Patience Sherman
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 Sherman circa 1969 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Patience Halsey Sherman |
| National team | United States |
| Born | September 20, 1946 Montclair, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Height | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) |
| Weight | 130 lb (59 kg) |
Spouse(s) | George Harold Williamson Gerald Boyer |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Swimming |
| Strokes | Freestyle |
| Club | New Jersey Swim Association |
| College team | Elmira College Trained, did not compete |
| Coach | Bob Alexander (New Jersey Swim) |
Patience Halsey Sherman (born September 20, 1946) is an American former competition swimmer who competed for the New Jersey Athletic Association and participated in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics in a preliminary heat of the gold medal winning Women's 4 × 100-meter freestyle relay but was not eligible for a medal as she did not compete in the final heat.[1]
Patience Sherman was born in the Upper Montclair section of Montclair, New Jersey, on September 20, 1946, to Mr. and Mrs. Nathaniel H. Sherman, a Manager of Technical Services for Brooklyn's American Manufacturing Company. She was named after her maternal grandmother, Patience Halsey. Her paternal grandfather, Nathaniel Alden Sherman, was a member of the United States Olympic track team, and competed in the 100 and 200-meter events at the 1908 London Olympics.[2] After Patience's birth in Montclair, the family lived for a period in Virginia when Patience was 9. She began her swimming career around 1955 after entering a state swimming meet when her family was living in Virginia, where she won the 50-yard freestyle, setting a new state record for girls under 10.[3][2] In Virginia, Patience swam and competed with the Waynesboro, Virginia Sharks, about 35 miles (56 km) east of Richmond, later known as the Shenandoah Valley Aquatic Club under Head Coach R.J. "Jenny" Street and Assistant Coach Alice Brooker.[4]
The family then returned to Montclair in 1956, where Patience graduated Montclair High School in June 1964.[5][6][1][7] Sherman began swimming with the Montclair YMCA, but by early 1960 at the age of 13, she trained and competed with the New Jersey Swim Association under head coach Bob Alexander, who swam for Syracuse, and would serve as a president of the New Jersey Amateur Athletic Union, and on the U.S. Olympic Committee. Patience's sister Linda also competed in swimming and was also coached by Bob Alexander.[8][7][3][9]
Early swimming milestones
As a 13-year-old, she broke the New Jersey state record in the 100-yard freestyle with the record time of 1:05.1 at the Junior Women's Championship on January 23, 1960. Like many young champions, Sherman excelled in many strokes early in career, and competed well in events in the butterfly, backstroke, and breaststroke but won more consistently in freestyle. At the 1959 New Jersey State AAU competition in Ridgewood, New Jersey, around the age of 12, Sherman won the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 31.4 seconds. In 1963, in the National Junior Olympics, she won the 100-meter freestyle in the record time of 1:06.8.[3]
In 1964, at the peak of her training for the Olympics, she continued to represent the New Jersey Athletic Association, and in addition to a weekly meet on the weekend, practiced five days a week, splitting her time between the Newark Boy's Club Pool, Harrison New Jersey's RCA Pool, or a pool in Brooklyn. Including meets, Sherman spent around 32 hours weekly in swimming activities, in addition to her school attendance and studies.[10]
