Schroth, Clara M.
Gymnastics, Track & Field
b. Oct. 5, 1920, Philadelphia, PA
During her years as a competitive gymnast, Schroth worked as a secretary and trained at night at the Philadelphia Turnverein. The top American woman gymnast of her time, she won 39 national championships in the twelve-year period from 1941 through 1952.
Schroth was the national all-around champion in 1945, 1946, and from 1949 through 1952. She also won national titles in flying rings, 1946 and 1948 through 1951; free calisthenics (now floor exercise), 1944 through 1946, 1948, and 1950 through 1952; parallel bars, 1946, 1949, 1950, and 1952; side horse, 1944, 1945 (tie), 1948, 1949, 1951, and 1952; and the flying rings, 1946 and 1948 through 1951.
She was a member of the 1948 U. S. Olympic team that won a bronze medal in combined exercises and she competed on the 1952 Olympic team before retiring. Schroth was also a track and field athlete; she won the standing broad jump at the 1945 AAU indoor championship meet.