It’s been half a century, but Jim Lorimer still beams with pride when talking about the women he recruited, united, trained and eventually led to a national track and field championship in 1961.
In August, Lorimer and members of the Ohio Track Club – Girls’ Team gathered in Columbus for a 50th anniversary marking the group’s formation. Although correspondence has dissipated some through the years, the reunion proved these teammates – once bonded by ability, fate and cynics – are forever connected to one another.
The club defied many of the forces working against them. In the 1940s and ‘50s, the science of physical education held that girls shouldn’t exercise too vigorously, run more than 400 yards at a time or even break a sweat.
“People just weren’t thinking of girls competing back then,” Lorimer says. “Girls weren’t being given a chance because people didn’t think they were physically equipped to handle exercise.”
Lorimer became increasingly determined to prove otherwise. His ambition peaked in 1959 at an international track meet in Philadelphia, which pitted the former Soviet Union against the United States for the first time on an international stage.
Lorimer – who worked at Nationwide Insurance at the time – attended the meet simply out of curiosity, which stemmed from his previous stint as an FBI agent. According to Lorimer, the Soviets didn’t field an Olympic team until 1952, but claimed prior to that year they were the best in the world.
“By the time of this meet in Philadelphia, the competition became a fight for national pride. The men’s meet was fairly even but we were able to win. But the women … The USSR girl high-jumped almost a foot higher than ours,” Lorimer says. “It was obvious we simply weren’t trained properly. It was embarrassing.”
When the combined team scores were announced, the Soviets came out on top. The next day’s Philadelphia Enquirer headlines boldly read: “Soviets Win.”
“I thought, ‘This is really bad news.’ They used this competition as a way to claim the superiority of their political system. The entire trip home, I just kept thinking about how many girls I could find in Columbus alone who could do better than the girls on that U.S. team,” Lorimer says.
So he contacted a few high school coaches from the area, asking who their best female athletes were so he could combine, teach and train them. Prior to this effort, Lorimer’s only experience with track and field was as a competitor at the high school level, where he was county champion for his Pennsylvania hometown.
Melissa Long was the first to sign on to his team in July 1959. He recruited a handful of other girls from throughout Central Ohio and ended up with 14 team members.
“They were such kindred souls. They were extremely coachable because they were finally being given a chance. They just wanted direction,” Lorimer says. “None of them knew each other, but as soon as they were brought together, there was a great deal of camaraderie. They had a sense of team and working together.”
In 1960, members of the OTC-Girls’ Team competed at the Olympic Trials in Texas. They received support from numerous Columbus entities, including Nationwide, which let them borrow a company plane for their travels. The chairmen of the U.S. Olympic Committee for Women’s Sports were so impressed they asked Lorimer to be the group’s secretary.
“We wanted to be professional about this. I think with our uniforms and our plane and everything, they took us seriously. And they should have,” he says.
The next year, in 1961, the OTC-Girls Team won the National AAU Indoor Track and Field Championships, something Lorimer admits he is still extremely proud of.
“What started as a patriotic motive after the Russians beat us became so much more. It became about helping young girls have this opportunity to express who they are and compete and develop skills,” Lorimer says. “Sport is life in microcosm. You learn the importance of striving, discipline and sacrifice, and I’m glad all of them were exposed to these lessons. They were uniquely situated to do something big with their lives.”
All the girls moved on to college, and Lorimer’s time with the original group had ended. He continued working with the Girls Amateur Athletic Union, organizing national championship events, and his efforts caught the interest of many. Shortly thereafter, the ball was set in motion for what eventually became the Arnold Sports Festival.
“I had been putting on these events and was approached by a group of weightlifters and asked to do something similar for them. I ended up organizing the National Weight Lifting Championships in 1967 at Veterans Memorial. But I knew we had to add another dimension to the event to be really successful and generate as much interest as possible, so we added Mr. America,” Lorimer says.
By 1970, the event turned into the World Weight Lifting Championships and Mr. Universe featuring the top six bodybuilders in the world including a young Arnold Schwarzenegger. Schwarzenegger was so impressed by the event’s efficiency, he teamed up with Lorimer to continue something similar annually.
By 1989, Lorimer and Schwarzenegger renamed their brainchild the Arnold Classic and later the Arnold Fitness Festival. From March 5-7, 2010, the event will mark its 22nd year with more sports showcased and athletes participating than ever.
Lorimer, at age 83, will be just as involved as ever, proving he certainly practices what he coaches.
“At the reunion with the girls, I wanted to let them know it’s important to encourage productivity. They’re all at or approaching retirement age and if I had stopped at age 65, I would have missed out on some of the greatest experiences of my life. I hope they’ll do more than golf away their retirement years,” Lorimer says. “They’ve listened to me before and I hope they will again.”
Now that the reunion is over, he’s not sure when they’ll see each other next. He will continue receiving Christmas cards and the occasional visit or phone call. He will keep track of the women’s progress and their children’s or grandchildren’s accomplishments, and he’ll recite them to anyone who asks.
Though his time with the OTC was relatively brief compared to his other endeavors, he admits it takes up plenty of space in his heart. The team met 10 years ago for its 40th reunion, and he hopes they all get the chance to meet again on its 60th anniversary.
“I’d like to see them together again in 10 years and tell them good luck. There are great memories and to relive them a little bit is special,” Lorimer says. “I have a fondness for this group and am proud they all turned out to be incredible women. I hope they all think of this as a meaningful experience in their lives as I do. They were trailblazers.”
Alicia Kelso is editor of CityScene.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW:
Where are they now – members of the Ohio Track Club – Girls’ Team of 1959.
Laura Voss Dodd attended The Ohio State University and became the first female to successfully complete the Columbus police S.W.A.T. training. She retired in 2008.
Betty Toney Foster was 13 when Lorimer approached her. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from OSU and is a retired teacher from the Columbus Public Schools.
Wanda Fuller taught high school for more than 20 years in the U.S. Virgin Islands. She was the first chairperson in the Physical Education Department at the St. Croix Educational Complex. She is now living in Florida and is a 20-year breast cancer survivor.
Melissa Long Goers attended Ohio Wesleyan University and founded the Buckeye Wander Freunde, a German volksmarching organization that has been active in Columbus for 30 years. She now works in Maryland and was given the “Outstanding Alumna of 2009 Award” by the Thomas Worthington High School Alumni Club.
Christine Miller Hayes attended Central State University and received two masters’ degrees from Xavier University and OSU. She has spent the past 27 years working in child welfare and retired this year.
Sylvia Cox Heeter graduated from Harvard Law School and practiced with a Boston firm for 16 years. She was the second woman elected to the Council of the Boston Bar Association. She was also a math teacher and then changed careers and is now head goldsmith at a South Dakota gold jewelry factory. Although she was a sprinter, both of her children are marathoners.
Karen Williams Hubbard attended Kent State University before moving to New York City to dance. She was cast in Hello Dolly, among many other musicals, commercials and films. She now is a tenured association professor in the Dance Department at UNC Charlotte and also earned a certificate in African and Kenyan Studies from the University of Nairobi.
Pat Watkins Milner graduated from Columbus Community College and has been a registered nurse for 29 years. She is currently charge nurse at The Ohio State Medical Center East.
Sue Knott Rose is principal editor at the University of California Press. She also volunteers for the San Francisco Ballet, is on the board of BRAVO and has also appeared onstage in various productions.
Karen Davis Sides received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from OSU, and another master’s at Murray State University. She taught high school for 25 years and coached track and field, cross country, swimming and diving, basketball and golf.
Etherida “Rida” Thompson-White taught at Champion Junior High in 1967 and formed the school’s first tack team. She continued coaching and forming teams throughout the Columbus area, including coaching Olympic silver medalist Madeline Manning Jackson. She retired after more than 36 years but continues to volunteer coach.
Coaches
Jim and Jean Lorimer celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary this year. Jim served in the U.S. Navy in World War II and later graduated from college and law school. His career began as a special agent in the FBI. He later joined Nationwide Insurance and became a vice president. He served as mayor and vice mayor of Worthington, was founder of the OTC – Girls’ Team, served as secretary and chairman of the U.S. Olympic Committee for Women’s Track and Field and led the development of the Arnold Sports Festival.
Harry and Barbara McKnight celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary this year. He served as a Marine in World War II and retired as Lt. Col. from the Ohio Air National Guard. He taught and coached for 54 years and was a founder of the Ohio Track Club in 1954 and coached the OTC – Girls’ Team from its inception in 1959. He also led the U.S. Track and Field Teams against the USSR in 1973 and ‘76.