Syd Koff

{{Short description|American athlete}} {{Infobox sportsperson | honorific_prefix = | name = Sybil Koff | honorific_suffix = | image =  | image_size =  | alt = | caption = | headercolor = | textcolor =  | birth_name = Sybil Tabachnikoff | full_name = Sybil (Syd) C. Koff Cooper | nickname = Syd | nationality =  | national_team = {{USA}} | citizenship = | birth_date = 1911 | birth_place = Lower East Side, Manhattan, New York City, United States | death_date = May 20, 1998 (85 years of age) | death_place = New York City, New York | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | monuments = | hometown = Brooklyn, New York City, New York | education = | alma_mater = Parson's Art School; Art Students League; Toledo University | occupation = Artist and ceramist | years_active = | employer = | height =  | weight = 115 lb<ref name="auto11">{{Cite web|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/145862272@N05/30308933291/|title=Olympic Hurdle Team Member Turns To Potter's Wheel and Ceramic Making|author=Elizabeth Lips|page= 29|date=April 28, 1948|work=Brooklyn Eagle}}</ref> | spouse = | life_partner = | children = 2 sons, Stephen and Ellis | parents =  | relatives = | other_interests = | website =  | module =  | country = {{USA}} | sport = Track & field | rank = | event = sprint, hurdles, broad jump, high jump, shot put, and triathlon | event_type = | universityteam = | collegeteam = | league = | league_type = | club = Millrose Athletic Club and German-American Athletic Club | team = | turnedpro = | turnedpro_type = | partner = | former_partner = | coach = | retired = | coaching = | module2 =  | worlds = | regionals = | nationals = 80-yard hurdles US national champion (1940) | olympics = | highestranking = | pb =  | show-medals = | medaltemplates-title = | module3 = | medaltemplates = {{MedalSport | Women's athletics}} {{MedalCountry | {{USA}} }} {{MedalCompetition | Maccabiah Games}} {{MedalGold | 1932 Israel |100m dash}} {{MedalGold | 1932 Israel |broad jump}} {{MedalGold | 1932 Israel |high jump}} {{MedalGold | 1932 Israel |triathlon}} {{MedalGold | 1935 Israel |60m dash}} {{MedalGold | 1935 Israel |200m dash}} {{MedalGold | 1935 Israel |400m hurdles}} {{MedalSilver | 1935 Israel |broad jump}} }} '''Sybil C. Koff''', known primarily as '''Syd Koff''', born '''Sybil Tabachnikoff''', later known as '''Sybil Cooper''' (1912 – May 20, 1998) was an American sprinter, hurdler, broad jumper, high jumper, shot putter, and triathlete.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/145862272@N05/29764639994/|title=Track Treats; Syd Koff Entered|page= 15|date=March 6, 1934|work=Jewish Daily Bulletin}}</ref><ref name=passing>{{Cite web|url=https://www.jewishpost.com/archives/news/sybil-cooper-the-passing-of-a-legend.html|title=Sybil Cooper: The Passing of a Legend|website=The Jewish Post|author=Brian Berk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://digital.bentley.umich.edu/djnews/djc.1934.08.07.001/25|title= The Year in Jewish Sport|page=7|author=Morris Weiner|date=August 7, 1934|website=The Detroit Jewish News}}</ref> She competed in the 1932 Maccabiah Games in Mandatory Palestine, winning four gold medals, and at the 1935 Maccabiah Games, winning three gold medals. She was the 1931 New York metropolitan champion runner, won the 1935 200m Metropolitan Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) title, won the 1936 running broad jump Women's Metropolitan Championship, and was the 1940 80-yard hurdles US national champion. She qualified for the 1936 Summer Olympic Games in the broad jump and high jump events, but boycotted the Games, as they were held in Nazi Germany. She also qualified for the 1940 Summer Olympic Games, but they were cancelled during World War II.

==Biography== ===Early life=== Koff was born on the Lower East Side in Manhattan, New York City, to Russian immigrants, and was Jewish.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/145862272@N05/30278475452/|title=Now in Production; Syd Koff; Bensonhurst's One-Girl Track Team|page=67|date=27 July 2010|publisher=Steve Cooper Studios}}</ref><ref>Marnie Winston-Macauley (2009). [https://books.google.com/books?id=NyIun0ka0yYC&dq=%22syd%22+koff&pg=PA251 ''Yiddishe Mamas; The Truth About the Jewish Mother'']</ref><ref>Bernard Postal, Jesse Silver, Roy Silver (1965). [https://books.google.com/books?id=AgmDAAAAMAAJ&q=%22sybil+koff%22 ''Encyclopedia of Jews in Sports'']</ref> She grew up in Bensonhurst in Brooklyn, New York.<ref name="auto9">{{Cite web|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/145862272@N05/30358889876/|title=Jewish Stars to Sail Tonight for Palestine| page =14|date=March 11, 1932|work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle}}</ref> She attended Washington Irving High School and then New Utrecht High School, from which she graduated in 1929.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/145862272@N05/29764617724/|page=4|title=Girl Stump Speaker, 15, May Quit Art for Law Study|date=October 1928|work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/145862272@N05/29764628264/|title=A Lassie Who Became a National Champion in Two Years ... |page =10|date=August 22, 1934|author=Jack Meehan|work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle}}</ref> She also studied art at Parson's Art School, the Art Students League, and Toledo University.<ref name="auto10">{{Cite web|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/145862272@N05/29763249623/|title=Syd Koff—She Suddenly Became An Athlete, and Rose to Champion|date=August 22, 1934|work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle|author=Lou E. Cohen}}</ref><ref name="auto1">{{Cite web|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.comhttp//timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1932/03/30/105793031.html?pdf_redirect=true&site=false|title=JEWISH OLYMPICS OPEN IN PALESTINE; 25,000 Jam Stadium as First Event of Its Kind Gets Under Way in Tel-Aviv. MISS KOFF IS A VICTOR New York Girl Wins Semi-Final of 100-Meter Race – American Team Is Second in Relay.|date=March 29, 1932|author=Joseph M. Levy|website=The New York Times}}</ref>

===Track and field career=== As background, starting in 1914, the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) had barred women athletes from competing in events that it sponsored.<ref>{{cite news |title=A.A.U. Ban on Women. Female Athletes Barred from Competitions Sanctioned by Union |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1914/01/18/100297428.pdf |quote=As a result of the recent agitation to permit enrollment of women athletes in the ranks of the Amateur Athletic Union a mail vote has been taken on the subject with the result that the Union has decided by an overwhelming vote to refuse registration to women athletes in all sports and competitions controlled by the A.A.U.... |newspaper=The New York Times |date=January 18, 1914 }}</ref> In 1922, the Metropolitan AAU in New York City approved a program of sanctioned events for women, but still barred them from running events over one-half mile, because the events were considered too strenuous.<ref>{{cite news |title=Women's Program Is Ready For Vote. Met. A. A. U. to Pass on Rulings for Athletic Competition at Friday Meeting|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1922/12/13/107087175.pdf |quote=A standard programme for women's athletic competition in the local district will be adopted Friday night at a meeting of the Metropolitan A. A. U.'s Committee on Women's Athletics.... |newspaper=The New York Times |date=December 13, 1922 }}</ref> The reason given was that if a woman were allowed to run more than a half-mile, she would put her reproductive health at risk.<ref name=butler>{{cite news |author=Charles Butler |title=40 Years Ago, Six Women Changed Racing Forever |url=http://www.runnersworld.com/womens-running/40-years-ago-six-women-changed-racing-forever?page=single |newspaper=Runner's World |date=October 19, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203040414/http://www.runnersworld.com/womens-running/40-years-ago-six-women-changed-racing-forever?page=single |archive-date=December 3, 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=longman>{{cite news |author=Jeré Longman |author-link=Jeré Longman |title=A Leading Pioneer |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/26/sports/julia-chase-brand-a-leading-pioneer-in-womens-running.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=October 25, 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R0rCTsqz18oC&pg=PA14|title=Just For Fun: The Story of AAU Women's Basketball|last=Ikard|first=Robert W.|publisher=University of Arkansas Press|year=2005|isbn=9781610752220|location=Fayetteville, Arkansas|pages=14|oclc=645941637|quote=After World War I, the union endorsed elite female competition in track and field (1922)... In doing so, it turned 180 degrees from the attitude expressed by its president, James E. Sullivan, in 1910. Invoking an increasingly dated outlook, Sullivan had said his organization would not "register a female competitor and its registration committee refuses sanction for...a set of games where an event for women is scheduled."}}</ref>

When Koff was a girl, to compete in running she had to sneak out of her parents' house to compete against their wishes in high school and amateur track and field competitions.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://jwa.org/infocus/olympics/koff|title=Jewish Women in the Olympics – Syd Koff|website=Jewish Women's Archive}}</ref><ref name="auto6">{{Cite web|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/syd-koff|title=Syd Koff (1912–1999)|website=Jewish Virtual Library}}</ref> In 1930, after seeing her practicing the broad jump on the sand in Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, a member of the Millrose Athletic Club convinced her to join the club.<ref name="auto6"/><ref name="auto10"/>

She was the New York metropolitan champion runner in 1931.<ref name="auto1"/> In 1932, Koff won national championships in low hurdles and broad jump.<ref name="auto10"/>

Koff competed in the 1932 Maccabiah Games in Mandatory Palestine, when she was 19 years old, leaving New York for Plymouth on the SS ''Majestic'', and then sailing in a later leg of the trip on the SS ''Patria''.<ref name="auto3">Tara Magdalinski, Timothy Chandler (2005). [https://books.google.com/books?id=dQLFDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22syd%22+koff&pg=PA89 ''With God on Their Side; Sport in the Service of Religion'']</ref><ref name="auto1"/><ref name="auto9"/><ref name="auto12">{{Cite web|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/145862272@N05/30098046040/|title=Sybil Koff Cooper Recalls First Maccabiah Team in 1932| page =47|date=1969|work=U.S. Committee Sports for Israel Newsletter}}</ref> She carried the American flag in the Game's opening ceremony.<ref>Steve Jacobson (July 4, 1993). [https://www.flickr.com/photos/145862272@N05/30278542662/in/album-72157675347812045/ "Fun, Games & Hatred,"] ''New York Newsday''.</ref> She won gold medals in the 100m dash (in front of a crowd of 25,000), the broad jump, the high jump, and the women's triathlon (consisting of the 100 m dash, broad jump, and shot put).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.comhttp//timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1932/04/02/100707164.html?pdf_redirect=true&site=false|title=MISS KOFF SCORES IN JEWISH GAMES; New York Girl Captures Three Final Events as Maccabiad in Palestine Ends. 25,000 WATCH CONTESTS Heymann, Flaksman and Schnelder, American Athletes, Also Are Victors at Tel-Aviv.|website=The New York Times|date=April 1, 1932}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.comhttp//timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1932/05/22/100745288.html?pdf_redirect=true&site=false|title=HAKOAH ALL-STARS IN ACTION TODAY; Will Face German Eleven in Good-Will Soccer Match at the Polo Grounds. NOTABLES TO BE PRESENT Mayor Walker Will Start Contest – Contestants in Jewish Olympics to Receive Medals.|date=May 22, 1932|website=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=sn5YAAAAYAAJ&q=%22sybil+koff%22 ''Canadian Journal of History of Sport''], Volumes 16–17, 1985.</ref> Focus on her was so great that after the Games, young women in Tel Aviv began to wear berets at a "jaunty angle," as she was given to doing.<ref name="auto5">Ron Kaplan (2015). [https://books.google.com/books?id=Qy2CDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22syd%22+koff&pg=PT42 ''The Jewish Olympics; The History of the Maccabiah Games'']</ref><ref>Michael Feldberg (2002). [https://books.google.com/books?id=40QaAQAAIAAJ&q=%22syd%22+koff ''Blessings of Freedom; Chapters in American Jewish History'']</ref> She stayed in Palestine for two years, working at finding pottery shards for King George V.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/145862272@N05/30395160085/|title=Ex-Track Star Running Strong| page =58|date=February 1977|work=Ceramic Scope}}</ref>

A 1934 article in the ''Brooklyn Daily Eagle'' described Koff as follows: "... you would never believe Syd Koff to be a sprinter and jumper. ... although tall and exceedingly well built, [she] is pleasant looking and indeed quite attractive. She lacks the hard features so commonly associated with the female athlete."<ref name="auto10"/> Two years later, an article in the same paper observed: "Syd Koff is one of those pleasant creatures who would rather conquer the world all by her pleasant self than stay home and do the dishes."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/145862272@N05/30278512202/|title=Syd Koff Will Try to Fill Iron-Man Role in National Championships|page =20|date=April 6, 1936|work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle|author=Lou E. Cohen}}</ref>

Koff won the 1934 Kings County High Jump Championship.<ref name="auto10"/> In 1935 she won the 200m Metropolitan AAU title.<ref name="auto3"/>

In a meet in February 1935 at the 102nd Engineers Armory in New York City held to assist in the picking of those who would represent the United States at the 1935 Maccabiah Games, Koff won gold medals in the 80m low hurdles, the 100m dash, and the running high jump.<ref name="auto4"/> She competed for the German-American Athletic Club.<ref name="auto4"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.comhttp//timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1935/03/03/87882625.html?pdf_redirect=true&site=false|title=Women in Sports|website=The New York Times|date=March 3, 1935|author=Maribel Y. Vinson}}</ref><ref>United States Olympic Committee (1937). [https://books.google.com/books?id=z5td_FykFgcC&q=%22sybil+koff%22 ''Report of the American Olympic Committee Games of the XIth Olympiad, Berlin, Germany, August 1 to 16, 1936. IVth Olympic Winter Games, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, February 6 to 16, 1936,''] page 154.</ref> She had wanted to also compete in the 60m dash and the 8-pound shot put, but AAU rules restricted her to competing in a maximum of three events.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/145862272@N05/29764646224/|title=Girl Athlete Leads 200 in Team Trials; Miss Koff Winner of Three Events in Maccabiah Track Meet|page =17|date=February 28, 1935|work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle}}</ref>

Koff competed in the 1935 Maccabiah Games in Tel Aviv, Mandatory Palestine.<ref name="auto4">{{Cite web|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.comhttp//timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1935/02/28/93674447.html?pdf_redirect=true&site=false|title=HOFFMAN IS FIRST IN 400-METER RUN; Curb Exchange A.A. Star Leads Billig to Tape in Feature of Maccabiah Meet; Miss Koff Wins Three Events.|website=The New York Times|date=February 28, 1935}}</ref> She and the other American athletes traveled to Palestine on the SS ''President Roosevelt'', a trip which took three weeks and which included legs traveled by train, donkey cart, and camel.<ref name="auto5"/>

At the 1935 Maccabiah Games, Koff won gold medals in the 60m dash, the 200m dash, and the 400m hurdles, and won a silver medal in the broad jump.<ref name="auto3"/><ref name="auto1"/><ref name="auto2">{{Cite web|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.comhttp//timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1935/04/05/93685525.html?pdf_redirect=true&site=false|title=HOFFMAN IS SECOND IN MACCABIAH SPRINT; Coates, New York Team-Mate Sixth in 200 at Tel-Aviv – Miss Koff Triumphs.|website=The New York Times|date=April 5, 1935}}</ref> After the Games concluded, she remained in Palestine to give "herself a few more weeks to decide whether she would stay permanently."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.comhttp//timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1935/05/10/94605677.html?pdf_redirect=true&site=false|title=Deutsch Praises U.S. Athletes, Returning From Palestine Games; Maccabi Team, Home With Trophies of Successful Campaign, Welcomed at City Hall – Two Remain Abroad in New Jobs – Italian Boxers Arrive to Meet Chicago Amateurs.|date=May 10, 1935|website=The New York Times}}</ref>

In 1935 ''The American Hebrew'' referred to Koff as the "leading Jewish girl athlete of the year."<ref name="auto3"/> On May 6, 1936, the ''Brooklyn Daily Eagle'' ran an article on her entitled: "Syd Koff – Bensonhurst’s One-Girl Track Team."<ref name="auto7">{{Cite web|url=https://sybillegallery.com/about/|title=About |website=Sybille Gallery of Art and Custom Framing}}</ref> ''The Jewish Press'' named her to its 1935 Honor Roll of Jews in Sports, along with among others baseball player Hank Greenberg, boxers Barney Ross and Bob Olin, fencer Helene Mayer, tennis players Henry Prusoff and Maud Rosenbaum, golfer Herman Barron, football players Izzy Weinstock and David Smukler, and ice hockey player Alex Levinsky.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://issuu.com/jewishpress7/docs/1935-09-27|title=Banner Year for Jews in Sports|author=Morris Weiner |website=The Jewish Press|date=September 27, 1935}}</ref>

In June 1936, Koff competed in the Women's Metropolitan AAU Track and Field Championships in Castle Hill Park in New York City.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.comhttp//timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1936/06/22/87952114.html?pdf_redirect=true&site=false|title=Miss Cottrell Triumphs Twice As German-American A.C. Wins; 16-Year-Old Star Leads Track Team to Victory by Taking Dash and Hurdles in Women's Metropolitan Championships – Miss Arden Sets High Jump Mark.|website=The New York Times|date=June 22, 1936|author= Maribel Y. Vinson}}</ref> She won the running broad jump, and finished second in the 50m dash.<ref name="auto"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/145862272@N05/30358899106/|title=Jewish Athletes Makes Places on Olympic Teams| page =18|date=June 26, 1936|work=The Jewish Advocate}}</ref>

Koff qualified for the 1936 Summer Olympic Games in the broad jump and high jump events.<ref>David K. Wiggins, Gerald R. Gems, Linda J. Borish (2016). [https://books.google.com/books?id=zyUxDQAAQBAJ&dq=%22sybil+koff%22&pg=PT339 ''The Routledge History of American Sport''].</ref><ref name="auto3"/><ref name="auto1"/> She did not compete, as she joined other Jewish athletes including American 1932 Olympic champion discus thrower Lillian Copeland, American hurdles world record holder Milton Green, and American swimmer Charlotte Epstein who boycotted the Games, as the Games were held in Nazi Germany.<ref name="auto1"/><ref>Robert G. Weisbord (2017). [https://books.google.com/books?id=6qw0DwAAQBAJ&dq=%22syd%22+koff&pg=PT59 ''Racism and the Olympics'']</ref><ref>Andrew Parker, Grant Jarvie, Nick J. Watson (2020). [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZS3tDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22syd%22+koff&pg=PT40 ''Sport, Physical Education, and Social Justice; Religious, Sociological, Psychological, and Capability Perspectives''].</ref>

In August 1938, Koff came in fourth in the women's 80-yard hurdles 1939 US national championship at the AAU Outdoor Women's Track Championships in Naugatuck, Connecticut.<ref name="auto8">{{Cite web|url=https://trackandfieldnews.com/history-of-us-nationals-results-100-hurdles-women/|title=History of US Nationals Results: 100 Hurdles – Women|work=Track and Field News}}</ref> In September 1939, Koff came in second in the women's 80-yard hurdles 1939 US national championship at the AAU Outdoor Women's Track Championships in Waterbury, Connecticut.<ref name="auto8"/>

In July 1940, Koff won the women's 80-yard hurdles 1940 US National Championship at the AAU Outdoor Women's Track Championships in Ocean City, New Jersey.<ref name="auto3"/><ref>Bob Wechsler (2008). [https://books.google.com/books?id=aOTWUl-9LQoC&dq=%22sybil+koff%22&pg=PA388 ''Day by day in Jewish sports history'']</ref>

She also qualified for the 1940 Summer Olympic Games.<ref name="auto3"/><ref name="auto1"/> Koff missed competing in those Olympic Games as well, as in 1940 Russia bombed the Olympic stadium in Helsinki, Finland, and the 1940 Olympics were cancelled.<ref name="auto1"/>

===Later life=== Koff later lived on the Lower East Side, and then in Greenwich Village, New York City, and Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York, where she was an artist and ceramist.<ref name=passing/><ref name="auto11"/> She married and had two sons, Stephen (who in 1966 became the intercollegiate pocket billiards champion, and later became a sculptor and artist) and Ellis (who became a mathematical physicist).<ref name="auto6"/><ref name="auto11"/><ref name="auto12"/> From the 1960s until she broke her hip in 1972, she competed in track and field in the Masters’ division.<ref name="auto6"/> In 1984, she and her son Steve became co-owners of the Sybille Gallery of Art and Framing in Greenwich Village.<ref name="auto7"/>

Koff died in New York City at 85 years of age on May 20, 1998, from cardiac arrest.<ref name="auto1"/><ref name="auto6"/> She was survived by her sons Ellis and Steve.<ref name=passing/>

== References ==  {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Koff, Syd}} Category:1911 births Category:1998 deaths Category:American women high jumpers Category:American women hurdlers Category:American women long jumpers Category:American women shot putters Category:American women sprinters Category:American female triathletes Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent Category:Art Students League of New York alumni Category:Ceramics decorators Category:Competitors at the 1932 Maccabiah Games Category:Competitors at the 1935 Maccabiah Games Category:Jewish American track and field athletes Category:Maccabiah Games gold medalists for the United States Category:Maccabiah Games silver medalists for the United States Category:Maccabiah Games medalists in athletics Category:Parsons School of Design alumni Category:People from Bensonhurst, Brooklyn Category:People from Greenwich Village Category:People from the Lower East Side Category:People from Flatbush, Brooklyn Category:Track and field athletes from New York City Category:University of Toledo alumni Category:USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners Category:20th-century American Jews Category:Jews from New York (state) Category:20th-century American sportswomen

Syd Koff

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