Penny Pence obit

Swimming loses an Icon in Carol “Penny Taylor at age 96

 She was not on the list.

Carol “Penny” Taylor just completed 96 years of service, achieving significant milestones. She was born in Indianapolis, Indiana on May 11, 1929 and passed peacefully yesterday, November 4, 2025, in New Orleans, LA, where she had been living for some time.

Penny was a member of the 1948 Olympic Team, competing in the 200 meter breaststroke. She was a member of the Lafayette Swim Club in Indiana, swimming for Hall of Fame Coach Dick Papenguth while she attended Purdue University. Penny attended the first Pan Am Games in 1951, winning gold in the 3×100m medley relay and taking the bronze medal in the 200m breaststroke event. Taylor was a six-time National Champion and American record holder in the 100, 200 and 250m breaststroke for five years. She was also one of the ten finalists of the prestigious 1951 “A.A.U. Sullivan Award”.

Penny was a swim coach in the St. Louis area for over 35 years. Penny was the first woman to be elected to ASCA’s Board of Directors.  Penny’s most famous athlete had to have been Tom Jager. About Jager, Penny once wrote:   “I was Tom’s coach during his formative years and during summers when he came home. I suggested that he go to UCLA because I felt Ron Ballatore could best handle his sometimes impetuous personality. He missed one World Championships because he got married to his high school sweetheart. Tom did live in the shadow of Matt . But he was instrumental in the fight for swimmers to make money.”

Penny served in many positions for USA Swimming as a volunteer and administrator. At the 1984 and 1992 Olympic Games, she was team leader for the men’s and women’s teams. She served as Head Manager at the 1986 and the 1991 FINA World Championships. She was Manager for the United States Swimming National Teams in numerous international competitions and served as a volunteer deck marshal for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

Penny was Chef de Mission for all aquatic sports for the 1994, 1998 and 2001 FINA World Championships. She continued in this capacity at the FINA World Championships in Barcelona 2003, Montreal 2005, Melbourne 2007, Rome 2009, Shanghai 2011 and in Barcelona again in 2013.

She was a member and secretary of the Olympic International Operations Committee of USA Swimming for 24 years; this body determines policy and procedures for all swimming competition of the National Team in international events.

Penny served as Central Zone Director of USA Swimming, was a member of the Board of Directors of USA Swimming, and was a member of the Convention Committee for the United States Aquatic Sports Annual Convention, which she attended regularly. In 1999, she was the recipient of the prestigious United States Swimming Award presented annually to one person for their contribution to USA Swimming. In 2005, she was inducted into the Purdue Intercollegiate Athletic Hall of Fame, and in 2012, she received the Paragon award from the ISHOF.

Penny was a pioneer, she blazed trails for women, and surely inspired many others. She will be missed.

Carol Jane "Penny" Pence Taylor (May 11, 1929 – November 4, 2025), also known by her married name Penny Taylor, was an American competition swimmer who represented the United States at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. She competed in the preliminary heats of the women's 200-meter breaststroke, and finished with a time of 3:28.1. Pence swam for the Lafayette Swim Club in Indiana and attended Purdue University. In 1951, when Pence was a finalist for the James E. Sullivan Award, she was part of the U.S. Team for the first Pan American Games in 1951, winning a gold medal in the 3×100 meter medley relay and a bronze medal in the 200 meter breaststroke.