Richard Kempster Degener (March 14, 1912 – August 24, 1995) was an American diver. He won a bronze and a gold medal in the 3 m springboard at the 1932 and 1936 Olympics, respectively. In April, 1936, Degener, along with many other sports champions and standouts, was honored at a banquet in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. This banquet was the first celebration of

Champions Day Champions Day (also known as "Day of Champions" or "City of Champions Day") is a special day that was set aside in 1936 to commemorate a number of sporting victories and accomplishments by Detroit, Michigan natives and teams in the early 1930s, a ...

. In July, 1936, a plaque was presented to Detroit from the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

honoring Detroit as the City of Champions. The plaque has five "medallions" featuring athletes. Originally the plans called for these five athletes to be a baseball player, football player, hockey player, power boat racer, and a boxer. But

Joe Louis Joseph Louis Barrow (May 13, 1914 – April 12, 1981) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1934 to 1951. Nicknamed the Brown Bomber, Louis is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential boxers of all time. He rei ...

was surprisingly knocked out in a boxing match just weeks before the plaque was to be presented. Planners changed the boxer to a diver, to represent Degener, at the last minute.Louis' Name Is Stricken From the Champions' Plaque
''The Pittsburgh Press'' (June 21, 1936) Degener introduced the full layout in which his body seemed to soar, lazy-like and graceful in the air. This astonished the diving world and caused a buzz of admiration around the pool. "If there is one thing I've gotten out of sports, it's that I learned to be intense and to do the job." Degener never lost a diving contest in college during the three years he represented Michigan from 1931 to 1934 as he took the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

and National Collegiate championship. In AAU competition, Dick was unbeaten for years as he won 14 national indoor and outdoor diving titles. He won four outdoor AAU Nationals in the high board representing the Detroit Athletic Club, and three NCAA titles for the University of Michigan. At the Indoor AAUs he won five straight three-meter springboard titles and two one-meter titles. Degener later turned professional with the

Billy Rose Billy Rose (born William Samuel Rosenberg; September 6, 1899 – February 10, 1966) was an American impresario, theatrical showman and lyricist. For years both before and after World War II, Billy Rose was a major force in entertainment, with sh ...

Aquacade when it opened in Cleveland. In 1971, he was inducted into the

International Swimming Hall of Fame The International Swimming Hall of Fame and Museum (ISHOF) is a history museum and hall of fame, located at One Hall of Fame Drive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States, operated by private interests and serving as the central point for the stu ...

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Degener, Richard 1912 births 1995 deaths Divers at the 1932 Summer Olympics Divers at the 1936 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in diving Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in diving American male divers Medalists at the 1936 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1932 Summer Olympics Michigan Wolverines men's divers

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