Katherine Rawls

Birthday: June 14, 1918 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA

Champion swimmer and diver Katherine Louise Rawls was born on June 14, 1917 in Nashville, Tennessee. The daughter of Bill and Sadie Rawls, Katherine learned to swim at age two in Saint Augustine, Flor ...Show More

Champion swimmer and diver Katherine Louise Rawls was born on June 14, 1917 in Nashville, Tennessee. The daughter of Bill and Sadie Rawls, Katherine learned to swim at age two in Saint Augustine, Florida and took up diving at seven in Tampa, Florida. Her sisters Evelyn and Dorothy were Florida state champion swimmers -- the sisters were known collectively as Rawls' Diving Trio -- while her brother Sonny was a champion diver. Katherine first gained national attention at age fourteen after she set a new world record in the 300-meter individual medley and beat champion swimmer Margaret Hoffman in the 220 yards breaststroke at the 1931 United States National Championships. Rawls won the silver medal in women's springboard diving at both the 1932 and 1936 Olympics as well as a bronze medal in the women's 4 x 100 freestyle relay at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany. Moreover, Katherine was the first female athlete to win four national championships at a single meet: She won the 440 yard, 880 yard, the one mile freestyle, and the individual medley at the 1937 Amateur Athletic Union Championships. Rawls repeated this remarkable in 1938 and won an astounding thirty-three national championship titles altogether during her formidable career as a competitive athlete. Katherine was named the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year for 1937.After retiring from competitive diving and swimming in 1939, Rawls went on to become a top pilot with the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron, who ferried planes to combat zones for air transport command during World War II. In addition, Katherine worked as a swimming instructor for twenty years at the Greenbrier Hotel in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. In 1965 Rawls was one of the inaugural inductees into the International Swimming Hall of Fame and officially opened the organization's pool in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Katherine died from cancer at age 64 on August 8, 1982. Hide