Ruth Ball’s mother had run an art school, and Ruth studied at the St. Louis School of Fine Arts, Cincinnati Art Academy, and with J. Liberty Tadd in Philadelphia. Ball later worked as a curator of Indian art at the San Diego Museum and taught stone carving at the San Diego Art Institute. During World War II, she ran a United Service Organizations (USO) craft shop and worked as an art teacher. She produced a series of panels depicting athletes, and exhibited her bronze of swimmer Gertrude Ederle in New York and later at the Amsterdam Olympics. Ball created the 47 cm bronze statuette in 1927.