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, including Mae Faggs, Barbara Jones, and Catherine Hardy. She came close to making the 1948 Olympic team when she placed fourth in the 200 meters at the Final Trials. She did win AAU indoor titles in the standing broad jump, the 50-yard dash, and the 220 yards.
She was born in Pawtucket on October 26, 1927, the daughter of Arthur and Elizabeth (Beauchamp) Moreau. Janet was a member of the Rhode Island All-State Swimming team from 1947-1949 in the 50 and 100-yard freestyle, setting records at Tolman High School. She was a member of Boston University’s Class of 1952, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in education. If women had been eligible to compete with men in intercollegiate athletics in 1952, Stone would have been a member of the Boston University track & field team. “I wish they had allowed women to compete,” said Doug Raymond, who was then head coach of track for the Terriers. “I clocked Janet more than once in the 100 at 10 seconds. She was faster than most men in New England.”
From 1949 to 1952, she was named to the All-America track team four times. In 1952, she won the national standing broad jump championship with an American record of 8’10,” won the national indoor 220 title, the national indoor 50-yard dash championship, and was the high point scorer in the National Indoor Championships. Also in 1952, she was the National Junior Champion in the 100-meter dash, setting an American record at 11.8 seconds, and completed a five-year sweep as New England champion in the 50, 100, and 220.
In addition to her outstanding accomplishments in track, Janet was an excellent swimmer who first swam for Joe Watmough at the Olneyville Boys’ Club and later for Andy Dimant at the Pawtucket Boys’ Club. She swam for Tolman High School in Pawtucket, where she was undefeated. In 1945, she won the following titles: NEAAU Junior 100-yard freestyle, 150-yard individual medley, 100-yard backstroke, and 100-yard breaststroke. She was undefeated in the 50 and 100 freestyle events in the AAU competition. In 1947, Janet was the National Junior 100-meter freestyle Champion (outdoors). In 1948, she won the NEAAU crown in the 100 freestyle and was named to the AAU All-State Swimming Team (first in R.I. History) in two events: the 50 and 100 freestyle. In 1949, she was again chosen for the R.I. All-State Swimming Team in the 50 and 100. At Boston University, she won numerous BU Championships, although BU did not have a team for women.
In 1950, she stopped swimming to prepare for the 1952 Olympics in track but remained active in other aquatic areas. She was a swimming instructor and lifeguard at the Pawtucket Boys’ Club and the YWCA from 1946 to 1956. She was the first woman to pass the rigorous surf test for R.I. Lifeguards. Janet taught swimming and coached the team at Pawtucket West High School for four years, 1951-1955. From 1958 through 1963, she was the Pool Director and Water Safety Instructor at the Agawam Hunt Club.
She received honors, including the 1952 RI French Athlete of the Year, the 1952 Athlete of the Year Chosen by the Disabled American Veterans, and induction in 1968 into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame, the 1979 Boston University Hall of Fame, the 1986 Pawtucket Hall of Fame as a charter member, and the 1987 Rhode Island Aquatic Hall of Fame. In 2008, she was chosen by the United States Summer Olympics Team to serve as their Lay Champlain in Beijing, China.
Janet created many opportunities for young women in an era where sports were limited for females. She was a gym teacher at Barrington Junior High, where she led the Leader Corps (selected female students were chosen to referee intramurals and take on other leadership roles). She demanded excellence, timeliness, knowledge of rules, and appearance and passed along many life lessons that went beyond tracks, fields, and swimming pools. She visited high schools throughout Rhode Island, looking for female athletes with potential. Lois Testa was one of the best female athletes at that time, starring for Pawtucket High School in swimming, basketball, and badminton. At Moreau’s urging. Testa became involved in track and field. Despite her initial focus on other sports, Lynch’s transition to track and field at the suggestion of Moreau was a pivotal moment.
Lynch’s journey culminated in her qualification for the 1956 Summer Olympics, where she placed second at the U.S. Olympic Trials in the shot. At the ’56 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, she placed 13th in the world and second in the U.S. in the shot. She was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 1968 and the Rhode Island College Hall of Fame in 2000.
Janet Moreau Stone died in Barrington, Rhode Island, on June 30, 2021.
For additional reading:
- 1. “Janet Moreau”. Olympedia, July 3, 2021.
- 2. “Janet Moreau”. Sportsreference, October 2, 2015.
- 3. Donaldson, Jim (Spring 2014). “Barrington’s Stone recalls Olympic glory” (PDF).
- 4. The Olympian Newsletter, December 28, 2015.