The list of Olympians who are members of fraternity and sororities has been updated several times since it was first posted. It’s at http://wp.me/p20I1i-2Dv. I appreciate the emails that came my way about GLO members who weren’t yet recognized.
Sister Madonna Buder, an 86-year-old triathlete who has been the subject of a Nike ad running during the Olympics, is a member of Kappa Alpha Theta. She is an initiate of the chapter at Washington University in St. Louis. The “Iron Nun” as she is known, is the current record holder as the oldest person to finish an Ironman Triathlon, a feat that happened in 2012 when she was 82. See the ad at http://news.nike.com/news/unlimited-youth-sister-madonna-buder. She is certainly an #amazingsororitywoman!
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The Boys of ’36, a PBS American Experience episode, is the story of the University of Washington crew team. The men won the gold medal at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Two of the men, Robert “Bobby” Moch and Donald Hume were initiates of the Phi Gamma Delta chapter at the University of Washington. The episode can be viewed at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/boys36/player/.
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Jesse Owens, Alpha Phi Alpha, also competed in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and won four gold medals. This post, from the blog Letters of Note, appeared on my facebook feed and it brought tears to my eyes. See http://www.lettersofnote.com/2016/08/tell-him-about-his-father.html.
Owens was a 1935 initiate of the Kappa Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha at the Ohio State University. Earlier this year, a film, RACE, was released and it is now available on dvd. See http://www.apa1906.net/celebrating-the-life-and-legacy-of-brother-jesse-owens.
Luz Long and Jesse Owens at the 1936 Olympics.
© Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2016. All Rights Reserved. If you enjoyed this post, please sign up for updates. Also follow me on twitter @GLOHistory and Pinterest www.pinterest.com/glohistory/
