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Family recalls Olympian
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| Submitted photo Janice-Lee Romary leads the United States team into the stadium during the openeing ceremonies at the 1968 Mexico City Games. She was the first woman from the USA to carry the flag in the opening ceremonies, and was a six-time Olympian. Romary died Thursday. |
June 4, 2007
Janice-Lee Romary might not be a household name to a lot of sports fans, but her legacy will live forever.
Romary, who lived in Klamath Falls for the past couple of decades, was buried Saturday afternoon. She died Thursday at age 79 of complications related to Alzheimer's disease.
But few athletes in the United States impacted sports, and the Olympic Games, like Romary, the first women from this country to carry the “Stars and Stripes” during opening ceremonies.
No fencer, male or female, has ever won as many national championships as did Romary.
Few Olympic athletes have participated in the quadrennial event as many times as Romary represented her country, and her participation in the Games went beyond involvement as an athlete.
Saturday evening, family and friends shared their memories
“She was a super organizer. She held the team together,” her husband, Charles, said. “She had to be a mother confessor to athletes, and not just fencers, and she had to placate coaches.”
She was an administrator for the 1976 Montreal Olympics in charge of all women athletes.
“She was a liaison for the U.S. team,” her daughter, Lisa Romary-Mosher said. “Part of the thing Mom was good at was unifying people. Part of her thing was to bring athletes and sports together.”
In 1968, the year Romary carried the U.S. flag at the opening ceremonies of the Mexico City Games, she and another athlete found a malnourished, abused dog. The animal became a rallying point for U.S. athletes of all sports throughout the Games.
That year was the last of her six as a fencer.
She twice finished fourth.
In 1952, Romary tied Denmark's Karen Lachmann for third place, but lost on touches, which was the tiebreaker for the bronze medal of the Heksinki, Finland, Games. Romary also was fourth in the 1956 Melbourne, Australia, Games.
Romary, a graduate of the University of Southern California, was fourth both times.
Like all women fencers during her Olympic appearances, she only was allowed to compete in foil, a discipline her husband eventually participated in and was ranked among the top 10 among U.S. men.
Charles Romary also participated in epee and sabre. The latter two fencing forms were added to the Olympic Games for women in Atlanta in 1996.
When she competed, athletes were not allowed to accept money to compete, and that included expenses. Athletes were required to foot their entire bill, although, once at an Olympic village, food and lodging were provided.
“It was up to them and my grandparents to provide the funds,” Romary-Mosher said.
Romary, when she was among the nation's elite, appeared on the Steve Allen Show, To Tell the Truth and What's My Line? She could not accept money from the shows in order to retain her amateur status.
Her career and world travels left her with untold mementos - photographs, medals, pins, swords and awards like the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award.
“We thought about making a museum and moving out,” Charles said with a grin. Their home is decorated with reminders of her long career as a national and world class athlete.
Even though she attended the Atlanta and Sydney Games, her last official realm with the Olympics was in 19984 when Los Angeles hosted the competition for the second time, the other being 1932.
Romary was the commissioner for fencing.
“Her job was like setting up a small city,” Charles said.
Among her tasks was the challenge to get all of the equipment needed for the Los Angeles Games fencing competition, and she dealt with people from around the world.
She met with Russian vendors, who provided her with a bag of collector pins, including the Moscow bear that was the symbol of the 1980 Summer Games. The pins became incredibly rare when the Soviet Union boycotted the 1984 Games.
“She always said her claim to fame was her longevity,” her daughter said.
That longevity made Romary seven U.S. athletes to participate in six or more Olympic Games, and the only woman. She also was the first female athlete from any country to participate in six Olympic Games.
Swedish fencer Kerstin Palm is the only woman to have appeared in seven Olympic Games, and did so from 1964-1988.
Romary won 10 national titles and sat out the 1959 national championships to give birth, that coming during a period when she won eight titles in 13 years.
“I can remember when she took lessons sitting on a high stool when she was pregnant so that she wouldn't have to stand on her feet,” Charles Romary said.
She also won the 1967 World Wide Sportsman's Award, gained the Helm's Foundation Fencing Hall of Fame in 1969, is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records and is the only fencer to ever win the Helm's Foundation Athlete of the Month Award, which she did in August 1968.
Romary won a Pan American Games gold medal in 1967 and claimed silver and bronze medals in 1963.
-By Steve Matthies
U.S. flag bearers
Janice-Lee Romary was the first of five women to carry the flag of the United States in the opening ceremonies at the Olympic Games, and did so in 1968 in Mexico City.
Other women to the carry the U.S. flag for the opening ceremonies are Olga Fikotova Connelly (track and field, 1972), Evelyn Ashford (track and field, 1988), Francie Larrieu (track and field, 1992) and Dawn Staley (basketball, 2004).
U.S. Flag Bearers Opening Ceremonies
Summer Olympic Games
1896, Athens, Greece; 1900, Paris, France; 1904, St. Louis - there were no flag bearers.
1908, London, England - Ralph Rose, track and field.
1912, Stockholm, Sweden - George Bonhag, track and field.
1920, Antwerp, Belgium - Patrick McDonald, track and field.
1924, Paris, France - Patrick McDonald, track and field.
1928, Amsterdam, The Netherlands - Bud Houser, track and field.
1932, Los Angeles - F. Morgan Taylor, track and field.
1936, Berlin, Germany - Alfred Jochim, gymnastics.
1948, London, England - Ralph Craig, yachting.
1952, Helsinki, Finland - Norman Armitage, fencing.
1956, Melbourne, Australia - Norman Armitage, fencing.
1960, Rome, Italy - Rafer Johnson, decathlon.
1964, Tokyo, Japan - William Parry O'Brien, track and field.
1968, Mexico City, Mexico - Janice Lee Romary, fencing.
1972, Munich, Germany- Olga Fikotova Connelly, track and field.
1976, Montreal, Quebec - Gary Hall, swimming.
1980, Moscow, Russia - USA boycotted Games.
1984, Los Angeles - Edwin Burke, track and field.
1988, Seoul, South Korea - Evelyn Ashford, track and field.
1992, Barcelona, Spain - Francie Larrieu, track and field.
1996, Atlanta - Bruce Baumgartner, wrestling.
2000, Sydney, Australia - Cliff Meidl, canoe/kayaking.
2004, Athens, Greece - Dawn Staley, women's basketball.
Janice-Lee Romary might not be a household name to a lot of sports fans, but her legacy will live forever.
Romary, who lived in Klamath Falls for the past couple of decades, was buried Saturday afternoon. She died Thursday at age 79 of complications related to Alzheimer's disease.
But few athletes in the United States impacted sports, and the Olympic Games, like Romary, the first women from this country to carry the “Stars and Stripes” during opening ceremonies.
No fencer, male or female, has ever won as many national championships as did Romary.
Few Olympic athletes have participated in the quadrennial event as many times as Romary represented her country, and her participation in the Games went beyond involvement as an athlete.
Saturday evening, family and friends shared their memories
“She was a super organizer. She held the team together,” her husband, Charles, said. “She had to be a mother confessor to athletes, and not just fencers, and she had to placate coaches.”
She was an administrator for the 1976 Montreal Olympics in charge of all women athletes.
“She was a liaison for the U.S. team,” her daughter, Lisa Romary-Mosher said. “Part of the thing Mom was good at was unifying people. Part of her thing was to bring athletes and sports together.”
In 1968, the year Romary carried the U.S. flag at the opening ceremonies of the Mexico City Games, she and another athlete found a malnourished, abused dog. The animal became a rallying point for U.S. athletes of all sports throughout the Games.
That year was the last of her six as a fencer.
She twice finished fourth.
In 1952, Romary tied Denmark's Karen Lachmann for third place, but lost on touches, which was the tiebreaker for the bronze medal of the Heksinki, Finland, Games. Romary also was fourth in the 1956 Melbourne, Australia, Games.
Romary, a graduate of the University of Southern California, was fourth both times.
Like all women fencers during her Olympic appearances, she only was allowed to compete in foil, a discipline her husband eventually participated in and was ranked among the top 10 among U.S. men.
Charles Romary also participated in epee and sabre. The latter two fencing forms were added to the Olympic Games for women in Atlanta in 1996.
When she competed, athletes were not allowed to accept money to compete, and that included expenses. Athletes were required to foot their entire bill, although, once at an Olympic village, food and lodging were provided.
“It was up to them and my grandparents to provide the funds,” Romary-Mosher said.
Romary, when she was among the nation's elite, appeared on the Steve Allen Show, To Tell the Truth and What's My Line? She could not accept money from the shows in order to retain her amateur status.
Her career and world travels left her with untold mementos - photographs, medals, pins, swords and awards like the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award.
“We thought about making a museum and moving out,” Charles said with a grin. Their home is decorated with reminders of her long career as a national and world class athlete.
Even though she attended the Atlanta and Sydney Games, her last official realm with the Olympics was in 19984 when Los Angeles hosted the competition for the second time, the other being 1932.
Romary was the commissioner for fencing.
“Her job was like setting up a small city,” Charles said.
Among her tasks was the challenge to get all of the equipment needed for the Los Angeles Games fencing competition, and she dealt with people from around the world.
She met with Russian vendors, who provided her with a bag of collector pins, including the Moscow bear that was the symbol of the 1980 Summer Games. The pins became incredibly rare when the Soviet Union boycotted the 1984 Games.
“She always said her claim to fame was her longevity,” her daughter said.
That longevity made Romary seven U.S. athletes to participate in six or more Olympic Games, and the only woman. She also was the first female athlete from any country to participate in six Olympic Games.
Swedish fencer Kerstin Palm is the only woman to have appeared in seven Olympic Games, and did so from 1964-1988.
Romary won 10 national titles and sat out the 1959 national championships to give birth, that coming during a period when she won eight titles in 13 years.
“I can remember when she took lessons sitting on a high stool when she was pregnant so that she wouldn't have to stand on her feet,” Charles Romary said.
She also won the 1967 World Wide Sportsman's Award, gained the Helm's Foundation Fencing Hall of Fame in 1969, is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records and is the only fencer to ever win the Helm's Foundation Athlete of the Month Award, which she did in August 1968.
Romary won a Pan American Games gold medal in 1967 and claimed silver and bronze medals in 1963.
-By Steve Matthies
U.S. flag bearers
Janice-Lee Romary was the first of five women to carry the flag of the United States in the opening ceremonies at the Olympic Games, and did so in 1968 in Mexico City.
Other women to the carry the U.S. flag for the opening ceremonies are Olga Fikotova Connelly (track and field, 1972), Evelyn Ashford (track and field, 1988), Francie Larrieu (track and field, 1992) and Dawn Staley (basketball, 2004).
U.S. Flag Bearers Opening Ceremonies
Summer Olympic Games
1896, Athens, Greece; 1900, Paris, France; 1904, St. Louis - there were no flag bearers.
1908, London, England - Ralph Rose, track and field.
1912, Stockholm, Sweden - George Bonhag, track and field.
1920, Antwerp, Belgium - Patrick McDonald, track and field.
1924, Paris, France - Patrick McDonald, track and field.
1928, Amsterdam, The Netherlands - Bud Houser, track and field.
1932, Los Angeles - F. Morgan Taylor, track and field.
1936, Berlin, Germany - Alfred Jochim, gymnastics.
1948, London, England - Ralph Craig, yachting.
1952, Helsinki, Finland - Norman Armitage, fencing.
1956, Melbourne, Australia - Norman Armitage, fencing.
1960, Rome, Italy - Rafer Johnson, decathlon.
1964, Tokyo, Japan - William Parry O'Brien, track and field.
1968, Mexico City, Mexico - Janice Lee Romary, fencing.
1972, Munich, Germany- Olga Fikotova Connelly, track and field.
1976, Montreal, Quebec - Gary Hall, swimming.
1980, Moscow, Russia - USA boycotted Games.
1984, Los Angeles - Edwin Burke, track and field.
1988, Seoul, South Korea - Evelyn Ashford, track and field.
1992, Barcelona, Spain - Francie Larrieu, track and field.
1996, Atlanta - Bruce Baumgartner, wrestling.
2000, Sydney, Australia - Cliff Meidl, canoe/kayaking.
2004, Athens, Greece - Dawn Staley, women's basketball.
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Bill Hoffman wrote on Apr 10, 2008 10:07 AM:
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Respectfully submitted,
Bill Hoffman
CO Stampede, #45 "
Respectfully submitted,
Bill Hoffman
CO Stampede, #45 "
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