Charlotte Epstein

Charlotte "Eppy" Epstein (1884–1938) was an American swimming coach who managed the United States Women's Olympic Swimming Team in the 1920s. She was best known for founding the National Women's Life Saving League in 1914, and the New York's Women's Swimming Association (WSA), which she managed from 1917 to 1939. Known as "Mother of Women's Swimming in America", she helped enable women to become members of the American Athletic Union, to first participate in Olympic swimming competition in 1920, to wear more comfortable, practical and faster swim suits, to swim distance events rather than solely sprint events, and eventually to obtain the vote. During her time with the WSA, her swimmers held 51 world records, and captured 202 individual AAU Women's National Senior Championships in both swimming and diving.

Career Epstein was born in New York City in September, 1884, to Morris and Sara (Rosenau) Epstein.

In 1914, she founded the National Women's Life Saving League, which offered competitive swimming, lessons, and socialization for female swimmers. That same year she convinced the board of directors of the Amateur Athletic Union to allow female swimmers to register as AAU athletes. The WSA became famous for promoting the health benefits of swimming as exercise, and the club would also teach diving. This was at a time when women were not viewed as athletic, and exercise was not considered beneficial to female health. Prior to founding the WSA, Epstein started the National Women's Life Saving League to help create a swimming culture for women and girls. distance swims for women, and more AAU swimming events for women. Epstein served as the team leader for Olympian Gertrude Ederle, who learned to swim at the Women's Swimming Association. In 1926 Ederle became the first woman to swim the English Channel beating the men's time by over two hours.

In 1935, Epstein chaired the swimming committee tasked with administering the trials and for selecting the teams for the second Maccabiah Games in Tel Aviv, Israel known as the Jewish Olympics.

She died at 53 on Friday, August 26, 1938, at her home at the Hotel Ruxton on New York City's 72nd Street after suffering from illness for close to a year. She had been serving as chairman of both the National Women's Swimming Committee of the Amateur Athletic Union, and the United States Olympic Women's swimming committee for the last two years of her life.

Honors

1974, inducted to the International Swimming Hall of Fame 1982, inducted to the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, in Israel 1994, first woman inducted into the B'nai B'rith Klutznick National Jewish Museum, Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in Washington, D.C.