Kathy Ellis

Kathleen Ellis, (born November 28, 1946), also known by her married names Kathy Hood and Kathy Landsgraf is an American former competition swimmer for the Riviera Swim Club, a 1964 Tokyo Olympic champion in the 4x100-meter freestyle and medley relay events, and a former world record-holder in three events. Graduating Indiana University in 1968 with a degree in Nursing, she later married, and coached swimming at the Riviera Club replacing her former coach Gene Lee. She also coached at Butler University, where Lee had coached, and later at Wabash College.

Early swimming

Ellis was born on November 26, 1946 in Indianapolis, Indiana to Mr. and Mrs. Donald Ellis, who were avid golfers and able athletes and wanted Kathy and her sister Maddie to learn to swim competently while they enjoyed their own avocation. Kathy and her sister swam first with the Indianapolis Athletic Club (IAC) beginning in elementary school. Ellis's Coach Gene Lee began working at the IAC around 1956. When Coach Lee left the IAC for the Riviera Club in 1962, Kathy and her sister followed. Lee became an American Swimming Coaches Association Hall of Fame honoree. An outstanding program, Lee coached the Riviera Club from 1962-1977 mentoring four Pan American and Olympic participants in his career. As a young swimmer, at only 14, Kathy took her first National Championship in the 100-yard butterfly in 1961. At the 1963 U.S. Nationals, she set a new world record mark for the 100-meter butterfly with a time of 1:06.5.

1960 Olympic trials

At only 13 at her first U.S. Olympic Trials in Detroit, Michigan in 1960, she did not advance out of the preliminaries, yet finished tenth in the 100-meter butterfly event, just missing the eight person final round.

Ellis captured a bronze medal at the 1963 Summer Pan American Games in Sao Paulo, in the 100-meter butterfly, and a bronze medal in the 100-meter freestyle.

1964 Tokyo Olympics

Ellis qualified for the 1964 Olympics at the Trials in Astoria pool, in Queens, New York, on August 29, 1964, after swimming a time of 1:00.4 in the 100-meter freestyle, placing second only .1 seconds behind Sharon Stouder, the reigning world record holder in the event. Ellis's time was below the listed American record. He sister Maddie missed making the U.S. team by one-tenth of a second. Maddie Ellis would later win a gold medal at the 1967 World University Games. The Head Women's Coach for the 1964 Olympics was Peter Daland, who coached the swim teams at the Los Angeles Athletic Club and the University of Southern California, and worked with Ellis and the U.S. Women's Olympic team during their pre-Olympic training in Los Angeles and later in Tokyo.

After qualifying in the trials, Ellis represented the United States as a 17-year-old at the October Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. She won two gold medals as a member of the winning U.S. teams in the women's 4×100-meter freestyle relay and women's 4×100-meter medley relay, with both events setting new world records. Individually, she also received two bronze medals for her third-place finishes in the women's 100-meter freestyle with a time of 1:00.8 and the women's 100-meter butterfly with a time of 1:06.0.Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports, Athletes
Kathy Ellis
Retrieved March 16, 2015.

In the 400-meter freestyle relay, Ellis swam anchor and teamed with Sharon Stouder, Lillian "Pokey" Watson, and Donna de Varona."Williams, Bob, Olympic Swim Champion Home", ''The Indianapolis Star'', Indianapolis, Indiana, 25 October 1964, pg. 59 The 4x100-meter medley relay consisted of Cathy Ferguson, Cynthia Goyette, and Sharon Stouder, with Ellis swimming anchor. Their world record time was 4:33.9. On the breaststroke leg of the medley relay the Soviet team had a slight lead, but American team mate Sharon Stouder opened a 2 1/2 length lead in her butterfly leg, and Ellis was able to maintain the lead on the final leg to capture the gold medal.

Indiana University

After the Olympics, Ellis attended Indiana University, graduating in 1969 with a major in Nursing. She was active in the national sorority, Kappa Alpha Theta. She did not compete as a swimmer, but did train for a period. Women's scholarships were not available at the time, and Ellis was not interested in Synchronized swimming, the only women's swimming team available at Indiana at the time.

While at Indiana University, Ellis remained in training and competition for a few years, and was managed by Indiana's Hall of Fame Coach James "Doc" Counsilman. She married shortly after college and became Kathy Ellis Hood.

Shortly after graduating Indiana University, Kathy married Carl John Hood on the evening of Thursday, July 3, 1969, at Meridian Street United Methodist Church in Indianapolis. Hood was a graduate of Butler University, where Kathy would later coach. Kathy's sister Madeline Ellis, an accomplished competitive swimmer who had trained with Kathy, was Maid of Honor. A reception was held at the Riviera Club, where Kathy had trained as a swimmer, and would later coach swimming."Miss Kathleen Ellis Married to Carl John Hood", ''The Indianapolis Star'', 4 July 1969, pg. 12 In the late 1970's, Kathy later married Doug Landsgraf who was coaching swimming at Butler College, and also coached soccer.

Honors

Ellis was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as an "Honor Swimmer" in 1991.

She was voted "Woman of the Year", in 1965 by Theta Sigma Phi professional fraternity for women in journalism.

Though she did not compete for Indiana University, she was honored by the school on their "Wall of Fame" in August, 1982, at the newly opened Indiana Natatorium, a large modern facility. Also honored on the wall were her coach Gene Lee, who coached her at the Indianapolis Athletic Club and Riviera Club, and James "Doc" Counselman, who coached her for a short period while she was in college. Counselman had also coached at the Indianapolis Athletic Club in the 1950's and 1960's."Indiana Swim Olympians Named for Wall of Fame", ''The Indianapolis Star'', Indianapolis, Indiana, 8 August 1982, pg. 60

Coaching

Ellis coached the Riviera Swim Team, when her former Coach Gene Lee died in 1977, and also began coaching Butler University Men's swim team, a position that had formerly been held by few women, as the Division I school was highly competitive. She became one of the few women to coach a Division 1 college team. After coaching at Butler, she had a successful head coaching position with Crawfordsville, Indiana's Wabash College men's swimming program.

She later lived in Carmel, Indiana with her husband Doug Landsgraf and two children, a boy, and a girl, who excelled as soccer players.

See also

* List of members of the International Swimming Hall of Fame
* List of Olympic medalists in swimming (women)
* World record progression 100 metres butterfly
* World record progression 4 × 100 metres freestyle relay
* World record progression 4 × 100 metres medley relay

References

External links

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Indiana University, June 17, 2021, Women's Swimming and Diving, Kathy Ellis One Of IU's Best From Pre-Title IX Era

Image of U.S. Olympic swimmers Donna deVarona and Kathy Ellis, California, 1964.
Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Olympedia Biography, Kathy Ellis

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ellis, Kathy
1946 births
Living people
American swimming coaches
American female butterfly swimmers
American female freestyle swimmers
Indiana University Bloomington alumni
Butler Bulldogs coaches
World record setters in swimming
Olympic gold medalists for the United States in swimming
Swimmers from Indianapolis
Swimmers at the 1964 Summer Olympics
Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics
Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in swimming
Swimmers at the 1963 Pan American Games
Medalists at the 1963 Pan American Games
Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in swimming
Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States in swimming
20th-century American sportswomen