Who Knew? Kathy Ellis One Of IU's Best From Pre-Title IX Era

Gold-medalist Kathy Ellis knew what was coming when she returned to the United States following the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

The 17-year-old from Indianapolis had been spectacular on the world stage, swimming the anchor legs on the United States' gold-medal winning and world-record setting 4x100 freestyle and 4x100 medley relay teams. She also picked up bronze medals in both the 100 freestyle and 100 butterfly events, giving her a U.S. team-high four medals to show for her efforts.

She had clearly established herself as one of the world's best in her sport. So, after taking advantage of the opportunity to tour Japan at the close of the Olympic Games for a series of exhibitions, Ellis returned to her home in Indianapolis in late October. Soon afterwards she moved into what is now Reed Quadrangular as an IU freshman, and everything unfolded exactly how she knew it would.

First, she was greeted with…anonymity.

Sure, there was a small dinner on campus to recognize the IU Olympians. And IU men's swimming coach James 'Doc' Counsilman – the U.S. Men's Team's head coach – certainly knew who she was. So did a handful of the swimmers on the Hoosier men's swimming team like Chet Jastremski and Fred Schmidt, who had won (fewer) medals in Tokyo while competing for the men's team.

"There was certainly no fanfare on my dorm floor or anywhere," Ellis said.

Secondly, there was no opportunity for her to compete in a sport that she was among the world's best.

This reality wasn't unique to Indiana University. In the pre-Title IX era, scholarships and intercollegiate athletic opportunities were exclusively for men. If there was any type of women's swimming team on a college campus, it was largely a recreational endeavor, often coached by someone with limited knowledge of the sport and minimal experience, doing it in their spare time from their regular campus responsibilities.

IU didn't even have that. The only 'opportunity' for women in the pool was to participate on the women's synchronized swimming team, which was not exactly what one of the world's fastest female swimmers was looking for.

Ellis knew both of those facts when she first decided to enroll at IU in the fall of 1964. Her start in Bloomington was delayed until January of 1965 when she earned her spot on the U.S. Olympic team at the Olympic Trials in August. But even all her successes in Tokyo couldn't and wouldn't allow her to avoid a third reality.

Retirement.

With no intercollegiate athletic opportunities on the IU (or any other) campus for women, and no high-caliber coaching available for someone of her gender on a college campus, Ellis knew that her competitive swimming career was over.

At 17 years old.

Two months removed from winning four Olympic medals.

And at the pinnacle of her sport.

At the time, Ellis wasn't bitter about that fact because, "it was our reality. It was bit of a feeling of 'been there, done that. It's time to move on.'"

That time came much too quickly for someone of Ellis' talents, and more specifically her gender.

She got her start in swimming as youth in Indianapolis at the Indianapolis Athletic Club along with her younger sister, Maddie. Their start in the sport wasn't out of any pre-determined plan to produce a pair of world-caliber swimmers at a facility that churned out its fair share during the 1950s and 1960s. It was one of many sports that the pair participated in as youngsters.

"I had a mom that thought that if we were busy and tired, we'd be less trouble," Ellis said.

But Ellis' parents also believed wholeheartedly in the need to learn how to swim. Both parents were avid and skilled golfers, and they would drop off their elementary-school aged daughters while the adults headed to an area golf course for 18 holes.

"They didn't want to leave us at the swimming pool and have us drown," Ellis said. "So we learned to swim early."

Both quickly progressed from learning to swim to excelling in the sport. After competing in several local swimming competitions, the facility's lifeguards let the Ellis parents know that their daughters were gifted. So when their Indianapolis Athletic Club instructor, Gene Lee, left to head up the swimming programs at the Riviera Club in Indianapolis, they followed.

Kathy's excellence in the pool also followed, and she competed in her first U.S. Olympic Trials in 1960 as a 13-year-old. While she did not advance out of the preliminaries to the eight-person final in the 100 butterfly, her mom was paying close attention to the results and let her know just how close she was to earning a spot in the final at such a young age.

"They had the (U.S. Olympic) Trials in Detroit and my mom was sitting in the bleachers, tracking stuff," Kathy said. "When it was over, she said, 'you know, you were 10^th in the 100 butterfly of everyone who was here.'"

That reality made it clear that Ellis would have every opportunity to be a part of the U.S. team four years later. In the years in between the Olympiads, she continued to shine at national AAU events, winning multiple individual and relay titles. In 1963 she established a new world record in the 100 butterfly, and she was among the world's best in both the freestyle and butterfly events.

That gave her the confidence to know that a berth on the '64 team wasn't just a possibility, but an expectation.

"I knew with the Olympics I was good enough to go," Ellis said. "I knew if I performed like I should have, I knew I should be winning and should be there."

She did just that at the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials in Queens, N.Y., in August, earning her spots on the team in the 100 freestyle and 100 butterfly along with the relay events. With her spot secure, she postponed her start date at IU, joined the rest of her teammates in Los Angeles to train for a month, and then set off for Tokyo in early October.

Her Olympic experience was special, although not what Olympians are accustomed to these days. There was no elaborate Olympic Village for the competitors; the athletes were instead housed at an old Army base that was protected by a fence and guards. Like just about every other athlete, Ellis' parents didn't make the trip. They instead stayed at home with Maddie, who had missed out on making the Olympic team herself by just one-tenth of a second.

When Ellis captured her four medals and set the two world records, her family found out not by television or by telephone call, but instead by telegram.

"That was how everyone let people know how they did during that time," Ellis said.

Upon returning to her Indianapolis home in late October, the still-17-year-old Ellis prepared for the next stage in life. She put her Olympic medals in a bag and hid them underneath her bed, packed her bags, and headed off to Bloomington.

As her undergraduate career was ready to begin, her competitive swimming career was now over.

"Things were just different then," Ellis said.

Ellis ultimately earned her IU degree in 1969 after switching her major to Nursing. After graduation she did ultimately return to the sport of swimming in other capacities. After her swimming mentor, Gene Lee, died in the 1970s, she was part of a three-person team that took the reins of the Riviera Swim Club. Ellis also replaced Lee as the head men's swim coach at Butler after his passing, making her one of the first females to be a Division I head coach of a men's program in any sport. After her time at Butler, she also enjoyed a successful head coaching stint with the Wabash men's swimming program as well.

Ultimately, Ellis enjoyed tremendous competitive, coaching, and mentoring opportunities and successes in her life thanks to the sport of swimming. But it's equally clear that she could have, and should have, gotten even more.

Thanks to the enormous changes that the enactment of Title IX ushered in, what was once an accepted reality for female student-athletes 50 or 60 years ago - stories like Ellis'- are now largely unbelievable.

"When I was in high school, I was like what am I going to do with my life?" Ellis said. "Back then, your options were, you could be a teacher, you could be a secretary, and if you were really good you could be an executive secretary. End of story.

"All of the transitions that came along in the 60s, and then with Title IX, it was time for that. I'm so glad to see the opportunities that women now have, and I hope that it only continues to get better and better."

Who Knew? Kathy Ellis One Of IU's Best From Pre-Title IX Era

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