View source for Shelley Mann

{{Short description|American swimmer (1937–2005)}}
{{for|the drummer|Shelly Manne}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox swimmer
| name           = Shelley Mann
| image          = Shelley_Mann.jpeg
| image_size     = <!-- Only for images narrower than 220 pixels -->
| alt            =
| caption        = 
| fullname       = Shelley Isabel Mann
| nicknames      = 
| national_team  = {{USA}}
| strokes        = [[Butterfly stroke|Butterfly]], [[freestyle swimming|freestyle]]
| club           = Walter Reed Swim Club
| coach          = Jim Campbell (Walter Reed)<br>[[Stan Tinkham]] (Walter Reed)
| collegeteam    = 
| birth_date     = October 15, 1937
| birth_place    = [[Long Island, New York]]
| death_date     = {{death date and age|2005|3|24|1937|10|15}}
| death_place    = [[Alexandria, Virginia]]
| height         = {{convert|5|ft|8|in|m|abbr=on}}
| weight         = {{convert|134|lb|kg|abbr=on}}
| medaltemplates =
{{MedalSport | Women's swimming}}
{{MedalCountry | the {{flag|United States}}}}
{{MedalCompetition | [[Swimming at the Summer Olympics|Olympic Games]]}}
[[File:Olympic rings.svg|center|80px]]
{{MedalGold | [[1956 Summer Olympics|1956 Melbourne]] | [[Swimming at the 1956 Summer Olympics - Women's 100 metre butterfly|100 m butterfly]]}}
{{MedalSilver | 1956 Melbourne | [[Swimming at the 1956 Summer Olympics - Women's 4 x 100 metre freestyle relay|4x100 m freestyle]]}}
{{MedalCompetition | [[Swimming at the Pan American Games|Pan American Games]]}}
{{MedalBronze | [[1955 Pan American Games|1955 Mexico City]] | [[Swimming at the 1955 Pan American Games|100 m butterfly]]}}
}}

'''Shelley Isabel Mann''' (October 15, 1937 – March 24, 2005) was an American competition [[swimming (sport)|swimmer]], who overcame childhood polio to win the first gold medal ever awarded in the [[Swimming at the 1956 Summer Olympics - Women's 100 meter butterfly|women's 100-meter butterfly]] event at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.  She was also a member of the 1956 U.S. Olympic team that won the silver medal for the [[Swimming at the 1956 Summer Olympics - Women's 4 x 100 meter freestyle relay|women's 4×100-meter freestyle relay]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=14 December 2023 |title=Olympedia – 100 metres Butterfly, Women |url=https://www.olympedia.org/results/5470 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231214175301/https://www.olympedia.org/results/5470 |archive-date=14 December 2023 |access-date=14 December 2023 |website=Olympedia}}</ref>

== Early years ==
Mann was born one of two daughters in [[Long Island|Long Island, New York]] on October 13, 1937, to Hamilton and Isabel Lanford Mann. Her father, with roots in Virginia, was in the [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]] during [[World War II]] and would reach the rank of Commander. He served as the Director of the USA Security Agency's division of Computer Communications from 1955-71.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newsleader.com/story/news/2016/08/19/olympic-gold-medalist-buried-thornrose/89010816/|title=1956 Olympic gold medalist buried in Thornrose|last=Nancy|first=Sorrells|date=August 19, 2016|work=News Leader, part of the USA Today Network}}</ref><ref>"Obituaries, Hamilton H. Mann", ''The Daily News Leader'', Staunton, Virginia, March 16, 1972, pg. 3</ref>

At age six, Mann contracted [[poliomyelitis|polio]] while living in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]]. She spent weeks in the hospital and was left with a paralyzed right leg.<ref name=":0" /> Over the next few years, Mann took daily sessions of therapy, including passive and active hydrotherapy. Although progress was slow, her therapy <ref name=":0" /> produced results, as she regained the use and control of her arms, and regained control and functionality of her legs by ten, though she had initially walked with a limp.<ref name=":2">Barney, David E., and Robert K. Barney. "[https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&u=googlescholar&id=GALE%7CA176818711&v=2.1&it=r&sid=AONE&asid=535b6e53 A long night's journey into day: the Odyssey of the butterfly stroke in international swimming.]" ''Proceedings: International Symposium for Olympic Research'', Oct. 2006, pp. 65+. ''Gale Academic OneFile'', link.gale.com/apps/doc/A176818711/AONE?u=googlescholar&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=535b6e53. Accessed 12 Dec. 2023.</ref><ref>"At the age of five she had polio. … Her parents took her daily to a swimming pool where they hoped the water would help hold her arms up as she tried to use them again. When she could lift her arm out of the water with her own power, she cried for joy. Then her goal was to swim the width of the pool, then the length, then several lengths. She kept on trying, swimming, enduring, day after day after day, until she won the gold medal for the butterfly stroke—one of the most difficult of all swimming strokes." ([[Marvin J. Ashton]], April 1975 General Conference Report)</ref> In the late 1940's after WWII, her father returned the family to their native Virginia, and lived in the Arlington area.  At the age of 11, she learned to swim.<ref name=":2" />

== Achievements in competitive swimming ==
In 1952 around the age of 14, while living in the Arlington, Virginia area, Mann began training with the outstanding swimming program at the Walter Reed Army Hospital swim club and was discovered by their Coach Jim Campbell.  The club had just been formed in 1952 with Campbell as coach, and practiced at the Walter Reed Hospital Pool in Washington, D.C.  By 1954, when Mann was a High School Junior, Hall of Famer Stan Tinkham, a former All American at the University of North Carolina, became the Head Coach at Walter Reed when Campbell resigned.<ref name=Tinkham>{{cite web|url=https://ishof.org/honoree/honoree-stan-tinkham/|title=International Swimming Hall of Fame, Stan Tinkham|website=ishof.org|access-date=May 2, 2025}}</ref>  At the age of 12, Mann was swimming competitively, and at 14, won the first of her 24 [[Amateur Athletic Union|AAU]] national championships in the [[Freestyle swimming|freestyle]], [[breaststroke]], [[backstroke]], [[Butterfly stroke|butterfly]], and [[Medley swimming|individual medley]] events.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |date=14 December 2023 |title=Olympedia – Shelley Mann |url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/51107 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231214175555/https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/51107 |archive-date=14 December 2023 |access-date=14 December 2023 |website=Olympedia}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |date=14 December 2023 |title=Shelley Mann {{!}} Virginia Sports Hall of Fame |url=https://vasportshof.com/inductee/shelley-mann/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231214222145/https://vasportshof.com/inductee/shelley-mann/ |archive-date=14 December 2023 |access-date=14 December 2023 |website=Virginia Sports Hall of Fame}}</ref>

At 15, Mann held multiple world records, though these are currently not [[World Aquatics|FINA]] recognized as they were set before 1957.<ref name=":2" /><ref name="ishofprofile" />

In 1955, Mann graduated Arlington, Virginia's [[Washington-Liberty High School|Washington-Lee High School]].<ref name=":0" />

At the [[Swimming at the 1955 Pan American Games – Women's 100 metre butterfly|100 metres butterfly event at the 1955 Pan American Games]] in Mexico City in late March, Mann won a bronze medal, recording a time of 1:17.7.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-09-23 |title=BEST SWIMMING 2015 – O Melhor da Natação Mundial |url=http://www.bestswimming.com.br/conteudo.php?i=14118 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923184339/http://www.bestswimming.com.br/conteudo.php?i=14118 |archive-date=23 September 2015 |access-date=2023-12-14 |website=Best swimming}}</ref><ref name=":3" />

==1956 Melbourne Olympics==
At the 1956 US Olympic swimming trials in Detroit in mid-August, Mann gained additional expertise in the butterfly stroke after instruction from Coach [[Charles Silvia|Charles Silva]], who coached swimming at Springfield College.  She also received tips on the butterfly stroke from future 1956 Olympic butterfly gold medalist [[William Yorzyk]].  Silva taught Mann, using Yorzyk, a skilled butterfly competitor whom he had trained at Springfield, to demonstrate the finer points of the stroke.<ref name=":2" /> Both Yorzyk and Mann would go on to win the only butterfly events at the [[1956 Summer Olympics|1956 Melbourne Olympics]].<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":02">{{Cite web |date=13 December 2023 |title=Olympedia – 200 metres Butterfly, Men |url=https://www.olympedia.org/results/5421 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231213074917/https://www.olympedia.org/results/5421 |archive-date=13 December 2023 |access-date=13 December 2023 |website=Olympedia}}</ref> Yorzyk recalled that Mann had trouble breaking bad habits when transitioning from butterfly-breaststroke to butterfly.<ref name=":2" />  

In the preliminary heats of the 1956 U.S. Trials, she swam the existing world record time of 1:04.6 for the 100 m freestyle.  Despite her speed, American Olympic teams faced a strong challenge from the dominant Australian men's and women's team.<ref name=Olympedia/><ref name=SI>{{cite web|url=https://vault.si.com/vault/1956/08/20/from-last-weeks-trials-we-got-our-strongest-olympic-team-but-compared-to-the-australians-it-is-still-only-second-best|title=Phinizy, Coles, Sports Illustrated Archive, August 20, 1956, From Last Week's Trials, We Got Our Strongest Olympic Team, But Compared to the Australians, It is Still Only Second Best|website=vault.si.com|access-date=May 5, 2025}}</ref>  Other Walter Reed swimmers who qualified for the Olympics at the trials included [[Susan McGreivy|Susan Douglas]], [[Betty Brey|Betty Mullens Brey]] and [[Mary Sears (swimmer)|Mary Jane Sears]].<ref name=Stars>"Former Olympic Swimming Coach Developing Stars for Next Games", ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,'' Pittburgh, Pennsylvania, April 12, 1960, pg. 20</ref> 

At 19, in the preliminary heats of the December, 1956 Melbourne Olympics, Mann set a record time of 1:11.2 in the 100-meter butterfly.  In the finals, she won the inaugural [[Swimming at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 metre butterfly|100 metres butterfly event]], with an Olympic record time of 1:11.0, sweeping the event with two other American team members.  Mann was also a member of the U.S. team that won the silver medal for the [[Swimming at the 1956 Summer Olympics - Women's 4 x 100 meter freestyle relay|women's 4×100-meter freestyle relay]] that swam a combined time of 4:19.2. Mann swam second, and helped the American team to gain ground on the dominant Australian squad who had gained a lead over the Americans through the efforts of their lead off swimmer Dawn Fraser.  Both the Australian team and the American team finished in combined times under the prior world record in the event.<ref name=Olympedia/>

Mann placed sixth in the [[Swimming at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 metre freestyle|100m freestyle event]] with a time of 1:05.6, placing out of medal contention.<ref name=Olympedia>{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/results/5470|title=Olympedia Biography, Shelley Mann|website=olympedia.org|access-date=May 4, 2025}}</ref><ref name=":1" />  The Olympic Women's swimming team was coached by her Walter Reed Swim Coach [[Stan Tinkham]] that year and took six of the combined eleven medals won by the U.S. Men's and Women's teams.<ref name="SportsRef">{{cite web |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1956/SWI/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417045622/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1956/SWI/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 April 2020 |title=Swimming at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games |access-date=1 October 2016 |work=Sports Reference}}</ref>

While studying at the [[American University]] in Washington, D.C., she remained with the Walter Reed Swim Club under young Hall of Fame Coach [[Stan Tinkham]].<ref name=tinkham>{{cite web|url=https://ishof.org/honoree/honoree-stan-tinkham/|title=International Swimming Hall of Fame, Stan Tinkham|website=ishof.org|access-date=May 2, 2025}}</ref><ref>[https://www.si.com/vault/1955/08/15/604914/stan-tinkhams-teenagers Sports Illustrated Vault: STAN TINKHAM'S TEEN-AGERS]</ref> The swim team trained at 6:00am because the [[Walter Reed Army Medical Center|Walter Reed medical hospital pool]] was used by the patients in the afternoon, though the evening time of 4:00 pm was later adopted as a practice time as well.<ref name="ishofprofile" /><ref name=":0" />

== Later life ==
At 19, after the Olympics, Mann enrolled at [[Cornell University]].<ref name=":0" />

After graduating from Cornell in 1961, she worked as a swim coach.  In 1964, she coached swimming to blind children for the Columbia Lighthouse in Washington.<ref>Gildea, William, "Blind Children Happily Learn to Swim", ''Johnson City Press'', Johnson City, Tennessee, July 23, 1965, pg. 10</ref>  She later founded her own club, the Shelley Mann Swim School in [[Arlington County, Virginia|Arlington]], Virginia.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=Cornell>{{cite web|url=https://cornellbigred.com/sports/2009/7/30/WSWIMHistory|title=Cornell Women's Swimming and Diving History|website=cornellbigred.com|access-date=May 5, 2025}}</ref>

===Honors===
Mann received the National B'nai B'rith Award for “high principle and achievement in sports”, an award of merit in Aquatics from the [[Los Angeles Times]], and a goodwill tour of [[New Zealand]] from the New Zealand Swimming Association.  She was inducted into the [[Virginia Sports Hall of Fame]] in 1984.<ref name=":4" /><ref>Grim, Herbert F. Junior, "Olympics Bring Memories to Mann", ''The Daily News Leader'', Staunton, Virginia, August 28, 1984, pg. 9</ref>

In a more distinctive honor, she was inducted into the [[International Swimming Hall of Fame]] as an "honor swimmer" in 1966.<ref name="ishofprofile">{{cite web |url=http://www.ishof.org/shelley-mann-(usa).html |title=Shelley Mann (USA) |website=ISHOF.org |publisher=[[International Swimming Hall of Fame]] |access-date=April 11, 2015 |archive-date=April 12, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150412021320/http://www.ishof.org/shelley-mann-(usa).html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=":0" />

== Death ==
Shelley Mann died on 24 March 2005, at Virginia Hospital Center at the age of 67 and was buried in her families plot of land in Thornrose Cemetery, in [[Staunton, Virginia|Staunton]], Virginia.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":0" />  Graveside services were held on April 1, 2005.<ref name=obit>"Obituary, Shelly I. Mann, 67", ''The Daily News Leader'', Staunton, Virginia, March 31, 2005, pg. 2</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of members of the International Swimming Hall of Fame]]
* [[List of American University people]]
* [[List of Olympic medalists in swimming (women)]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{SR/Olympics profile|ma/shelley-mann-1}}
* [http://www.ishof.org/shelley-mann-(usa).html Shelley Mann (USA) – Honor Swimmer profile at International Swimming Hall of Fame] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150412021320/http://www.ishof.org/shelley-mann-(usa).html |date=2015-04-12 }}
* [http://www.newsleader.com/story/news/2016/08/19/olympic-gold-medalist-buried-thornrose/89010816/ Mention of Shelley Mann's death]

{{Footer USA Swimming 1956 Summer Olympics}}
{{Footer Olympic Champions 100 m Butterfly Women}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mann, Shelley}}
[[Category:1937 births]]
[[Category:2005 deaths]]
[[Category:American female butterfly swimmers]]
[[Category:American female freestyle swimmers]]
[[Category:American University alumni]]
[[Category:Olympic gold medalists for the United States in swimming]]
[[Category:Swimmers from New York City]]
[[Category:Swimmers at the 1956 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1956 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Olympic silver medalists for the United States in swimming]]
[[Category:Swimmers at the 1955 Pan American Games]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1955 Pan American Games]]
[[Category:Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States in swimming]]
[[Category:20th-century American sportswomen]]