Jeanne Wilson

Jeanne Wilson swam the 200 breaststroke at the 1948 London Olympics, but did not get past the first round. She competed for the Lake Shore Athletic Club of Chicago and while in high school she and her sister, Lillian, were the National Duo Water Ballet Champions for two years in a row. Wilson started college at Northwestern, but transferred to Purdue University, graduating in 1948. She was US Champion in the 200 breast in 1948.

Known for her looks, Jeanne Wilson was voted “Best Looking Athlete” at the 1948 Olympics, was the Purdue Yearbook Queen, and later worked as a model, appearing in Life Magazine, Colliers, Esquire, Photography, among others, and was also voted Miss Indiana in 1953. She later married and became Jeanne Vaughan. Her daughter, also Jeanne Vaughan, swam at the University of Alabama, and her granddaughter, Jeanne Walker, became a top age-group swimmer. In the 1960’s Jeanne Wilson-Vaughan organized middle school volleyball teams and sponsored an all-school city volleyball tournament. In 1972, she and Mary Ellen Crose, a close friend, helped start the Central Catholic Woman’s Swim Team. In 1998, Wilson-Vaughan was elected into the Purdue Athletic Hall of Fame.