{{Short description|American swimmer (1931–2015)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2024}} {{Infobox swimmer | name = Betty Brey | image = File:BreyBettyOlympianHighSchoolAge.png | image_size = 190px | alt = | caption = Brey, c. 1948 | fullname = Elizabeth Evadna Mullen Brey | nicknames = "Betty" | national_team = {{USA}} | strokes = Freestyle<br>Butterfly | spouse = Paul Brey (m. 1955) | children = 3 | club = {{nowrap|Women's Swim Association, New York}}<br>Lafayette Swim Club<br>Walter Reed Swim Club | coach = Dick Papenguth (Purdue)<br>Stan Tinkham (Walter Reed) | collegeteam = Purdue Boilermakers<br>Trained with men's team | birth_date = {{Birth date|1931|11|23}} | birth_place = Weissport, Pennsylvania, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|2015|3|21|1931|11|20|mf=y}} | death_place = Lake Mary, Florida, U.S. | height = {{convert|5|ft|5|in|m|abbr=on}} | weight = {{convert|130|lb|kg|abbr=on}} | medaltemplates = {{MedalSport | Women's swimming}} {{MedalCountry | the United States}} {{MedalCompetition | Pan American Games}} {{MedalGold | 1951 Buenos Aires | 4×100 m freestyle}} {{MedalGold | 1955 Mexico City | 4×100 m medley}} {{MedalSilver | 1951 Buenos Aires | 200 m freestyle}} {{MedalSilver | 1955 Mexico City | 100 m butterfly}} }}
'''Elizabeth Evadna Mullen Brey''' (November 23, 1931 – March 21, 2015), née '''Elizabeth Evadna Mullen''', was an American competition swimmer who represented the United States in the 4x100 freestyle relay at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia.<ref name=sroprofile>Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports, Athletes, [https://web.archive.org/web/20200418070032/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/br/betty-brey-1.html Betty Brey]. Retrieved January 27, 2013.</ref> In addition to marriage and raising three children, she would work as a physical therapist, physical education teacher at Chevy Chase High School, a swim instructor, and as a coach of the women's swimming team at George Washington University.<ref name=Olympedia/><ref name=hmdb/>
== Early life == Betty Mullen was born on November 23, 1931 in Weissport, Pennsylvania to Charles Mullen, a trainmaster with the Lehigh Valley Railroad, and Evadna Hill Mullen. Betty attended Lehighton High School, graduating in 1948, where in addition to her swimming, she was a majorette and led the large 80 member Lehighton High School marching band.<ref name=majorette>"Parade of Champions Tonight", ''Mauch Chunk Times News,'' Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, September 25, 1948, pg. 1</ref> She was one of five children and the only girl among four athletic male siblings, that included Thomas, Dean, Richard and Jack. Dean and Richard played High School basketball and baseball as did her younger brother Jack. In the 1960s Tom would help manage the local Lehighton Community Pool, and her brothers Thomas and Dean would attend teacher's colleges and pursue careers in Education, as would her future husband Paul.<ref>"To Resume Studies", ''Jim Thorpe Times News'', Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, September 4, 1958, pg. 1</ref><ref name=Lehighton>{{cite web|url=https://leaf-foundation.org/wall-of-honor/betty-mullen-brey-1948/|title=Lehighton Education and Athletic Foundation Hall of Honor, Betty Brey|website=leaf-foundation.org|access-date=May 5, 2025}}</ref>
Despite her male sibling's love of sports particularly baseball, her father Charles did not encourage her to play boys' sports, but strongly supported her interest in swimming, a sport that would greatly influence her future. The Weissport area offered few pools, and fewer clubs where she could compete. She began swimming summers at Graver's Pool in Lehighton as her father knew the owner. She took up more focused training at the Allentown YMCA one day a week, where she won a few competitions including one that included diving, and was coached by their Athletic director Dennis McGinley.<ref name=early/> One of her first major local freestyle events was a one mile open swim at the Lehigh River where she placed second.<ref name=early/>
== Women's Swimming Association == Looking for more challenging swim programs, Brey began training two evenings a week with the exceptionally accomplished Women's Swimming Association in New York encouraged and often accompanied in her first year by her father Charles, a trainmaster, though it required a three-hour train ride to attend their evening practice. She left High School fifteen minutes early, around 3:00 pm to attend the Women's Swimming Association (WSA) practice in New York City from 7:00-8:30 pm, sometimes not arriving home until around 3:00 am after boarding the midnight return train. At the WSA, she was managed by Coach Lou Dandled, who helped her drop her freestyle times sufficiently to qualify for the 1948 Olympic Trials. Swimming with the WSA as a 16-year old High School Junior in February 1948, Brey's best time in the 100-yard freestyle was 1:04 and then to 1:02 after four months with the WSA.<ref>"Weissport Girl is Outstanding Swimmer", ''Mauch Chunk Times'', Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, February 24, 1948, pg. 1</ref> New York's WSA was a legendary program that had originated many of America's first female Olympians and campaigned to allow women to swim in more Olympic events. The organization was founded by Charlotte Epstein in 1917 and in its earliest years, worked for women's suffrage.<ref name=early/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mcall.com/2015/03/25/lehigh-valley-native-betty-mullen-brey-who-died-on-same-day-as-chuck-bednarik-was-a-sports-legend-in-her-own-right/|title=Morning Call, June 16, 2018, Lehigh Valley Native Betty Mullen Brey Who Died on Same Day As Chuck Bednarik Was a Sports Legend in her Own Right|website=mcall.com|access-date=May 5, 2025}}</ref>
== Purdue University == Brey attended Purdue University, where she was a majorette in their marching band. As was common in the 1950s, Purdue had no women's swimming team, so Betty trained with the men's team under Hall of Fame Coach Richard "Pappy" Pappenguth, and competed for the local Lafayette Swim Club, also coached by Pappenguth.<ref name=Olympedia>{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/50973|title=Olympedia Biography, Betty Brey|website=Olympedia|access-date=May 5, 2025}}</ref><ref name=Purdue>Wade, Don, "She's Torn", ''Evansville Courier and Press'', Evansville, Indiana, March 12, 1998, pg. 25</ref> At the time, Perdue had one of the most outstanding freestyle sprint programs in the country and Brey continued to improve her times under Pappenguth's skilled training.<ref name=early/> Brey's Lafayette Club won the local women's amateur title in three successive years. Primarily a freestyler, Brey set national records in the 50, 75, and 100-yard freestyle while at Purdue.<ref name=Bednar>Bednar, Rudy, "Weissport's Betty Mullen Defends Swim Title", ''The Morning Call'', Allentown, Pennsylvania, April 4, 1956, pg. 28</ref>
As a College Junior she trained in the summer of 1952 to qualify as a freestyle sprinter for the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, but failed to make the team. She was disappointed in her failure to qualify, particularly since her Purdue coach, Dick Papenguth was the U.S. Olympic head coach that year.<ref name=early/> Brey graduated Purdue with a Bachelors of Science on May 31, 1953, and immediately sought commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Army with an assignment at Fort Sam Houston's Brooke Army Medical Center, an intent to study Physical Therapy.<ref>"Betty Mullen to Graduate From Purdue University", ''Mauch Chunk Times-News'', Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, May 29, 1953, pg. 1</ref>
== Walter Reed Army Hospital == After completing her studies in physical therapy at the Brooke Army Medical Center, she obtained a transfer, and began working as a physical therapist at Washington D.C.'s Walter Reed Army Hospital. She specialized at Walter Reed working with people recovering from Polio, and amputees from the Korean War. While at Walter Reed, she began training with their exceptional swim program in the 1950s under Head Coaches Jim Campbell and after 1954, trained exclusively with Stan Tinkham, a Hall of Fame Coach, who had been an All American swimmer for the University of North Carolina. Interestingly, Shelley Mann, one of her exceptional teammates on the Walter Reed Hospital swim team, had herself recovered from childhood polio, yet would attend the 1956 Olympics with her, and win the first gold medal in the 100-meter butterfly event. Mary Jane Sears was another Walter Reed teammate who would also medal at the 1956 Olympics.<ref name=Olympedia/><ref name=hmdb/><ref name=Tinkham>{{cite web|url=https://ishof.org/honoree/honoree-stan-tinkham/|title=International Swimming Hall of Fame, Stan Tinkham|website=ishof.org|access-date=May 2, 2025}}</ref>
Taking time off from Walter Reed in the summer of 1955, Brey went on an American Athletic Union tour giving butterfly exhibitions in Greece, Turkey, Germany and Italy.<ref name=early/>
Lt. Betty E. Mullens married Paul M. Brey Jr. on August 20, 1955, at Zion Evangelical and Reformed Church in Lehighton, Pennsylvania. Betty's brothers served as ushers. Betty was nearing the end of her service as a physical therapist at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C. The couple planned to live in Bethesda, Maryland, after a tour of the Southern States. Betty and Paul had met at Lehighton High School, as both were graduates. Paul Brey had graduated West Chester Teachers College in West Chester, Pennsylvania and at the time was serving with the army at Fort Dix, around a three and a half hour drive from Bethesda. He would later have a career in education.<ref>"Betty Mullen will be bride of Paul Brey on Saturday", ''Jim Thorpe Times News'', Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, August 18, 1955, pg. 1</ref> Brey was discharged from the Army in August 1955, and began work that Fall as a High School teacher in physical education at Chevy Chase High School.<ref name=Bednar/>
Betty set a world record time of 1:15 in the 100-yard butterfly in Philadelphia in August 1955.<ref name=Bednar/>
Brey competed in the 1955 Mexico City Pan Am Games, placing first in the 4 × 100 meter freestyle relay. Familiar with the new butterfly stroke, she captured a silver medal in the 100-meter fly. That summer she set both American and World records in the butterfly's 100 yard and 100 meter event.<ref name=hmdb/>
After her marriage, Betty decided to set a goal to train for the 1956 Olympics, while still a member of the outstanding Walter Reed Club. Stan Tinkham, her coach at Walter Reed excelled in coaching freestyle sprinters, and early butterfly competitors.<ref name=hmdb>{{cite web|url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=252098|title=Hmdb.org, The Historical Marker Database, Betty Brey|website=hmdb.org|access-date=May 5, 2025}}</ref> In April 1956, her best time in the 100-yard butterfly was 1:05.4 set in the 1955 Nationals.<ref name=Bednar/>
==1956 Melbourne Olympics== Swimming as Betty Brey, she placed only fifth in the 100-meter freestyle at the 1956 Detroit Olympic trials, but it was enough to earn her a spot on the 4x100 freestyle relay team. Somewhat disappointed, after being edged out of third place by 6/10 of a second by Nancy Ramey of the Washington Athletic Club, Brey finished in fourth place in the trials of the 100 butterfly with a time of 1:14.7, failing to qualify in the event, and would be unable to swim one of her strongest events in Melbourne.<ref name=early/><ref>"Mo Murphy Makes Team", ''The Oregonian'' Portland, Oregon, August 11, 1956, pg. 15</ref>
At the Melbourne Olympics, Brey swam for the silver medal-winning U.S. team in the preliminary heats of the women's 4×100-meter freestyle relay.<ref name=sroprofile/><ref>Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports, [https://web.archive.org/web/20200417045151/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/countries/USA/summer/1956/SWI/ United States Swimming at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games]. Retrieved January 27, 2013.</ref> She was not eligible to receive a medal under the 1956 Olympic swimming rules, however, because she did not swim in the relay final. The Women's team was coached by her Walter Reed Swim Coach Stan Tinkham that year and took six of the combined eleven medals won by the U.S. Men's and Women's teams. Several of her Walter Reed team mates made the team and medaled that year.<ref name="SportsRef">{{cite web |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1956/SWI/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417045622/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1956/SWI/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 April 2020 |title=Swimming at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games |access-date=1 October 2016 |work=Sports Reference}}</ref>
===Later life=== In 1964, Brey taught clinics and served as a swim and water ballet instructor at Chevy Chase, Maryland's Columbia Country Club, and served as an official at the 1964 Olympic trails in Long Island, New York.<ref>Bednar, Rudy, "Strictly Sports", ''The Morning Call'', Allentown, Pennsylvania, June 21, 1964, pg. 46</ref> Brey accepted a position as the women's swim coach at George Washington University from 1978-1982.<ref name=Olympedia/><ref name=coach>{{cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/GWsports/posts/we-remember-betty-brey-coach-of-our-womens-gw-swimming-diving-team-from-1978-82-/10153262871674668/|title=Facebook, We Remember Betty Brey, Coach|website=facebook.com|access-date=May 6, 2025}}</ref> In January 1980 season working under Athletic Director Lynne George, she had had three swimmers and one diver on scholarship at George Washington, but had plans to increase the scholarships awarded to 12 in swimming and 3 in diving in the upcoming 1980 season.<ref>Bednar, Rudy, "EPC Girl Swimmers Attracting Major Attention", ''The Morning Call'', January 27, 1980, pg. 7</ref>
Swimming for District of Columbia Masters in August, 1975, she won the 100-meter longcourse Master's freestyle event at the University of Tennessee and the 200 backstroke competition in a time of 34.7.<ref>Roland, Julian, "Nobody Has to See Nellie Home", ''The Knoxville News Sentinel'', Knoxville, Tennessee, August 31, 1975, pg. 42</ref> Continuing to swim for recreation and fitness, she swam and trained with United States Masters Swimming, where she competed into her eighties.<ref name=early/>
Part of a family closely tied to sports, her husband Paul was a high school athletics director in Maryland. Her son Mike Brey was hired in 2000 as the men's basketball coach at the University of Notre Dame,<ref>{{cite web | last = Norlander | first = Matt | title = Winning Notre Dame coach Mike Brey reveals his mom died on Saturday| work = The Roanoke Times | date = March 22, 2015| url = http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/eye-on-college-basketball/25118126/winning-notre-dame-coach-mike-brey-reveals-his-mom-died-on-saturday | access-date = March 26, 2015}}</ref> daughter Brenda was a swimmer at Louisiana State University and a physical education teacher and son Shane Brey was the Founder and inventor of 360 Hoops and worked in sports marketing at the University of Central Florida.<ref>"[http://www.und.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/mike_brey_51358.html Mike Brey Bio] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150322195026/http://www.und.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/mike_brey_51358.html |date=2015-03-22 }}," Und.com - University of Notre Dame Official Athletic Site. Retrieved March 22, 2015.</ref><ref name=early>Paul Reinhard, "[https://www.mcall.com/1999/12/17/ahead-of-her-time-weissport-native-betty-mullen-brey-had-a-practice-regimen-that-was-years-ahead-of-its-time-and-helped-the-15-year-old-swimmer-qualify-for-the-1948-olympic-trials/ Ahead Of Her Time Weissport Native Betty Mullen Brey Had A Practice Regimen That Was Years Ahead Of Its Time And Helped The 15-year-old Swimmer Qualify For The 1948 Olympic Trials.]," ''The Morning Call'' (December 17, 1999). Retrieved March 22, 2015.</ref>
==Honors== She was a member of the Alumni Relations Board of U.S.A. Swimming, and received the honor of membership in Purdue University's Athletic Hall of Fame. She and her husband were both honoraries of the Carbon County Sports Hall of Fame, and she was made a "Graduate of Distinction" by the Lehighton Education & Athletic Foundation.<ref name=early/> For her swimming achievements, Brey was made a member of the Indiana University Wall of Fame at the Indiana University Pool.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/INswimming/posts/indiana-swimming-wall-of-fame-olympian-of-the-week-elizabeth-betty-brey-mullen-a/4073968045959865/|website=www.facebook.com|title=Indiana Swimming Wall of Fame, Betty Brey|access-date=May 5, 2025}}</ref> As a local tribute in September 2017, a statue was constructed in Weissport Park, in her hometown.<ref name=Lehighton/>
Brey died March 21, 2015, at her home in Lake Mary, Florida, in greater Orlando, of a heart attack; she was 83 years old.<ref name=Olympedia/>
==See also== * List of Purdue University people
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [https://www.mcall.com/1999/12/17/ahead-of-her-time-weissport-native-betty-mullen-brey-had-a-practice-regimen-that-was-years-ahead-of-its-time-and-helped-the-15-year-old-swimmer-qualify-for-the-1948-olympic-trials/ Ahead Of Her Time: Weissport Native Betty Mullen Brey Had A Practice Regimen That Was Years Ahead Of Its Time And Helped The 15-year-old Swimmer Qualify For The 1948 Olympic Trials] * [https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/50973 Olympedia Biography, Betty Brey]
{{Footer USA Swimming 1956 Summer Olympics}} {{Footer Pan American Champions 4x100 m Freestyle Women}} {{Footer Pan American Champions 4x100 m Medley Women}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brey, Betty}} Category:1931 births Category:2015 deaths Category:American female freestyle swimmers Category:Olympic swimmers for the United States Category:Sportspeople from Carbon County, Pennsylvania Category:Swimmers at the 1956 Summer Olympics Category:Swimmers from Pennsylvania Category:People from Lake Mary, Florida Category:Purdue Boilermakers women's swimmers Category:Sportspeople from Seminole County, Florida Category:20th-century American sportswomen Category:Swimmers at the 1951 Pan American Games Category:Swimmers at the 1955 Pan American Games Category:Medalists at the 1951 Pan American Games Category:Medalists at the 1955 Pan American Games Category:Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in swimming Category:Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States in swimming Category:Women's swimming coaches