Sammy Lee
Olympic Diver
Sammy Lee was born in Fresno, California (1920) to Korean immigrant parents. Unable to swim regularly in suburban Los Angeles public pools, Lee practiced swimming by jumping into a pit that his coach dug in the backyard and filled with sand. In 1948, Lee became the first Asian American to win an Olympic gold for the United States. Then in 1952 he became the oldest and first man to win back-to-back gold in Olympic platform diving. Lee studied at the University of Southern California and graduated with a Doctor of Medicine degree in 1947. He is inducted into the US Olympic Hall of Fame and has a Los Angeles elementary school named after him.
(Portrait by Blake Cox, SFSU 2016)
LEE Sammy (Cox B) Color.pdf1.19 MB
LEE Sammy (Cox B) BW.pdf538.04 KB