Fletcher Gilders (1931–1999) was a Detroit native who won fame as a talented multi-sport athlete for the Colts of Northwestern High School and the Buckeyes of

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

. Following a stellar athletic career, Gilders earned distinction as a highly successful collegiate swimming and diving coach.

Detroit and Columbus sports headliner

In 1948, Fletcher Gilders was voted

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 ...

High School Track and Field Athlete of the Year; later that summer, the versatile Gilders competed as a springboard diver at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Detroit. The following year, Fletcher Gilders highlighted his senior season with a national interscholastic pole vault record of 13' 3"; he was fast becoming one of the top all-around athletes in America. Upon graduating from Northwestern High, Gilders joined the U.S. military; serving until 1953, Fletcher later enrolled at the Ohio State University. At OSU, Gilders won back-to-back (1954 & 1955)

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

titles on the one-meter springboard. During each of his three seasons at Ohio State, Gilders led the Buckeyes to

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

swimming and diving team titles. He set an NCAA Division I record that stood until overturned by Greg Louganis. Fletcher Gilders was also a member of the OSU track & field, gymnastics and soccer teams; winning a total of 10 varsity letters to become the first four-sport letterman in Ohio State's modern history. During the summer of 1956, Gilders joined younger sister ( Barbara Sue) at the

Melbourne Olympic Games The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, whi ...

Coaching accolades

Upon retirement from athletics, Fletcher Gilders enjoyed a noteworthy career as a swimming and

diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), a ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

Ohio University Ohio University is a Public university, public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confeder ...

and

Kenyon College Kenyon College is a private liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio. It was founded in 1824 by Philander Chase. Kenyon College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Kenyon has 1,708 undergraduates enrolled. Its 1,000-acre campus is se ...

. Coach Gilders guided the OU Bobcats for more than a quarter-century (1959–1984); winning five Mid-American Conference team titles along the way. An annual trophy given to the fastest Men's 800 Free Relay at the Mid-American Conference Championships is named after Fletcher Gilders. At Kenyon, during the 1980s and 90s, Gilders and his athletes won 14 consecutive

North Coast Athletic Conference The North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) is an NCAA Division III athletic conference composed of colleges located in Ohio and Indiana. When founded in 1984, the league was a pioneer in gender equality, offering competition in a then-unprecede ...

championships and eight individual

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletic scholarships to their stu ...

diving titles; Gilders would also earn NCAA-D3 Coach of the Year honors on three occasions. For many summers in the later part of his life, Coach Gilders worked in Canada at Camp Ak-o-mak and Camp Chikopi. Detroit's Fletcher Gilders has earned a comparatively rare distinction; he is an inductee to the Athletic

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

at Ohio State University, Ohio University, and Kenyon College.

All in the family

Fletcher Gilders is the older brother of

Barbara Gilders-Dudeck Barbara Sue Gilders (later ''Dudeck'', born July 23, 1937) is a retired American diver. She competed in the 3 m springboard at the 1956 Summer Olympics and 1959 Pan American Games and finished fourth and third, respectively. Coached by four-tim ...

, a 1956 Olympic Games finalist in the three-meter springboard diving event; she finished a half-point from the

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

. Fletcher Gilders is also the father of Professor Roger Gilders, a notable collegiate track and field athlete during the late 1970s. Roger Gilders still holds the varsity record in the pole vault at his alma mater, Ohio University. Fletcher's grand daughter (Roger's niece), Calah Young (née Gilders) is the former school record holder in the pole vault at both Ohio University and

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilders, Fletcher 1931 births 1999 deaths Men's association football players not categorized by position Kenyon Lords and Ladies swimming and diving Ohio Bobcats swimming coaches Ohio State Buckeyes men's divers Ohio State Buckeyes men's gymnasts Ohio State Buckeyes men's soccer players Ohio State Buckeyes men's track and field athletes Sportspeople from Detroit Northwestern High School (Michigan) alumni Track and field athletes from Detroit Association football players not categorized by nationality