This 1930 edition of the Derrick newspaper carried a large advertisement promoting the Drake theater. A key feature was a pathe news item on Josephine McKim.

Oil City can claim a three-time medal winner in the summer Olympics who later gained fame in Hollywood.

Josephine Eveline McKim, born in 1910 in Oil City, was the granddaughter of Clarion County native William McKim who served as Oil City postmaster. Her parents were Frederick and Musa Hunter McKim and they were the parents of two daughters, Josephine and Musa.

The family lived in Oil City until Frederick took a job in 1916 in the Panama Canal Zone where he served in the executive department. Up to that time, Josephine swam competitively as a representative of the Carnegie Library Club of Homestead, PA.

Upon the move to the Canal Zone, Josephine began to compete as “an unattached swimmer” but soon became affiliated with a team of champion swimmers there.

In an April 1930 article in the Olean Evening Times, Josephine was featured in a story titled “Picking a New Queen of the Water Babies” that included her as one of “amateur mermaids” bound for national competitions in Miami, Florida.

“Miss McKim is called ‘Panama Jo’ by her friends and is one of the most attractive, personally, of all the great swimmers. … She developed a natural, easy stroke of her own at 13 by watching the champions of Panama racing against each other,” noted the article. 

One day, Josephine decided to test her talents against the big leaguers and swam away with five first place wins. She would have won a sixth ribbon but was inexperienced in making the proper turns.

Josephine McKim, 1928.

“Panama Jo has none of the robust look so common in star swimmers – she looks rather frail until you see her in the water,” wrote the newspaper. “Then the powerful, long stroke which shoot her through the water yard after yard, or mile after mile, show you your mistake.”

The biggest test was to come. The national amateur women’s indoor swimming championships were held in April 1930 in Florida. The anticipation was great since the question was: Now that Martha Norelius, known as the world’s greatest amateur woman swimmer, had turned professional, who will be the probable successor to claim supremacy in free-style swimming, reported the news media.

McKim appeared to be the favorite, having set three world records as an amateur as she outranked all others in the middle-distance races. 

McKim would continue to reign supreme and her record-setting swims put her in the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam where she won the bronze medal in the 400-meter freestyle event. In 1932, she was a member of the U.S. delegation to the Olympics in Los Angeles where she won the gold medal in the 400-meter freestyle relay and came in fourth in the 100-meter freestyle race.

Her sights then turned to Hollywood where she had small roles in a few films, including “Bride of Frankenstein” (1935) and “Lady Be Careful” (1936) where she joined fellow Olympian Buster Crabbe as a cast member. McKim also played a role in the “We’re In the Money” movie.

One of her movies attracted more fame than others. She reportedly was the body double for star Maureen O’Sullivan in “a deleted nude underwater scene,” according to news accounts, in the film “Tarzan and His Mate” in 1934.

DID YOU KNOW?

Oil City has another tie with the McKim connections of Olympics, swimming and Tarzan. Clarence L. “Buster” Crabbe, movie star, visited the Oil City swimming pool in the late 1940s as part of an ensemble that put on high-diving and speed swimming exhibitions across the country. After the show was done, Crabbe would sell autographed photographs for $1 each. Crabbe’s film credits included playing Tarzan and Flash Gordon in the movies and Captain Gallant of the Foreign Legion in a mid-1950s television series. He was an All-American swimmer at the University of Southern California and won a gold medal in the Olympics.

After attending the University of Southern California, McKim launched a stage career on Broadway and appeared in several plays. McKim, credited with setting five world records during her swimming career, was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1991. She died in New York in 1992. Her sister, Musa, was a painter and poet. She and her husband, Philip Guston, painted murals for the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Maritime Commission. 

Tony Como

Tony Como

Oil City claimed a famous pugilist, too, among its cadre of outstanding athletes.

Anthony “Tony” Como, born in 1915, in Oil City, graduated from Oil City High School in 1935. A veteran of World War II, he served in the U.S. Navy.

He retired in 1970 from the Wayne Harris Refuse Co. in Sugarcreek.

Como was an amateur and professional boxer in the 1930s and regularly was featured in fights in several cities in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. News accounts relate this “windmill style of attack” was popular with area fans.

In the billings for boxing matches, Como was listed as The Little Italian, Terrible Tony and the Third Ward Wildcat.

He turned professional in 1937 and fought as a featherweight and junior lightweight. He was a Golden Gloves runner up. During his boxing career, he had nearly 400 fights, including amateur, professional and exhibition. He later taught boxing to area youngsters, organized a boxing association in Oil City and served as a boxing judge, referee and timekeeper.

Active in a variety of community organizations, Como became a frequent visitor to Oil City Council meetings. He was described by many within the community as “a fighter for the people.”

He died at the age of 81 in 1996.

Boxers Came to Oil City

Oil City was a frequent stop for professional boxers as they made their way along the boxing circuit. Heavyweight champion John L. Sullivan came to Oil City in 1882 to visit a friend. He was on his way to Mississippi for a heavyweight championship bout with Paddy Ryan. Sullivan won the eight-round fight with a knockout.

Jess Willard, another national champion, traveled to the city in 1915 as part of a Wild West Show at the West End Fairgrounds.

In 1962, boxer James J. Braddock was the guest speaker at a Knights of Columbus banquet. He won the heavyweight title against Max Baer.

Tony Galento, who came within one count of dethroning the great Joe Louis as heavyweight champion, was the featured speaker at an April 1969 banquet at the Oil City Eagles Club.

Melinda Hale

Melinda Hale

International tensions resulted in a multi-nation boycott of the 1980 Olympics and that directly affected an Oil City athlete’s pursuit for a medal.

Melinda Hale, a 1973 Oil City High School graduate, was an outstanding athlete both in high school and at Slippery Rock State College where she was captain of the women’s basketball team.

Hale qualified for the U.S. women’s handball team in 1980, the year in which the U.S. and other nations opted not to participate. She did, however, remain with the American team in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles where her team won fifth place.

She also played on national women’s handball teams in several world championships. Hale was chosen to carry the Olympic torch for a portion of the trip to Atlanta.

Hale later served as head coach for softball and volleyball at Kansas State University.

Annamarie Nieves

Annamarie Nieves

The City of Oil City had a close connection to a medalist in the 2019 Special Olympics World Games held in the United Arab Emirates. 

Annamarie Nieves, daughter of Ann (Murray) and Omar Nieves of Florida and granddaughter of Kathleen and Richard Murray of Oil City, was a member of the US. Delegation to the games. Her mother is a 1977 Oil City High School graduate.

Annamarie, one of 216 American athletes to compete in Abu Dhabi, was versatile in numerous sports but excelled in gymnastics at her home high school. While she had won high honors in many state competitions, the Special Olympics marked her first international contest.

While winning a number of top honors in rhythmic gymnastics, Annamarie claimed a Bronze Medal in the ball competition, fourth place in ribbon/hoop and eighth place in rope competition.

Written by Judy Etzel with research by Kay Dawson and design by Natalie Cubbon.