Albina Osipowich

Early life and swimming

Albina Osipowich was born on February 26, 1911 to Charles W. and Veronica Osipowich at 8 Columbia Street in Worcester, Massachusetts. She began swimming against boys at the Worcester Boy's Club and was found faster than most in sprint distances. Summers at Cape Cod sparked her seasonal interest in swimming and competing. In 1926, she won the New England Senior title in the 880-yard event at Norumbega Park and set a record in the 220-yard event.

She also captured the junior 100-yard freestyle title and won regional indoor titles in the 50, 220, and 500-yard distances. She attended Worcester North High School, graduating in 1929. By age 17, she was selected for the 1928 U.S. Women's Olympic team trials.

1928 Amsterdam Olympics

Osipowich qualified for the Olympic team at Rockaway Beach, Queens, New York on July 2, 1928. She had a severe case of flu at the end of 1927, which may have contributed to her third-place finish in the 100 free at the trials; Eleanor Garatti's record 1:10.6 first-place finish was a difficult pace. She sailed to Amsterdam on the S.S. President Roosevelt in July, practicing in a canvas tank with a rope attached. The women's 4x100-meter relay team consisted of Adelaide Lambert, Osipowich, Eleanor Garatti, and Martha Norelius.

At the 1928 Olympics, Osipowich won gold in the 100-meter freestyle in a world record 1:11, touching 0.4 seconds before Garatti. She also won gold with the relay team in a combined 4:47.6, another world record. The U.S. team was managed by Yale Coach Bob Kiphuth. She received her gold medal from Holland's Queen Wilhelmina, and a reception of 100,000 awaited her in Worcester.

In 1928, she held American records in the 200, 220, and 100-yard freestyle and won two National AAU titles. She broke the 100-meter freestyle record with a time of 109.40 in San Francisco on August 25, 1929. At the 1929 AAU National Indoor Championship, she placed second in the 100 and 220-yard races but was awarded first place when Martha Norelius turned professional.

Pembroke College (Brown University)

After the 1928 Olympics, Worcester town fathers offered Osipowich a college scholarship; she chose Pembroke (now Brown University), starting in fall 1929 with a $4000 scholarship. Ineligible for the men's varsity team, she wrote to Brown Men's swimming Coach Barry requesting to train with top male sprinters like Ray Hall, as she could only train one or two days a week with Pembroke's women's team. Newspapers reported in December 1929 that she was retiring from competitive swimming, but this applied only to national competition; she planned to defend her New England titles.

By the end of her freshman year, she decided not to defend her national 100 and 220-yard championships at the 1930 National Outdoor Championships. In her freshman season, she swam for Pembroke, defeating Radcliffe and Wheaton, winning the 60-yard dash in 36.1 and taking second in the 40-yard breaststroke. As a sophomore in March 1931, she swam the 60-yard sprint in 40 seconds in a home meet against Radcliffe and swam on winning relay teams; Pembroke went undefeated in regular season meets.

In her junior year, she captained the Pembroke women's team in the 1931-32 season. She graduated from Pembroke in 1933, also playing field hockey.

Later life

Albina Osipowich married Harrison Van Aken Jr., a Brown University graduate and former basketball player, around October 17, 1936, in Chicago. At the time, she was Rhode Island’s director of women’s activities for the National Youth Administration, having previously worked briefly as a department store buyer. Van Aken was employed by Chicago’s Continental Bank and Trust Company. The couple had two sons and traveled widely across the U.S., from New York to Virginia, also enjoying Arizona.

They lived for many years in DeWitt, New York, near Syracuse, before moving to Lynchburg, Virginia, in 1959. Osipowich died at her Lynchburg home on June 6, 1964.

She was survived by a son and two brothers. Her husband, who had been transferred to Phoenix, Arizona, in February 1963 after a divorce, had worked for General Electric in Lynchburg. Her funeral was held that same day at the Community Church in DeWitt, where she was buried in the DeWitt Cemetery.

Did You Know?

• Albina's brother John Osipowich was a varsity swimmer for Worcester Tech and won the preliminary heat of the 440-yard event in a record time of 5:43 at the 1930 Intercollegiate Championships.
• She represented the Worcester Women's Swimming Association at the Brookline Swimming Meet on March 6, 1930, swimming the 50-yard sprint in 29 seconds and anchoring the winning 150-yard medley relay.
• In April 1930, she won the 220-yard competition in 2:50.8 at a swimming meet in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.