Member of U.S. Olympic Team in 1964 and finalist in 1968 U.S. Olympic Trials. Member of U.S. Pan-American Games team in 1963 and 1967. Also represented United States in 1962 World Gymnastics Championship in Prague and in 1965 Wembley Games in London.
First athlete from Cleveland to compete in Olympics (1904), winning gold medal for Indian club swinging and tying for first place in horizontal bars. Won 14 National AAU championships and three National Turner titles. In 1948, at age 62, he was voted the outstanding amateur athlete in Northeastern Ohio and finished third in the balloting for the Sullivan Trophy given by AAU to the nation’s outstanding amateur athlete of the year.
A prominent figure in women’s modern gymnastics on the local, state and national levels for 30 years, she was manager for the 1960 U.S. Olympic Team, and served as an official, judge and chair woman or meet director at every AAU national championship, Olympic Trials and World Games Trials for women’s gymnastics form 1954 through 1970. Started the Cleveland-area AAU Junior Olympics gymnastics into the educational system at an AAHPER national convention that year. Awarded a Lifetime Membership in the Ohio Gymnastics Association in 1982 for service to the sport in Ohio.
An active member of the American Sokol Organization for 55 years as a volunteer gymnastics coach, competition judge, organizer of new gymnastics clubs in the Greater Cleveland area and clinician. He served on the local AAU gymnastics committee for 28 years and helped organize the first AAU Junior Olympic gymnastics program for boys and girls. Coached seven champions from 1955 through 1964, three of whom earned Olympic berths.
A two-time NCAA All-American (1972 and 1973) and the Big Ten All-Around champion at the University of Michigan after winning numerous AAU Junior Olympic and senior AAU championships at West Tech High. Won the national YMCA’s Elite division all-around championship in 1976.
Ohio State champion in the flying rings in 1935, 1936 and 1937 and in the horizontal bars in 1936 and 1937 while attending East Tech High. Went on to win the AAU national championship in the flying rings in 1942, also winning the AAU district championship that year. The previous year he won the AAU district title and the Big Ten Conference championship in the flying rings.
After a successful career as a gymnast with the American Turners, Swiss Turner Gymnastic Society, and Kent State University, Joe Gura launched into a coaching career spanning, at present, 13 years. Thirty-eight of his club gymnasts have competed in national gymnastic championships, producing three national champions. At Magnificat High School. he led the team to state titles in 1991 and 1992.
Kenneth Carter was the national Tumbling Champion in the 1930s, and was considered one of the top flight gymnasts of his day, having made the USA Olympic Team in 1940. He toured the United States and Europe with an acrobatic group which gained extensive notoriety.