Michael Barrowman: gold medalist in the 200-meter breaststroke in the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games avenging a fourth-place finish in that event as the favorite in the Seoul Olympics of 1988. Mike held the world record in that breastroke event and was named American and World Swimmer of the Year in 1989 and 1990 by Swimming World Magazine. He is the only three-time winner of the USA Swimming Association’s Swimmer of the Year Award (1989, 1990, 1991). Mike competed at the University of Michigan where he was a multi-event winner at the NCAA Championships and was named NCAA Swimmer of the Year in 1990. Read more >
William Beck, a member of the 1952 Winter Olympic Team, placed fifth in the Alpine skiing event. He also competed in the 1956 Winter Games at Cortina D'Ampezzo, Italy. Beck was prominent in the international ski circuit in the 1950's and is regarded as Rhode Island's greatest all-time skier. In 1958, he was named coach of the U. Read more >
Bob Bennettwon a bronze medal in the hammer-throw at the 1948 London Olympics. A native Rhode Islander, and a 1948 graduate of Brown University, Bennett set the Brown track record of 179'8" in the hammer and earned All-American honors. Read more >
Ms. Bert, of North Providence, was a Director of Women’s Athletics at Providence College, and widely recognized for her decades of service promoting athletic opportunities for Women. Coming to the Rhode Island when the College became co-educational in 1970, she was the first woman to be elected into the Providence College Athletic Hall of Fame in 1984. She developed a women’s program which included 14 sports during her 19 year tenure as Department Head. Read more >
Mr. Black of Providence was widely recognized as the State of Rhode Island’s greatest distance runner of all-time. He was a two-time National (NCAA) cross-country champion, and was named All-American in several catagories as a runner for the then Rhode Island State College, now URI. He is the only person ever to win four consecutive Intercollegiate cross-country titles. Read more >
Russell Boss became President of the A.T. Cross Company, and served as Director and Vice President of the Manufacturing Jewelers and Silversmiths of America. He is also a well-known yachtsman and sailing champion. Read more >
World-class master’s athlete, coach, sports administrator, and indefatigable worker for the performing arts in Rhode Island, Billie Ann Burrill’s talents have known no bounds. While she was director of the Health and Physical Education Department at Rhode Island College, her drive and enthusiasm enabled the school’s Performing Arts Series to become the finest in the state.
Burrill was born in Joliet, Illinois on March 11, 1921. She served in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) during World War II. Read more >
Ernest Calverley of Pawtucket was a three-time All-American basketball star at the University of Rhode Island who played under the legendary Coach Frank W. Keaney. The sure-shot Calverley led the Ram's to glory at Madison Square Garden in 1946 when URI lost the championship game by a single point. Calverley, however, won the tournament's MVP Award. Read more >
Chris Clark was a radio and television sportscaster who began his career in Newport. For twenty years he was the "Voice of the Friars", and then the television "Voice of the Rams". He was selected RI Sportscaster of the Year 12 times. Read more >
Paula Deubel-Phillips, 1935-1993, was a member of the U.S. Women's Track and Field Team as a shot putter in the 1956 Melbourne Games. Although a resident of Swansea, Massachusetts, she trained with and competed for the Little Rhody AC, a local track club that pioneered women's competition in track and field. Read more >
Henry Dreyer, 1911-1986, a Providence native who competed for URI, participated in the 1936 and 1948 Olympics, and was the only American to make both teams. Each time he placed ninth. Between 1934 and 1952, Dreyer held twenty-one national championships in the weight throws. Dreyer was an AAU hammer-throw champion four times, 56-pound weight titleholder six times, and 35-pound weight champion ten times. Read more >
William F. Farley, a businessman was chairman and CEO of Fruit of the Loom.
Farley was born to a working-class Irish Catholic family in Pawtucket on October 10, 1942. He is the eldest child of John Farley, a postal worker and part-time musician and Barbara Farley, a receptionist. Read more >
Ivan Fuqua, 1909-1994, a football and track star at Indiana University, won a gold medal at the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles, as part of the world record-setting 4x400-meter relay. In 1946 he came to Rhode Island to coach track at Brown University from 1947-1973 where guided the outdoor track team to five New England cross-country titles and three regional crowns. Read more >
Carole Wheeler (Garnett) was a member of the U.S. women's swim team who competed in the 1924 Paris Games. Later she coached swimming and diving. Read more >
Mr. Gomes, a native of Providence, was a professional boxer who became Junior Lightweight Champion of the World as the first Rhode Islander to win a world boxing title. He is credited with being the first athlete to bring national television into Rhode Island for a boxing event. He won 55 of 65 fights, 22 of them consecutive victories and 28 by KO. Read more >
Manuel Gorriaran, 1938-2012, was a sportsman, philanthropist, industrialist, and a Pan-American-World Olympic Wrestling Team manager. He was a member of the Helms Hall of Fame, won the International Amateur Wrestling Federation's highest award and was Chairman of People to People Rhode Island.
Archibald (“Archie “) Hahn won gold medals in the 60-meter, 100-meter, and 200-meter dashes in the 1904 St. Louis Games and gold in the 100-meter dash in the 1906 interim Olympics at Athens. Hahn tied the world record of 9.8 in the 100-yard dash (1901) and set a world record of 21. Read more >
Dr. David Connolly Hall was the bronze medalist in the 800-meter run at the 1900 Paris Olympics. Dr. Hall, a native of Quebec and a student at Brown University (Class of 1901), became Rhode Island’s first Olympic medalist. Read more >
Nathanael Greene Herreshoff, 1848-1938, was a world-renowned Bristol boatbuilder who teamed with his blind brother John Brown Herreshoff to build a series of world famous racing yachts that dominated the America's Cup competition from 1893 through 1934. "Captain Nat" and his Herreshoff Manufacturing Company also built luxury yachts, cruising sailboats, and America's first torpedo boat in 1876. Read more >
Halsey Chase Herreshoff is a Naval Architect of production- and custom yachts, sailor and former president of Herreshoff Marine Museum. Halsey is best known for his career as an America's Cup sailor, having served on many cup defenders of the 12-metre class Era, first as bowman on Columbia in 1958 and concluding as navigator on Liberty in 1983.
A member of the famous yacht building Herreshoff family. His father, Sidney DeWolf Hereshoff, was the son of Nathanael Greene Hereshoff, who designed America's Cup winning racing yachts in the Gilded Age. Read more >
John Higgins, 1916-2004, was fourth place finisher in the 100-meter breaststroke at the 1936 Berlin Games. During his remarkable career, Higgins set world records and American records in the 100-meter and 200-meter butterfly breaststroke, the individual medley, and the medley relay. In these events he won eleven U.S. Read more >
Mr. Jalbert was a world renowned researcher and inventor of parachutes, sails, and kites. He was born in Quebec but lived for many years in Woonsocket, RI. He was the designer of the Dolly Spinnaker for the yacht 'Stars & Stripes', which won the 1987 America's Cup. Read more >
Lynne Jewell (Shore) won a gold medal in yachting at the Seoul Games in the 470 class. Lynne’s yachting career spans two coasts. She grew up in California, summered with her grandparents in Plymouth, Massachusetts, starred in sailing as a student at Boston University (Class of 1981), and came to live in Rhode Island in 1985, with her sailing coach and former husband Bill Shore.
A competitive sailor since the age of seven, Lynne was the U. Read more >
Helen Johns (Carroll) was a gold medalist in the women’s 400-meter freestyle swim relay in 1932 at the Los Angeles Games in a world record time of 4:38. Helen is shown here (at left) with Albina Osipowich, who became a member of the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame at its 1968 Olympic induction for winning two gold medals in swimming at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics (100-meter freestyle in world record time of 1:11 and the 400-meter freestyle relay).
Raised in Medford, Massachusetts, Helen Johns learned swimming from her father. She trained primarily in the ocean because there were few pools in the area. Read more >
Frank W. Keaney, 1886-1967,the legendary coach at University of Rhode Island, came to Kingston from Everett (MA) High School to coach all sports, serve as athletic director, and teach chemistry. An indefatigable promoter of the scholar-athlete, he was responsible, more than any other, for an athletic program that would bring URI a measure of national prominence. His fast-break style of basketball produced the "point-a-minute" Ram teams of the 1930s and 1940s and helped to revolutionize the game. Read more >
Clara Lamore (Walker) was a member of the U.S. Women's swim team at the 1948 London Games where she was a finalist in the breaststroke. During the 1940's Lamore set two U. Read more >
Lippitt, Henry, 1818-1891 |
Henry Lippitt was a native Rhode Islander who died in 1891, after becoming one of the States industrial and financial leaders of his time.
Born in Providence, he became co-owner with his father and brother of the Tiffany Mill, a cotton mill in Connecticut that later became the Quinnebaug Manufacturing Company. He became part owner of the Manville Company in Lincoln and organized and became President of the Silver Spring Bleaching and Dyeing Company. He also was an officer in a number of other banking, manufacturing, and land-related interests. Read more >
Alvin Loftes (born Alvin Hjalmar Lofstedt), 1890-1971, won a bronze medal in cycling in the 1912 Stockholm Olympics in the four-man team time trial. The 320-kilometer race, the first and the longest team time trial in Olympic history, was won by Sweden due, in part, to its home course advantage. Loftes also finished eleventh in the individual road race. Upon his return from the Games, he moved from Providence to Point Judith, where he became a self-employed commercial fisherman until his retirement in 1955. Read more >
Rocky Marciano, 1923-1969, was the world's undefeated heavy-weight boxing champion. He fought the majority of his contests in Providence, Rhode Island. Read more >
Mr. Martin, formerly of Cranston, was a longtime schoolboy sports editor of the Journal-Bulletin. He was often referred to as ‘the father of Interscholastic Leagues in Rhode Island, and is credited with the establishment of the Schoolboy Injury Fund and the Journal-Bulletin honor-roll for athletes. He served as Executive Secretary of the Principles Committee for Secondary Schools in Rhode Island, and chaired the committee which conducted the very popular ‘Sunday in the Park’ Programs conducted during WWII. Read more >
Geoffrey T. Mason, 1902-1987, earned gold as a member of the five-man bobsled team at the 1928 St. Moritz Winter Games the first year the five-man bobsled (the skeleton sled) was allowed. Born in Philadelphia and a graduate of Bowdoin Collge (class of 1923), Mason lived in Rhode Island for most of his life and worked as an executive in a Pawtucket steel company. Read more >
Mr. McKinnon, a native of Pawtucket, was considered the father of youth soccer in Rhode Island. He was an elementary school teacher in the Pawtucket School System for thirty years, and Acting Director and Supervisor of the Pawtucket Recreation Department for 34 years. He is widely recognized for his contributions to youth and recreational activities in our state, and an accomplished musician and singer who performed as both an amateur and professional. Read more >
Harriet M. “Holly” Metcalf won a gold medal in rowing in the eight-oars with coxswain at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984. Holly, a Rhode Island native, attended Mt. Holyoke College and holds an advanced degree from Harvard University. Read more >
Janet Moreau (Stone) is a gold medalist with her team in the 4x100-meter relay in the 1952 Helinski Games. Her team established a world record in the event of 45.9 Moreau was a national champion in the fifty-yard dash, the 220-yard dash, the standing long jump (five times), and the 4x100-yard relay. In 1948, the Pawtucket native had been junior national swimming champion in the 100-yard freestyle. Read more >
Reverend Newbold of Providence was a former Professor, Dean, Vice-Rector and Rector of Our Lady of Providence Preparatory Seminary and was former Executive Secretary of the Committee on Athletics for the Rhode Island Secondary School’s Principals association, retiring after 26 years in the profession. He guided the State’s Interscholastic League through extraordinary times of growth, and was widely recognized for establishing the sub-committee on girls athletics, and for the development of corporate support and achieving financial stability. A stand-out athlete, coach and administrator, he worked as an attorney and Government liaison for the Diocese of Providence.
Born in Bristol, he attended St. Read more >
Albina Osipowich (Van Aken), 1911-1964, was the women's swimming star of the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics. Albina, a member of the Pembroke swim team, won gold medals in the 100-meter freestyle in an Olympic record time of 1.11.0, and swam the third leg of the 4x100-meter freestyle relay that set a world record of 4:47. Read more >
Les Pawson1905-1992, of Pawtucket was a world-class marathon runner of the 1930's and 1940's, and the chief local rival to the famed "Tarzan" Brown. Pawson had three victories in the Boston Marathon, including a record-breaking win in 1933, his first Boston triumph. He was named to the U.S. Read more >
Frederick D. "Fritz" Pollard Jr. won a bronze medal in the 110-meter high hurdles in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Pollard equaled the world record for the 45-yard high hurdles while running for Brown University in the spring of 1934. Read more >
John "Red" Pollard, 1909-1981: Although he was the grandson of Irish immigrants, John “Red” Pollard was born into affluence. Unfortunately a flood in 1915 devastated the family business--a brickyard--and left the six-year old impoverished. As a teenager, he decided to become a professional jockey.
Though considered too tall at a “towering” 5 feet, 6 inches, Pollard left his home in Edmonton, Canada to pursue his dream. Read more >
James F. Quinn, 1907-2004, was a gold medalist in the 400-meter relay in the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics with a world record equaling time of 41.0. Later he broke the world record in the 60-yard dash. Read more >
Richard J. Reynolds was, for thirty-two years, the schoolboy sports editor for the Providence Journal-Bulletin and one of Rhode Island's greatest ambassadors of goodwill. He was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Brown University, where he was a Wayland Scholar and later a sports information director. He was single-handedly responsible for the highly successful People-to-People Program in Rhode Island, and a prime diplomat for the organization across the nation. Read more >
Dudley Shaw Richards, 1932-1961, a nationally prominent figure-skater who competed in pairs with Maribel Y. Owen at the 1960 Winter Games at Squaw Valley, California, and finished tenth. They won the U.S. Read more >
Aileen Riggin (Soule), 1906-2002, won the gold medal in the three-meter springboard diving competition in the 1924 Antwerp Games and finished fifth in the platform dive. The 14-year-old Riggin of Newport was 4'7" tall and weighed only 65 pounds in 1920. At the Paris Olympics in 1924, Riggin won a silver medal in springboard diving and a bronze medal in the 100-meter backstroke.
In her post Olympic career Riggin appeared in a Holywood movie and starred in Billy Rose's first Aquacade. Read more >
William Rowe,1914-1938, was a member of the U.S. Track and Field Team in the hammer-throw at the 1936 Berlin Games. He recorded a fifth place finish--the best performance by an American. Read more >
Chris Schenkel, 1923-2005, was Sports Director for the American Broadcast Corporation. He got his real start in sportscasting in Rhode Island after World War II, working at WFCI and WEAN. He did local radio and called the Thoroughbred horse races at Narragansett Park for six years. His work here was recognized by the Columbia Broadcasting Company and he became the ace sports announcer for that network. Read more >
John Spellman, 1899-1966, won a gold medal in freestyle wrestling in the light heavyweight division (192 pounds) at the 1924 Paris Games. Spellman was a Brown University student-athlete and captain of the 1924 Brown Wrestling Team. John's older brother Bob, and his younger brother, Frank, were also Brown captains and competed on New England championship teams coached by Brown's legendary wresting mentor Frank Herrick. Read more >
R. Scott Steele: silver medal in yachting--board sailing--in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. Scott was born in Newport in 1958 to a Navy family and now resides in Maryland. Steele, who left Rhode Island at the age of three, began his sailboarding career at St. Read more >
Mr. Swanson was considerd Rhode Island's ambassador of tennis. He is rated among the best senior doubles players in the world. He won sixteen national tennis titles, and is recognized as the father of the Rhode Island tennis scene, teaching tennis professionals despite never having taken a lesson himself. Read more >
Norman Stephen Taber, 1891-1952, a native of Providence and a student at Brown, won a gold medal in the now discontinued 3,000 meter team relay race in the 1912 Stockholm Olympics. He was also the bronze medalist in the 1,500-meter run (the metric mile). Taber's time of 3:56:9 was only one-tenth of a second behind the winner Arnold Jackson of Great Britain who set the Olympic record in that race. Taber held Brown University records in the 880, the mile, and the two mile runs for many years. Read more >
Lois Testa (Lynch), a member of the U.S. Women's Track and Field Team, played as a shot putter in the 1956 Melbourne Games. She is one of the pioneers of women's athletics in Rhode Island. Read more >
Fred Tootell, 1902-1964, became an Olympic champion in the hammer-throw at the 1924 Paris Games with a toss of 174'10". Tootell, the first American-born winner of the hammer event, became a legendary track and field coach at University of Rhode Island, where his Ram teams compiled a phenomenal winning percentage in dual meets. He remains the only Rhode Islander ever to win an individual Olympic gold medal in a track and field event. Read more >
John Treacy: silver medal in the marathon in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
A native of Ireland, Treacy came to Providence College as one of the first of a long line of Irish distance runners enticed to PC by track coach Bob Amato and soccer coach Bill Doyle, who was himself Irish born.
Treacy (whose brother Ray is the highly-successful track coach at PC) was a multiple collegiate All-American in the distance events. He was an All-American in cross-country in 1976, 1977, and 1978; and All-American in indoor and outdoor track in 1978, the NCAA three-mile champion in 1978, and the all-time Friar record holder at 3,000 meters, 10,000 meters, and two miles. Read more >
James Van Alen, 1902-1991, a tennis impresario, was known for devising the new system for scoring tournament tennis. He also established the National Tennis Hall of Fame at the Newport Casino. Read more >
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