Suzanne Zimmerman (July 13, 1925-March 14, 2021) turned summers of swimming in Oswego Lake into international travel and acclaim as one of "Cody's Kids" from the Multnomah Athletic Club.
Lake Grove was quite a hike from the MAC in the 1930s so Suzanne was not a regular in training sessions with coach Jack Cody (also a member of the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame). With only a couple of years of training, she still qualified for the 1939 US National meet at Jantzen Beach at age 14.
One year later she began touring the country with the famed “Cody Kids”. She won 15 national titles over 8 years culminating in a silver medal in the 1948 London Olympics for the 100-meter backstroke. Along with fellow Olympians Brenda Helser and Nancy Merki, both Portland natives, the Cody’s Kids won 42 individual, 16 relay and three team titles at the national level from 1939 to 1948. World War II had led to the cancellation of the 1940 and '44 games, or there likely would have been more medals to be won.
Suzanne and the "Kids" were widely feted across the country, including by movie stars in Los Angeles and Duke Kahanamoku in Hawaii. Suzanne was on the June 19, 1948, cover of Collier’s magazine. Suzanne married Gordon Edwards in 1958 and traveled the world before returning to Portland in the 1970s.
Never impressed with the trappings of celebrity, Zimmerman reminisced that she wanted to be known as smart not just as an Olympian.