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| Rawls in 1935 |
By Jane Feehan
Once a Fort Lauderdale resident, Katherine Rawls (1917-1982) swam and dove her way to celebrity at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin bringing home bronze and silver medals.
She brought world-wide attention to Fort Lauderdale, helping to underscore the relationship of the city to competition swimming.
Rawls had already established herself before the Olympics of 1932 and 1936, breaking a few world records at national and international championship events, including one, when she was 14, for the 300 meter individual medley. Young Katy had aspired to one day swim and dive in the Olympics after seeing Olympian Johnny Weissmuller train in Coral Gables in 1928. (Rawls, born in Tennessee, had lived in St. Augustine, Coral Gables and Hollywood before Fort Lauderdale.)
Her aspiration turned into a reality when Rawls was the first woman Floridian to join an Olympic team. She won more than 30 national titles for swimming and diving throughout her career. In 1937, the Associated Press tapped Rawls as the “Number One Athlete of the Year” among female competitors.
A swimmer - and swimming instructor - throughout her life, Rawls also achieved distinction during World War II as a pilot. She was one of the original 25 women pilots selected for the U.S. Squadron of Women's Army Ferry Service, shuttling planes into combat zones.
Rawls joined the festivities when the International Swimming Hall of Fame opened in 1965 in Fort Lauderdale and was among its first inductees.
Sources:
City of Fort Lauderdale
Roots Web Ancestry
Weidling, Philip J. , Burghard, August. Checkered Sunshine. Gainesville: University of Florida Press (1966).
Fort Lauderdale News, April 13, 1936
Florida State University
