O'Neil, Kitty (1947—)

American athlete and stunt performer . Born in 1947 in Corpus Christi, Texas; married Duffy Hambleton (a stunt performer).

Held the official waterskiing speed record at 104.85 miles per hour (1970); held the women's world land speed record (1976); was the only woman in the world deemed qualified for international motorcycle competition (1977); was the first woman accepted into Stunts Unlimited, an assemblage of Hollywood's top stunt performers; set records for the longest fall and the highest fall accomplished by a woman while set ablaze (1977); was the only woman to perform the "cannon car rollover" stunt.

Athlete and stunt performer Kitty O'Neil rose above personal hardship to set stunt records during her appearances on such 1970's television shows as "Policewoman," "The Bionic Woman," and "Baretta." Born in 1947 in Corpus Christi, Texas, she was rendered deaf at four months old following simultaneous attacks of measles, mumps and chicken pox. Her mother, a full-blooded Cherokee, attended classes at the University of Texas at Austin to learn how to help her daughter read lips and communicate, and was so successful that O'Neil went on to become an outstanding music student who won awards as both a piano and a cello player.

O'Neil had a concurrent interest in sports. She won the Junior Olympic Southwest District Diving title, and caught the attention of two-time Olympic diving champion Sammy Lee. After moving to Anaheim, California, she trained with Lee and won over 30 blue ribbons and numerous first-place trophies and gold medals. She also placed 12th in the U.S. team trials for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and took a first-place finish in the women's 10-meter diving championship. In 1970, she captured the official waterskiing speed record at 104.85 miles per hour. Six years later, she held the women's world land speed record, traveling 322 miles per hour in a 38-foot, three-wheeled rocket-powered land missile. O'Neil raced boats, drag cars, production sports cars, dune buggies and motorcycles. In 1977, she was the only woman in the world deemed qualified for international motorcycle competition when the Fédération Internationale Motorcycliste granted her a professional license.

O'Neil became a stunt performer under the tutelage of her husband Duffy Hambleton. On a television special in 1977, she set records for both the longest fall by a woman and the highest fall attempted by a woman while afire, completing a 112-foot drop in a protective fire suit that had been set ablaze. She was the first woman accepted into Stunts Unlimited, an elite company of Hollywood's top stunt performers, and as of 1992 she was the only woman to perform a stunt in which a moving car is flipped over by an explosive device—the "cannon car rollover." In 1979, O'Neil's life story was dramatized in a CBS made-for-TV movie, "Silent Victory: The Kitty O'Neil Story."

sources:

Read, Phyllis J., and Bernard L. Witlieb. The Book of Women's Firsts. NY: Random House, 1992.

Howard Gofstein , freelance writer, Oak Park, Michigan