926. She began to swim competitively at the Oneyville Boy’s Club in 1941. During her early career, she was trained…
Doris Brennan Weir - It would be difficult to list the highlights of Doris Brennan Weir's athletic career without omitting some accomplishment, title, or record. She was simply among the finest female swimmers in the world. She just missed a spot with the 1936 team but earned a position on her second chance She was named to the 1940…
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…
Ellison M. “Tarzan” Brown - Ellison M. Brown, the great Narragansett runner of the 1930s, has become a legend, on and off the track, and his exploits gave the Boston Marathon its most distinctive landmark. Reporters too often filled their stories with stereotypes and misinformation about Brown, his running exploits, and American Indians. Yet, to this day, he is considered…
Frederick D. Tootell - Frederick Tootell was an Olympic gold winner who became nationally famous as a collegiate track coach at the University of Rhode Island. He showed his promise as an athlete at Bowdoin College, earning all-Maine and All-New England honors as a football tackle as well as starring on the track team. At Bowdoin, he was a…
George S. Pulliam - Some regard George Pulliam as Rhode Island’s greatest all-around schoolboy athlete. At Cranston High School, he won All-State honors twice in football and hockey and once in baseball, where he played in every position except catcher. He was nicknamed “The Cranston Crusher” as the fullback of the 1940 team that was undefeated, untied, and unscored…
Gerald (Gerry) W. Kilmartin - Gerry Kilmartin won the silver medal at the 1952 Olympic Games as a United States Hockey team member. In addition to playing at the 1952 Olympics, he was on the U.S. National team, which competed at the 1947 and 1949 World Championships. He was born in Providence, Rhode Island, on July 7, 1926. He grew…
Henry F. Dreyer - Henry (Hank) F. Dreyer, one of the most outstanding athletes in University of Rhode Island history, holds numerous world records in the weights and was a member of the 1936 and 1948 Olympic teams. He was selected for the Helms Foundation honorary Olympic teams in 1940 and 1944 and won 21 national AAU championships. A…
Ivan William Fuqua - Ivan W. Fuqua won a gold medal in Los Angeles at the 1932 Summer Olympics. He went on to become one of the most successful track coaches in Ivy League history at Brown University. During his 26-year career at Brown, he guided the outdoor track team to five New England championships and three regional crowns.…
J. Harold Williams - J. Harold Williams, a man whose name became synonymous with Boy Scouting, served as chief executive of the Narragansett Council of the Boy Scouts for forty-three years. He started scouting at the age of 13, became a scoutmaster at 17, and became chief executive at 21. He was a planner, lecturer, friend, and advisor to…
Janet Moreau (Stone) - Janet Moreau (Stone) was the first native of Rhode Island to win a Gold Medal at the Olympic Games. She won it at the 1952 Olympic Games as a member of the relay team that set an Olympic record in the event of 45.9 seconds. At age 24, she was the oldest relay team member,…
John Collier - John S. Collier, a Phi Beta Kappa scholar at Brown University, won a bronze medal in the 110-meter-high hurdles in the 1928 Olympics with a 14.8 clocking. He finished third behind South African Syd Atkinson and American Steve Anderson. As a captain of the Brown track team in his senior year, Collier gained national ranking…
John F. Spellman - John F. Spellman won six of seven bouts at the 1924 Olympics to capture the light heavyweight championship of the world, becoming the first Brown University graduate to win an Olympic title. The 1924 Olympics was held in Paris, and Spellman sped through the first two rounds in the light-heavyweight division, earning his trip to…
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…
Joseph Samuels - To those who grew up in Rhode Island, the Outlet Department Store was as familiar and as dominant in the downtown area as were such familiar establishments as the Albee Theater, Gibson's, the Boston Store, Gladdings, Shepard's, and Tilden-Thurber. When Joseph and Leon Samuels opened a small store on Westminster Street in 1894, every possible…
Leslie Samuel Pawson - Leslie Pawson was a world-class marathon runner of the 1930s and 1940s and the chief local rival to "Tarzan" Brown and Johnny Kelley. Pawson won his first Boston Marathon in 1933. He ran into powerful headwinds, which turned his arms, face, and legs red and raw from windburn. Despite the weather conditions, Pawson broke Johnny…
Lois Testa Lynch - Lois Testa Lynchis one of the pioneers of women’s athletics in Rhode Island. She was born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, on December 16, 1935. She attended Pawtucket East High School, where she competed in swimming, basketball, and badminton. She became involved in the sport of track and field when Barrington’s Janet Moreau Stone, a gold medal winner in the…
Paula Deubel -Phillips - Paula Deubel-Phillips was a member of the U.S Women’s Track and Field Team as a shot putter in the 1956 Melbourne Games. She was born in Swansea, Massachusetts, on June 24, 1935. Although a Massachusetts resident, she trained with and competed for the Little Rhody AC, a local track club that pioneered women’s competition in…
Ralph Arthur Warburton - Ralph A. Warburton was the first hockey player from RI to play in the Olympics. He was a member of the US hockey team that competed at the 1948 Winter Olympics and went on to play professional hockey. Born in Cranston on January 7, 1924, he was one of eight children of the late William…
Reverend Edward H. Flannery - Edward H. Flannery was born in Providence, Rhode Island, on August 20, 1912, to John Flannery, a police officer, and Elizabeth (Mulvey) Flannery. He attended Holy Name School and LaSalle Academy. In preparation for the priesthood, he studied at St. Charles College in Catonsville, Maryland, and went on to earn a bachelor's degree at St.…
Robert (Bob) Gaudreau - Bob Gaudreau was a member of the U.S. Hockey team at the 1968 Olympics held at the Palais des Sports, Grenoble, France. The Soviet Union won their third Olympic gold medal. Czechoslovakia won the silver medal, followed by Canada, which won the bronze medal. The United States finished in sixth place behind Sweden and Finland. A two-time college…
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…
William J. Rowe - William J. Rowe, an Olympic hammer-throwing star, was one of the outstanding all-around weight throwers in the nation in the 1930s. He was the national A.A.U. Champion in the hammer and competed in the Berlin Olympics in 1936, where he finished fifth in the hammer with a throw of 169 feet, 6” inches, the best…
William LeBaron “Billy” Beck - Bill Beck was a member of the 1952 Winter Olympic Team. He placed fifth in the Alpine skiing event held in Oslo, Sweden—the best Olympic downhill result for an American man until Bill Johnson's victory in 1984. Beck was prominent in the international ski circuit in the 1950s and is regarded as Rhode Island's greatest…
