Barbara Gilders

Barbara Gilders competed for the Detroit Athletic Club, where she was coached by four-time Olympic medalist Bud Pinkston. Gilder won AAU indoor titles on the 1-metre board in 1958 and the 3-metre springboard in 1959. She was runner-up at the 1956 US Olympic Trials on springboard and just missed a medal, placing fourth, in Melbourne. Before the 1959 Pan American Games, Gilders had married and, as Barbara Dudeck, won a bronze medal on springboard. She retired from competition after the Pan Am Games.

Gilders’ family was full of athletic accomplishment. Her younger sister Fletcher Gilders was a two-time NCAA diving champion at Ohio State, while her brother “Fletch” became a diving coach at Ohio University and Kenyon College. Her husband, John Dudeck, swam collegiately at Michigan State University, was a Big 10 record holder, and was a nine-time All-American for the Spartans. Their daughter, Diane Dudeck later became an accomplished diver, winning the 1984 NCAA title on 1-metre springboard for the University of Michigan.