King, Micki (1944—)

American diver who won a gold medal in the Munich Olympics. Name variations: Captain Maxine King; team manager under name Micki Hogue for the U.S. Olympic divers in 1988. Born Maxine King on July 26, 1944, in Pontiac, Michigan; graduated from University of Michigan, 1966; enlisted in U.S. Air Force, 1966.

Won gold medal in the Munich Olympics (1972); competed against men in the World Military Games (1969); appointed diving coach at the Air Force Academy (1973); was the first woman to hold a faculty position at a U.S. military academy.

Micki King's mother wanted her to be a figure skater, but the little girl found this sport tedious. She loved the thrill of jumping into a pool off an elevated platform and began training at the local YMCA at age ten. In high school, King played water polo and was a member of the swim team. Though she did not enter her initial diving competition until age 15, she won on her first attempt. In 1963, then a journalism sophomore at the University of Michigan, King decided to take diving more seriously, very late for a competitive diver. "I would like to know what makes people jump," she once said. "A lot don't at first, you know. They stand there on the edge and finally walk away. Height is the big psychological thing that scares people off. When you hit the water after jumping off the tower, you're going about 40 miles an hour. Sometimes you hit with such force that your shoulders and upper arms turn black-and-blue. I was scared for three years." Her coach Dick Kimball encouraged King, and for those three years she led the university diving team. After winning many competitions, she placed fifth in the Olympic tryouts in 1964.

When Micki King graduated from college in 1966, she faced an uncertain future as an athlete, particularly as a female athlete. If she planned to devote herself full-time to diving, she needed support in order to afford the expense of training for international competition and the 1968 Olympic Games. Although the ongoing Vietnam War did not make the military a popular option, King enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1966 as an officer candidate. When she received her commission as a second lieutenant, she returned to the University of Michigan Reserve Officer Training Corps and to her coach Dick Kimball. At the Mexico City Olympics in 1968, King was determined to win the gold. In her next-to-last dive off the springboard, she jumped too high on the inward reverse 1½ layout, one of her best dives. Attempting to correct her mistake, she broke her left arm when she hit the board. "The thud was so loud it echoed through the whole building," she said later. "I can still hear it now, and it makes me sick." She returned for her last dive with a broken arm although she dropped from first place to fourth. Sue Gossick of the U.S. took the gold medal.

Older than many diving champions, King decided to retire after this setback. However, the national indoor championships in Los Angeles in the spring of 1969 fired her competitive spirit, and she was soon back on the board. She entered the World Military Games in Pescara, Italy, in 1969 where she competed against men. King performed dives no woman had ever attempted before and placed fourth in platform and third in springboard. Between 1969 and 1972, she won ten national springboard and platform diving championships. She competed in the Pan American Games, the World University Games, and the International Invitational.

At 28, King was one of the more seasoned athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Fellow divers called her "Mother Max." Nonetheless, she believed in herself: "It takes years to perfect the mechanics and form and to attain that essential consistency. I started later than most girls, so I'm attaining my goals later." Ten years of hard work paid off and Micki King, heavily favored, won a gold medal in the springboard event. In 1973, Captain King became the first woman appointed to a faculty position at a U.S. military academy when she became the diving coach at the Air Force Academy. She continued to coach and was a founding member of the Women's Sports Foundation.

sources:

Sabin, Francene. Women Who Win. NY: Random House, 1975.

Woolum, Janet. Outstanding Women Athletes: Who They Are and How They Influenced Sports in America. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press, 1992.

Karin L. Haag , freelance writer, Athens, Georgia