Ray Ruddy

Raymond Maurice Ruddy (August 31, 1911 – December 4, 1938) was an American competition swimmer who represented the United States as a 16-year-old at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, Netherlands.^[1] He competed in the men's 400-meter freestyle, and placed sixth in event final with a time of 5:25.0.^[1][2] He also finished fourth overall in the men's 1,500-meter freestyle in a time of 21:05.0.^[1][3]

Ray Ruddy

Buster Crabbe, George Kojac, Ray Ruddy and Johnny Weissmuller in 1928
Personal information
Full name	Raymond Maurice Ruddy
Nickname	"Ray"
National team	United States
Born	(1911-08-31)August 31, 1911 New York, New York
Died	December 4, 1938(1938-12-04) (aged 27) New York, New York
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Freestyle, water polo
Club	New York Athletic Club
College team	Columbia University

Ruddy was born in New York City, the son of 1904 Olympic swimmer Joe Ruddy.^[4] He attended Columbia University in New York, where he was a member of the Columbia Lions swimming and diving team in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) competition. He won the 1930 NCAA national championships in the 440-yard freestyle with a time of 4:55.6.^[5]

At the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, he was a member of the ninth-place U.S. water polo team.^[1]

Ruddy died as a result of brain injuries sustained in an accident fall in 1938; he was 27 years old.^[6]

In 1977, he was inducted into the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame.^[7][8]

See also

• List of Columbia University alumni