Paula Jean Myers Pope (2007) - USC Athletics Hall of Fame

Paula Jean Myers Pope

Induction:
2007
Class:
1959

Paula Jean Myers Pope, one of America’s best female divers, won 4 diving medals in 3 Olympics, including a silver medal in 1952 (10-meter tower), a bronze in 1956 (10-meter tower) and 2 silvers in 1960 (3-meter springboard and 10-meter tower). She also won a pair of golds at the 1959 Pan Am Games. In her career, she won 11 AAU gold medals (indoors and outdoors), including all 5 available in 1957. The 1959 USC graduate was the first woman to do a double-twisting one-and-a-half somersault and an inward two-and-a-half somersault off the high dive in competition. She was the Los Angeles Times Woman of the Year in 1960 and was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1982. After her competitive career ended, she was a dental hygienist and helped operate the Ojai (Calif.) Valley Racquet Club, where she taught diving. She died on June 9, 1995, at age 60.