Gymnastics
b. 1941, Indianapolis, IN
Muriel Davis studied ballet for seven years before taking up gymnastics when she was fourteen. Because of her early training, she was an exceptionally graceful performer who won seventeen national championships over a period of nine years.
She won the national all-around championship in 1957 and 1963; the floor exercise from 1956 through 1958 and from 1960 through 1964; the balance beam in 1957, 1959, and from 1962 through 1964; and the uneven parallel bars in 1960 and 1963.
A member of the U. S. Olympic team in 1956, 1960, and 1964, she married gymnast Abie Grossfeld in 1960. Despite her accomplishments as a competitor, she became better known as a coach during a period when Americans were becoming more aware of gymnastics because of television coverage.
She began coaching in 1962 with her own club. She has also coached with the national training program for gymnastics, the women's Pan-American Games team, and the U. S. women's team in the North American championships. A tough disciplinarian, she was referred by one journalist as "the tyrant of women's gymnastic coaches."
International Women's Sports Hall of Fame
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