FOR THE RECORD: 1928 OLYMPIC GAMES: semifinal (200m breastroke); 1932 OLYMPIC GAMES: bronze (3m springboard)
It was a near fatal drowning accident at age 11 that forced Jane Fauntz to learn how to swim and it was only 5 years later that she was representing her country on the 1928 Olympic team. Along with Aileen Riggin, Katherine Rawls and Helen Wainwright, she became one of only four women to compete on the U.S. Olympic team for both swimming and diving.
Representing the Illinois Women’s Athletic Club from 1922 through 1932, Jane became the only person to win two national titles within the space of one half hour, by winning the 3 meter springboard and 100 meter breaststroke titles in 1929.
After recovering form an automobile accident, she competed in the 1928 Olympics reaching the semifinal in the breaststroke. In the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics, as a diver, she won the bronze medal in the springboard competition, just 5 points behind Georgia Coleman and 1 point behind Katy Rawls, both of the United States.
A cover athlete on the Wheaties cereal box, Jane was also the cover girl for Life and Ladies Home Journal magazines. She was a Saks Fifth Avenue model and appeared at the Chicago World’s Fair, where she met her husband Edgar “Eggs” Manske, an All-American football star at Northwestern University, Pro player with the Chicago Bears and Philadelphia Eagles, and coach of the University of California Bears. An accomplished artist, teacher, coach, author, and ambassador for sports, Jane died of acute leukemia in May of 1989.