1964 and 1968 U.S. Olympian Sue Pitt Anderson died on Friday, November 22. She was 76 years outdated.
Anderson broke her first World File in 1963 shortly after her fifteenth birthday when she set a brand new World File within the 200 meter butterfly in 2:29.1. That file stood for nearly a 12 months.
In the summertime of 1964, she represented the US on the Olympic Video games in Tokyo. There, she swam within the heats of the ladies’s 400 medley relay, the place the staff of Nina Harmer (backstroke), Judy Reeder (breaststroke), Pitt (fly), and Lillian Watson (free) received their warmth.
The finals group would go on to win gold, although on the time medals weren’t awarded to prelims solely relay swimmers.
The 200 fly was not an Olympic occasion for ladies on the time.
She was an alternate on the 1968 Olympic Staff, however finally didn’t compete. At 20-years outdated, she was the second-oldest lady on the 1968 Olympic Staff and was voted a staff captain.
After the 1965 Olympics, she was named the New Jersey Excessive College Interscholastic Affiliation Excessive College Athlete of the Yr. Pitt Anderson confirmed as much as obtain her award on the gala occasion, and was ushered to an outdoor foyer space. She obtained her award there–away from the highlight loved by the male athletes just like the prior 12 months’s winner, famed quarterback Joe Thiesman.
Pitt Anderson enrolled on the College of Vermont. She retired from swimming after a 12 months as a result of there have been no alternative for ladies there, however legend has it after viewing outcomes of the 1967 Summer time Nationals thought she may make the 1968 Olympic Staff.
So she transferred to Rutgers the place she skilled with the lads’s staff below coach Frank Elm, who had been her coach on the Summit YMCA as a younger swimmer. A lifelong Rutgers fan, Pitt Anderson stated she by no means missed a Rutgers soccer sport till her freshman 12 months of highschool.
After graduating from Rutgers, she spent two years teaching swimming in Tunisia as a Peace Corps volunteer. She then returned to the US the place she coached for 28 years, together with founding the Scarlet Aquatic Membership and serving as this system’s head coach for a decade.
Pitt grew to become Director of Applications and Companies at USA Swimming, the place she labored from 2000-2014.
