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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
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
Katie King-Crowley was a member of the gold medal winning women’s ice hockey team at the 1998 Nagano, Japan Games, and silver medalist as a member of the United States women’s hockey team in 2002 at Salt Lake City. Although a New Hampshire resident, Katie competed for Brown University (Class of 1997) and is the
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
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
Harriet M. “Holly” Metcalf won a gold medal in rowing in the eight-oars with coxswain at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984. Holly, a Rhode Island native, attended Mt. Holyoke College and holds an advanced degree from Harvard University. She has been involved with rowing for three decades. Holly was a six-time national Olympic team
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
During the 2000 Summer Games, James F. Quinn, then ninety-four and living in Cranston, Rhode Island, was listed by the U.S. Olympic Committee as the nation’s oldest gold medal recipient. His neighbors were amazed, not knowing this quiet, unassuming man had once won Olympic gold. When the story broke, Quinn told Providence Journal editor Bill
James Pedro is a former collegiate wrestler and retired world champion and Olympic medalist in the sport of judo. He continues his involvement in the sport as a noted coach. Pedro was born on October 30, 1970 in Danvers, Massachusetts where he attended St. John’s Preparatory High School prior to enrolling at Brown University. At
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
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
Frederick D. “Fritz” Pollard Jr. won a bronze medal in the 110-meter high hurdles in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Pollard equaled the world record for the 45-yard high hurdles while running for Brown University in the spring of 1934. At Senn High School in Springfield, Massachusetts he had been national interscholastic champion in both the
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,
Aileen Riggin (Soule), 1906-2002, won the gold medal in the three-meter springboard diving competition in the 1924 Antwerp Games and finished fifth in the platform dive. The 14-year-old Riggin of Newport was 4’7″ tall and weighed only 65 pounds in 1920. At the Paris Olympics in 1924, Riggin won a silver medal in springboard diving
R. Scott Steele: silver medal in yachting–board sailing–in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. Scott was born in Newport in 1958 to a Navy family and now resides in Maryland. Steele, who left Rhode Island at the age of three, began his sailboarding career at St. Mary’s College in Maryland and made the All-American Sailing
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
William Rowe, 1914-1938, was a member of the U.S. Track and Field Team in the hammer-throw at the 1936 Berlin Games. He recorded a fifth place finish–the best performance by an American. Rowe, a Rhode Island native, also excelled in the discus throw and held the URI record (156′ 1 1/4″ in 1937) in that
John Treacy: silver medal in the marathon in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. A native of Ireland, Treacy came to Providence College as one of the first of a long line of Irish distance runners enticed to PC by track coach Bob Amato and soccer coach Bill Doyle, who was himself Irish born. Treacy
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 4×400-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
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
Sara DeCosta (Hayes): gold medalist in women’s hockey at the 1998 Nagano, Japan Games and silver medalist as goalie for the United States women’s hockey team in 2002 at Salt Lake City. Sara was an all-state goalie on the boy’s varsity team at Toll Gate High School in 1996. She played intermittently for Providence College,
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
Norman Stephen Taber, 1891-1952, a native of Providence and a student at Brown, won a gold medal in the now discontinued 3,000 meter team relay race in the 1912 Stockholm Olympics. He was also the bronze medalist in the 1,500-meter run (the metric mile). Taber’s time of 3:56:9 was only one-tenth of a second behind
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.
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
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
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
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.
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
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
Michael Barrowman: gold medalist in the 200-meter breaststroke in the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games avenging a fourth-place finish in that event as the favorite in the Seoul Olympics of 1988. Mike held the world record in that breastroke event and was named American and World Swimmer of the Year in 1989 and 1990 by Swimming
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
Archibald (“Archie “) Hahn won gold medals in the 60-meter, 100-meter, and 200-meter dashes in the 1904 St. Louis Games and gold in the 100-meter dash in the 1906 interim Olympics at Athens. Hahn tied the world record of 9.8 in the 100-yard dash (1901) and set a world record of 21.8 seconds in the
Geoffrey T. Mason, 1902-1987, earned gold as a member of the five-man bobsled team at the 1928 St. Moritz Winter Games the first year the five-man bobsled (the skeleton sled) was allowed. Born in Philadelphia and a graduate of Bowdoin Collge (class of 1923), Mason lived in Rhode Island for most of his life and
Dr. David Connolly Hall was the bronze medalist in the 800-meter run at the 1900 Paris Olympics. Dr. Hall, a native of Quebec and a student at Brown University (Class of 1901), became Rhode Island’s first Olympic medalist. In a trail heat at Paris, he established the long-time Olympic record in the 800-meters of 1:56.2
David Gavitt was born in Westerly, Rhode Island on October 26, 1937. He attended Dartmouth College in New Hampshire where he played on the varsity basketball team. After graduation from Dartmouth he coached two years as an assistant basketball coach at Worcester Academy before joining the coaching staff at Providence College under Joe Mullaney in
Janet Moreau (Stone) is a gold medalist with her team in the 4×100-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 4×100-yard relay. In 1948, the
Lynne Jewell (Shore) won a gold medal in yachting at the Seoul Games in the 470 class. Lynne’s yachting career spans two coasts. She grew up in California, summered with her grandparents in Plymouth, Massachusetts, starred in sailing as a student at Boston University (Class of 1981), and came to live in Rhode Island in
William Beck, a member of the 1952 Winter Olympic Team, placed fifth in the Alpine skiing event. He also competed in the 1956 Winter Games at Cortina D’Ampezzo, Italy. Beck was prominent in the international ski circuit in the 1950’s and is regarded as Rhode Island’s greatest all-time skier. In 1958, he was named coach
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 4×100-meter freestyle relay that set a world record of 4:47.6. She
Helen Johns (Carroll) was a gold medalist in the women’s 400-meter freestyle swim relay in 1932 at the Los Angeles Games in a world record time of 4:38. Helen is shown here (at left) with Albina Osipowich, who became a member of the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame at its 1968 Olympic induction for