Mary Washburn Conklin papers

Mary Washburn Conklin was born in Hudson Falls, New York and graduated from Hempstead High School where she played basketball and ran track. Following high school, she attended DePauw University, where she competed in track, basketball, field hockey, soccer and swimming. She set two national collegiate records while at DePauw, the 60-yard hurdles and the basketball throw. She transferred to New York University in 1927, where she continued track as a member of the Millrose Athletic Association. In 1928, Conklin competed on the United States Olympic Team in Amsterdam, winning a silver medal in the 4 x 100 meter relay. It was the first Olympic games that allowed women to compete in track and field. Soon after the Olympics ended, she won the 80-meter hurdles at the International Track Meet in Brussels.

Conklin completed her bachelor's degree in physical education and became a teacher, coach and director of girls' athletics at Amityville New York High School. She went on to teach and coach at several other schools. She also competed in track, played professional basketball for the Stamford All Stars and played on the United States National Field Hockey Team.

In 1946, she became professor and coach at Beaver College in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania. She became the All-American women's lacrosse player and later the coach of the British and American Women's Lacrosse Touring Team.

She won many awards including the Nassau Area Certificate of Recognition from the New York State Association of Women in Physical Education in 1975; inducted into the NYU Women's Varsity Hall of Fame in 1979; named New York State Sports Woman of the Year in 1984; and inducted into the DePauw University Athletic Hall of Fame in 1986.

Source: Mary Washburn Conklin obituary, Keene Sentinel, New Hampshire, February 4, 1994.