Gustavus Town Kirby (January 22, 1874 - February 28, 1956) was the president of the

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It h ...

from 1911 to 1913. He was on every

United States Olympic Committee The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is the National Olympic Committee and the National Paralympic Committee for the United States. It was founded in 1895 as the United States Olympic Committee, and is headquartered in Col ...

from 1896 to 1956. He was chairman of the advisory committee for the

Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America IC4A Championships (Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America) is an annual men's competition held at different colleges every year. Association was established in 1875, the competition (started in 1876) served as the top level co ...

from 1896 to 1928.

Biography

He was born on January 22, 1874, in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. He attended

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, where he was on the track team from 1893 to 1895. While in college he organized a committee to send athletes to the 1896 Summer Olympics. He then attended

Columbia University Law School Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the Law school in the United States, law school of Columbia University, a Private university, private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestig ...

. In 1896 he won the

Intercollegiate Fencing Association The Intercollegiate Fencing Association (IFA) was the oldest collegiate fencing conference in the United States. It is affiliated with the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC). Membership The IFA has 11 members. Cornell only competes in wome ...

championship. Around 1912 he married Wilhelmine Stewart Dunn-Claflin (1885–1941). He was president of the

for the 1920 Summer Olympics and the chairman for the 1924 Summer Olympics. He became a widower in 1941 when his wife died at the

LeRoy Sanitarium The LeRoy Sanitarium, later called the LeRoy Hospital, was a medical facility in New York, New York. It was founded in 1928 by Alice Fuller LeRoy and closed in 1980. Notable patients *actress Marguerite Clark entered as a patient and then died th ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. He died in

Bedford Hills, New York Bedford Hills is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Bedford, Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 3,001 at the 2010 census. Two New York State prisons for women, Bedford Hills Correctional F ...

, on February 28, 1956. He was buried in

Saint Matthew's Episcopal Churchyard In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Catholic, Eastern Ortho ...

in Bedford, New York.

Footnotes

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kirby, Gustavus Town 1874 births 1956 deaths United States Olympic Committee Columbia Law School alumni Columbia University alumni People from Philadelphia People from Bedford Hills, New York 19th-century American Episcopalians 20th-century American Episcopalians American fencers Presidents of the United States Olympic Committee