Your Incredible Neighbors: One woman’s Olympic Committee memories

If you have lived an accomplished professional life at a university campus, it’s not unusual to amass titles, honors and awards.

But Barbara Forker’s curriculum vitae is special unto itself. The former professor of women’s physical education at Iowa State University, research shows there are 26 boxes of documents related to her 38 years of service at ISU from 1948 to 1986.

Her work there was preceded by 22 months of service in Europe with the American Red Cross during World War II.

What began as a temporary six-month assignment ultimately led to her being named professor and head of the Women’s Physical Education Department. When the men’s and women’s departments were combined to become the Department of Physical Education, she became its first head.

So respected as a teacher and colleague was she that a 90,000-square-foot physical education building built in 1972 at ISU was renamed in her honor — the Barbara E. Forker Building — in 1997.

Usually named after major donors, she said, the process for naming this building was done by letters of nomination; a former ISU president’s letter recommending the building be named in Forker’s honor won out.

A former student, Betty Stephenson was so impressed by Forker as “a special college professor who touched my life while at Iowa State” that she started the Barbara Forker Scholarship in her honor.

“The most recent recipient of the Barbara Forker Scholarship is a young man who will go on to work in physical education with handicapped children,” Forker said.

Now at age 88 and a resident at La Posada, Forker remains modest about her accomplishments. When questioned about achievements discovered through online research, she nods her head in agreement.

Although it’s easy to assume that little could surpass having a building or a scholarship named in one’s honor, in 1975, Forker received an appointment most sports-minded people don’t even aspire to

She was named by then President Gerald Ford to serve on the U.S. Olympic Committee and did so from 1976 to 1984.

Asked how that appointment came about, Forker said, “Some things you really don’t know. I was appointed to President Ford’s Commission on Olympic Sports; we were directed to find out why we (the U.S.) weren’t fielding our best athletes, why other countries were better than us.”

Of her years of service on the commission and then the U.S. Olympic Committee, Forker said, “I was very fortunate.”

In 1976, one of her first assignments was to interview England’s Prince Philip, who was then head of the International Equestrian Olympics, at the Olympics in Montreal.

“I was just told to go and interview him. I went to the equestrian center where I learned how to address him. He’s the most prestigious person I ever got to interview.”

She described her work on the USOC as a complicated process of hearings and joint work with the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the Amateur Athletic Union and said, “In our final report, it was decided the USOC was the best body to coordinate sports. Soon after, the U.S. Olympic Committee moved from offices on Park Avenue in New York to Colorado Springs.”

Respected on the USOC as she was at Iowa State University, Forker was further appointed to the USOC board of directors from 1982 to 1984 and says one of the accomplishments of the President’s Commission was to emphasize more women in the U.S. Olympics.

Athletic in her youth, Forker played a little of everything — field hockey, basketball, volleyball, bowling, tennis and golf. Even now at 88, she goes to La Posada’s fitness pavilion almost daily where she works on the stretching machines and lifts weights. “I have to keep moving,” she said.

Of her reactions to the recent Olympics, Forker said, “I have very mixed emotions. It was a very powerful spectacle. I thought the purpose was to introduce China to the world of commerce.”

She spoke of the impressive skill levels of the athletes, crediting much to ongoing research and training centers where athletes train with the best coaches.

Talking about eight-gold-medal winner Michael Phelps’ record for the most gold at a single Olympics, she said one faculty member that she hired at ISU, Rick Sharp, was instrumental in working with others to design the full-body swimsuit worn by Phelps. “The full-body suit compresses the skin so there’s less drag. Phelps wore this suit at the Olympics.”

With numerous accomplishments and achievements to reflect on, when asked what she considered her greatest achievement, Forker’s response was a humble one.

“I’m most proud of my students, of what they’ve become, what they’re doing with their lives. They’ve taught, volunteered and influenced young lives.”

Ellen Sussman is a freelance writer in Green Valley. Contact her at ellen2414@cox.net.