From Woody's Couch

Today marks the beginning of the Summer Olympic Games in London and the start of our series on past OSU Olympic medalists. Overall, OSU’s involvement in the Games over the years has been substantial: Since the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis, OSU has sent nearly 400 representatives to the Games as Olympians, alternates, coaches, trainers and other participants. Buckeye athletes have won roughly 100 medals, participated in more than two dozen sports, and represented dozens of countries. Over the next few weeks, we’ll highlight Buckeyes who have won gold medals. We can attribute much of our information in this blog to Rusty Wilson’s “The Ohio State University at the Olympics,” an amazing resource for anyone who wants to know more about the University’s connection to the Olympic Games.

Today, we focus on the sport of diving where OSU has long had success, beginning with Mike Peppe, Ohio State’s swimming and diving coach from 1931-1963. He coached divers to 137 major championships, 44 NCAA titles, and two gold, five silver, and three bronze medals at the Olympic Games. The two gold medalists who trained with Peppe were Bruce Harlan and Robert Clotworthy.

Harlan did not come to diving until he was an adult. (The closest he came when he was a kid, according to Wilson, was when he entertained friends by standing on his head on the railing of a 300-foot-high bridge near his home in the Philadelphia area.) In high school, Harlan participated in pole vaulting and wrestling, but did not begin diving until his time in the U.S. Navy during World War II. During his service, Harlan trained with award-winning divers and won a national championship and an Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) title.

After his service, Harlan enrolled at Ohio State where he won three NCAA championships. Harlan was selected for the U.S. squad at the 1948 London Olympics, where he won a gold medal in the three-meter springboard and a silver medal in the ten-meter platform.  Following the Olympics, Harlan returned to the OSU diving team and competed on the trampoline with the gymnastics team.

After earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Education in 1950 from OSU, Harlan coached at Stanford University, Sequoia Union High School in the San Francisco area and served as the first diving coach at the University of Michigan. Harlan was selected posthumously for The Ohio State University Athletic Hall of Fame in 1979.

Mike Peppe was the reason Robert Clotworthy, OSU’s other gold medalist in diving, came to Ohio State, according to Wilson. Clotworthy began to perfect his diving while attending Westfield High School in New Jersey and enrolled at OSU after graduation because of the reputation and ranking of the diving team under Peppe. During his time at OSU, Clotworthy won five AAU national championships in the one- and three-meter springboard.

In 1952 Clotworthy competed at the Helsinki Olympic Games, winning bronze in the three-meter spring board. Two years later, Clotworthy earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Health, Physical Education, and Recreation, and then served two years in the U.S. Army. At the 1955 Pan American games held in Mexico City, Clotworthy won a bronze in the three-meter springboard, silver in the ten-meter platform, and most importantly, according to Wilson, he met his future wife, Cynthia Gill, a swimmer.

In 1956 Clotworthy once again competed in the Summer Olympics, in Melbourne. There, he won a gold medal in the three-meter springboard.

After retirement from competitive diving, Clotworthy went on to coach at many institutions, including West Point, Dartmouth, Princeton, Arizona State, the University of Texas, and the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.  Clotworthy was selected for The Ohio State University Athletic Hall of Fame in 1980, and in 2002 carried the Olympic torch.

OSU can also claim another Olympic gold medalist in diving, although she didn’t attend OSU until after she had competed. Jennifer Chandler-Jones, an OSU student from 1977-1978, won a gold medal at the 1976 Montréal Olympics in the three-meter springboard.  Four years before that, she won the title of best woman athlete in any sport during the 1972 Junior Olympics at age twelve, and won the AAU national indoor three-meter springboard championship at age fourteen. Back injuries forced Chandler to retire from the sport at age 21.