The online exhibit “Massachusetts Women in the Olympics: A Century of Excellence” at the Massachusetts Women’s History Center features a timeline with the dozens of women from Massachusetts who have participated in the Olympics and Paraolympics since 1928.
Three of these Olympians have Stoneham ties: Jo Madden, Nancy (Rouillard) Luddington (later Graham) and Nancy Kerrigan. Except for Boston, Stoneham has contributed more women Olympians than any other city or town in the state. Stoneham Historical Society & Museum lent several images from our collections to the online exhibit.
Since 1928, Massachusetts women have showcased their remarkable athletic skill at the Olympic Games. From track and field and swimming, to figure skating and ice hockey, to wheelchair racing and para-rowing, Bay State women have excelled on the highest stage in the sports world and continue to reach new heights.
Josephine Warren Madden competed in Track & Field in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, while Graham and Kerrigan competed in the Winter Olympics, as have all the rest of Stoneham’s 7 Olympians.
Ludington/Graham won the bronze medal in pairs skating with skating partner and then-husband Ronald Ludington at the 1960 Olympics in California. Kerrigan, by far the best known of Stoneham Olympians, competed in the 1992 and 1994 Winter Olympian, winning Bronze in Women’s Figure Skating in 1992 in Albertville, France and the Silver Medal in 1994 in Lillehammer, Norway.
All three women were present at a Stoneham Historical Society event in 1996 that brought together six Olympians from Stoneham. Below is pictured Frank O’Grady (Hockey) Nancy Graham, Nancy Kerrigan and (standing) Joanne Harriman, SHS historian.
