Evening star., 1939-09-24
Nancy Merki Makes
Miracle Recovery
From Paralysis
Develops Coordination
Of Champ Kicking in
Tank for Exercise
By FRED E. HAMPSON,
Associated Press Sports Writer.

PORTLAND, Greg, Sept. 23.-A
''hopeless cripple from infantile
paralysis four years ago-today 13-
year-old champion, one of the Ma
tons finest swimmers.
That's the miracI. story of Fancy
Merki, who lowers national and
Olympic marks nearly every time
she leaps into tank.
With legs twisted and seemingly
Useless from the paralysis attack,
Nancy was told four years ago she
probably never would walk again. A
rigorous course of treatment-flex-
ing of muscles, massaging of joints,
easy exercises, and some swimming
later. when the sinews were loosened
the doctors told her parents, and
Nancy might be able to get around
bit.
Then Nancy couldn't even swim.
In a few months, it began to look as
though she would prove the doc
tors wrong.
Moving forward to July, 1899
Nancy entered the national A. A.
U. women's meet at Des MoineS,
competing with the Nations swiftest
swimming company.
She won the 8OO-meter free style
race in American record time, took
the 400-meter free style event in
near-record time, won second in the
mile, and shared second in the 400
meter relay.
Youngest High Scorer
1t added to 13 points, making Miss
Merki the youngest high scorer in
the history of this blue-ribbon COM
petition.
This month at San Francisco
Nancy entered the Far Western A.
A. U. meet. She bettered, the 400
meter Olympic record without being
crowded, and won the 20O-meter
free style race handily.
That is the performance to date of
the girl who couldn't walk and
hadn't learned how to swim in 1885.
One afternoon in the fall of 1884,
Nancy came home from school,
complaining of a throbbing head
ache. Two days later physicians de-
livered the hopeless cripple" ver-
dict. They added, without much con-
viction, the massaging and exer-
else would do some good.
Her father and mother, Mr.. and
Mrs. Ernest Merki saw to it tie
.massaging was done, and that Nancy
exercised. In April. 1885, they took
her to swimming instructor.
He taught her the rudiments of
swimming, and showed her how to
hang onto the edge of the tank and
kick her crippled and almost useless
legs.
Numbness Disappears
Unwittingly Nancy built up
champions coordination. Soon she
was swimming ittle-a body's
length, two. three, across the tank.
the length of it. One day she climbed
from the pool to find the miracle
had happened: her legs were no
longer knotty and bent. The trem-
Bling and .numbness were gone.
Strength and health cannot be
won from a sport without devo-
ton to it being kindled. 1t was so
with Nancy. The urge for health
satisfied, she felt an urge for speed.
She could beat most of her friends.
Her parents took her to Jack Cody,
coach at Portland's Multnomah
Athletic Club. And it is to Cody's
tireless efforts that Nancy owes
much of her success.
&. Cody enrolled her in the club,
where the swimming competition
was fairly fast. In three months.
the one time cripple won a 50-yard
race for girls of II and under. A
month later, she won another at
100 meters.
Wins Race of 3 Miles
Nancy got into headlines for the
first time in the summer of 1886
when she beat the finest distance
swimmers in Oregon, men and wom-
en-, in emile race.
Cody groomed his protege in the
400 and 8O0-meter races, and in
1888 she took third in the 400 and
fourth in the 800 meters in her
first national championship try. At
Des Moines last July, she did the 300
In 1l:19.9, 1873 seconds under Kath-
crime Rawls' old mark Her time in
the 400 was 5:296, only IL seconds
shy of Helene Madison's American
record. At San Francisco at this dis
tance. she clipped AZ seconds from
the Olympic record of 5:264.
. For the shorter distances also she
showed talent. She won the San
Francisco 2OO-meter in 1893, 40
seconds slower than the American
record without being pressed.
Cody insists 1885 cripple will be
l94O's Olympic heroine-if the war
doesn't smoke out the Olympics.
She is 1895 standout without dis