Lenore Kight

Lenore M. Kight (September 26, 1911 – February 9, 2000 ), known by her married name Lenore Wingard after 1935, was an American competition swimmer for the Carnegie Library Athletic fund and an Olympic medalist in the 400 meter freestyle who represented the United States at the 1932 Los Angeles and 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics.

Lenore Kight was born September 26, 1911 to Clarence Onley Kite and Mary Katherine Lehr Kight near the Northern Pennsylvania border in Frostburg, Maryland, though when she was five the family moved North, to Homestead, Pennsylvania near Pittsburgh. Kite considered herself a late starter, teaching herself to swim at the age of 14. A local Pittsburgh coach soon noted her skills and got her into a swimming program with the Carnegie Library Athletic Club, where she progressed from local to state and then national competition. Recognized as an outstanding competitor, she was ready for Olympic competition by 21. she set 7 world and 24 national records, and won 23 national swimming titles.

Marriage Kight was engaged to be married to Cleon Wingard Senior in July 1935. On September 4, 1935, she eloped and married in Wellsburg, West Virginia, then moved to Cincinnati with Wingard, a former graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, who had a career as a physical education instructor, teacher, and high school principal. In Cincinnati, Wingard worked as a physical education instructor in the Cincinnati Schools.

Post-Olympic swimming career

In 1937 she turned professional and won the long-distance race at the Toronto Canadian Exhibition, as well as Cleveland's Bernard McFadden professional race.

Honors Kight-Wingard won the prestigious James E. Sullivan Award, given to "the most outstanding athlete at the collegiate or Olympic level in the United States", and in 1981 was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in Fort Lauderdale.

Instructing and age group competition After retiring from active competitions, Kight-Wingard worked as a swimming instructor, giving private lessons to students at pools in Cincinnati from 1959-79. During summers, she directed the swim program and managed the pool at Pittsburgh's Deer Creek where her husband Cleon had also worked as an instructor. She continued to set age group records through the age of 75 as a United States Masters swimming competitor. Through 1995, into her early 80's she swam regularly at the YMCA in the Cincinnati suburb of Westwood, Ohio.

A resident of College Hill, Kight died at the age of 88 after a long bout with Alzheimer's disease on February 9, 2000, at Mercy Franciscan Hospital-Mount Airy Campus in Cincinnati, Ohio.