(Jun. 1, 1926 – Oct. 7, 2014) Nancy Merki overcame the effects of polio to become a record-setting swimmer and member of the U.S. team at the 1948 London Summer Olympic Games.

Born in 1926, Merki was diagnosed with polio at an early age and took up swimming at age 8 to reduce the effects of the disease, which had caused here to be partially paralyzed at one point. Swimming for the Multnomah Athletic Club and coach Jack Cody, Merki responded fabulously and set national records at distances from 200 to 1,500 meters beginning at age 13. After winning high-point honors at the national championships 1939, Merki was invited to the White House to speak with President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who also suffered from polio.

Along with fellow Olympians Brenda Helser and Suzanne Zimmerman, MAC swimmers, dubbed “Cody’s Kids” won 42 individual, 16 relay and three team titles at the U.S. national championships from 1939 to 1948. Merki was the nation’s top female swimmer from ’39 to ’43. In 1944, after she stopped winning freestyle events, she switched to the breaststroke and won yet another national title. She returned to the elite level in freestyle and qualified for the ’48 Olympics.

Merki was married shortly before the 1948 Games and competed as Nancy Lees. She reached the final of the 400 freestyle, but did not medal. Between 1939-49, she won 19 individual or relay titles at the national level.

Merki was inducted to the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1980.