![Gloria Callen 1942](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Gloria_Callen_1942.jpg)
Gloria Marie Callen (December 21, 1923 – September 2, 2016) was an American
backstroke
Backstroke or back crawl is one of the four Swimming (sport), swimming styles used in competitive events regulated by FINA, and the only one of these styles swum on the back. This swimming style has the advantage of easy breathing, but the disa ...
swimmer. She was the 1942
Associated Press Athlete of the Year
The first Athlete of the Year award in the United States was initiated by the Associated Press (AP) in 1931. At a time when women in sports were not given the same recognition as men, the AP offered a male and a female athlete of the year award to ...
.
[USA swimming awards table]
usaswimming.org
Biography
Callen was born in 1923 in
Freeport, New York
Freeport is a village in the town of Hempstead, in Nassau County, on the South Shore of Long Island, in New York state. The population was 43,713 at the 2010 census, making it the second largest village in New York by population.
A settlemen ...
. She married Herbert Erskine Jones Jr. in 1944.
Callen set 35 American records and one world record in swimming, and won 13 American championships. Due to
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, she was never able to compete in world championships or
Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...
, even though she qualified for the
1940 Summer Olympics
The 1940 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XII Olympiad, were originally scheduled to be held from September 21 to October 6, 1940, in Tokyo City, Empire of Japan. They were rescheduled for Helsinki, Finland, to be held from ...
. She quit swimming when she went to college at
Barnard College
Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...
and joined the
American Women's Voluntary Services
American Women's Voluntary Services (AWVS) was the largest American women's service organization in the United States during World War II. AWVS provided women volunteers who provided support services to help the nation during the war such as mess ...
.
[International Swimming Hall of Fame]
biography
Callen was one in a row of glamorous swimming champions, and was voted one of America's 13 best-dressed women by the New York's Fashion Academy.
[
]
Honors
*1942: Associated Press Athlete of the Year
The first Athlete of the Year award in the United States was initiated by the Associated Press (AP) in 1931. At a time when women in sports were not given the same recognition as men, the AP offered a male and a female athlete of the year award to ...
[
*1976: inducted in the ]Rockland County
Rockland County is the southernmost county on the west side of the Hudson River in the U.S. state of New York. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. It is about from the Bronx at their closest points. The county's population, as of th ...
Sports Hall of FameInductee list
of the Rockland County Sports Hall of Fame
*1984: 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 ...
Honor Swimmer[
]
See also
* List of members of the International Swimming Hall of Fame
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 a ...
References
1923 births
2016 deaths
American female swimmers
Barnard College alumni
20th-century American women
21st-century American women
{{US-swimming-bio-stub