Mary Freeman

Mary Freeman learned to swim in the Walter Reed Army Hospital pool, where her father was a chemist on the staff. She was primarily a backstroker, although she also starred in the individual medley before it was an Olympic event. Freeman won the 100 m and 200 m backstrokes at the 1951 AAU outdoor championships, adding the 1951 AAU 200 yard indoor backstroke title. In 1953 she won three further AAU titles – the 330 yard medley relay outdoors, the 880 yard freestyle relay outdoors, and the 300 yard individual medley indoors.

Freeman retired from competition in 1953 and married Jack Kelly, Jr., settling with him in Philadelphia. She started a swim club at Vesper Boat Club and coached them for many years, also coaching women’s swimming at the University of Pennsylvania. After Kelly’s death, Freeman remarried Professor Allen Spitzer and lived in Iowa City, Iowa.