Larry Banner

Larry Banner took up gymnastics to overcome a spine deformity that resulted from a bout with polio as a child. He also competed in swimming and played on the Van Nuys High School football team. He later attended junior college at Los Angeles Valley JC and then went to UCLA. At UCLA Banner was an All-American gymnast in 1961. He was all-around champion for the Southern Pacific Region of the AAU in 1961-62 while competing for the Los Angeles Turners Club. He was then head gymnastics coach at Cal Irvine for a few years.

Banner’s education was extensive. He graduated with a BS from UCLA in 1958, received his teaching certificate from Cal State Northridge in 1960, earned an MA at Cal State Long Beach in 1966, and an EdD in clinical reading education from Arizona State in 1973. After serving an internship at Maricopa County Hospital in Phoenix, Banner was awarded an honorary PhD in psychology. He later worked primarily in psychometrics and was a consultant to school districts, the US Department of Defense, and the Department of the Armed Forces Command, where he investigated ways in which classroom and field training could complement each other. Banner was inducted into the United States Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 1993 and was inducted into the World Acrobatic Society – Gallery of Acrobatic Legends in 2011.