INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING HALL OF FAME ANNOUNCES ANNE WARNER CRIBBS AS 2015 GOLD MEDALLION RECIPIENT

FORT LAUDERDALE - The International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) today announced Anne Warner Cribbs as the 2015 ISHOF Gold Medallion Recipient.  The Gold Medallion is ISHOF’s most prestigious honor and it will be presented at the 51^st Annual Hall of Fame Enshrinement ceremonies at the Santa Clara Convention Center, in Santa Clara, California, on Saturday evening, June 20, 2015.  For more information about the event and to purchase tickets, visit www.ishof.org, www.facebook.com/ishof, or call 954-462-6536.

“Because we believe young women athletes need role models to look up to, not only for their athletic careers, but for their their post athlete careers,  we are ecstatic that Anne has agreed to accept this honor from the International Swimming Hall of Fame,” says Donna de Varona, ISHOF’s Chairwoman of the Board. 

Swimming for world renown coach George Haines, at the Santa Clara Swim Club, fourteen year-old Anne Warner won a gold medal in the 200 meter breaststroke at the 1959 Pan American Games.  A year later, she was part of the USA’s gold medal winning medley relay at the Rome Olympic Games.  While the men’s Olympic team went off on a celebratory European tour, the women were sent home and without having any college scholarship opportunities in the pre-title IX era, she retired from competition.  By the time she was 24, with the youngest of her two children in kindergarten, she decided to go back to school, eventually graduating from Stanford University in 1979. After years of coaching & teaching swimming in the Bay Area, in 1985 Anne went to work for the City of Palo Alto in the Community Services Department. In 1991, she joined CJC Communications which became Cavalli & Cribbs, a full-service Advertising and public relations firm that specialized in sports, business and non-profit communications.  She was a pioneer in women’s professional sports as a co-founder of the American Basketball League in 1996.  In 1999, she was selected to be the CEO of the Bay Area Sports Organizing Committee and became the first female to lead a major US Olympic Bid Committee: San Francisco 2012.  While the bid ultimately lost to New York, it had a 90% approval rating from the public.  She continues today as the President/CEO of BASOC, which over the past seventeen years has hosted or helped to organize many events, including the 2006 FINA World Masters Championships, and she was Director of 2011 USA Swimming National and Junior National Championships at Stanford. Cribbs produced the 40^th Anniversary of Ping Pong Diplomacy with USA & China table tennis Olympians and was chair of the 2009 Summer National Senior Games. Anne currently serves on the USA Table Tennis Board of Directors and was elected to the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame as a “trailblazer”. She is Chair Emeritus of the Northern California Olympians and Paralympians Chapter.

Anne will receive the Gold Medallion as part of the 51st ISHOF Enshrinement weekend, honoring the Class of 2015, which includes: swimmers Enith Brigitha (NED), Jodie Henry (AUS) and Diana Macanu (ROM); Diver Lao Lishi (CHN); Synchronized Swimmer Anastaysia Ermakova (RUS); Water Polo Player/Coach Ivo Trumbic (CRO/YUG/NED); Coaches James Gaughran (USA), Don Watson (USA) and Masako Kaneko (JPN); Contributor Bartolo Consolo (ITA); Pioneer Liang Boxi (CHN), and Masters Swimmer Karlyn Pipes (USA).  

About the Gold Medallion

The International Swimming Hall of Fame Gold Medallion Award is presented each year to a former competitive swimmer for his or her national or international significant achievements in the field of science, entertainment, art, business, education, or government. There are no restrictions other than the recipient must be an outstanding adult whose life has served as an inspiration for youth.  For more information and a list of past recipients visit:

www.ishof.org/gold-medallion.html

About the ISHOF

The International Swimming Hall of Fame & Museum was established in 1965 as a not-for-profit educational organization in the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida and was recognized by FINA, the international governing body for the Olympic aquatic sports, in 1968. The Mission of ISHOF is to PRESERVE and CELEBRATE aquatic history, to EDUCATE the general public about the importance of swimming as the key to water safety, drowning prevention, better health and a better quality of life, and to INSPIRE everyone to swim. ISHOF’s collection of swimming memorabilia, art, photos and films, along with archival documents and rare books in the Henning Library, make ISHOF the premier repository and academic research resource for swimming and aquatic history in the world.  Earlier this year, ISHOF announced it will be relocating to Santa Clara, California.

For more information contact Bruce Wigo at 954-462-6536 ext. 201, or email bwigo@ishof.org