Joe Kotys

Joe Kotys
Kotys in 1949
Personal information
Full name	Joseph Kotys
Country represented	United States
Born	(1925-10-31)October 31, 1925 Olyphant, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	August 21, 2012(2012-08-21) (aged 86) Florida, U.S.
Discipline	Men's artistic gymnastics
Gym	Swiss Turners
College team	Kent State Golden Flashes
Medal record Representing United States Men's artistic gymnastics Event 1st 2nd 3rd Pan American Games 2 2 2 Total 2 2 2 Pan American Games 1955 Mexico City Team 1955 Mexico City Vault 1955 Mexico City All-Around 1955 Mexico City Floor 1955 Mexico City Pommel Horse 1955 Mexico City Horizontal Bar Representing Kent State Golden Flashes Event 1st 2nd 3rd NCAA Championships 6 0 0 Total 6 0 0 NCAA Championships 1949 Berkeley All-Around 1949 Berkeley Parallel Bars 1950 West Point All-Around 1950 West Point Parallel Bars 1950 West Point Horizontal Bar 1951 Ann Arbor Pommel Horse

Joseph Kotys (October 31, 1925 – August 21, 2012) was an American artistic gymnast. He won a team gold medal and three individual medals at the 1955 Pan American Games. At the 1948 Summer Olympics, he placed seventh with the team and had his best individual result of twenty-third place on pommel horse.

Formative years

Kotys fought in World War II as a gunner on a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and completed twenty-two missions. He attended Kent State University and was a member of the Kent State Golden Flashes men's swimming and diving and men's gymnastics teams. As a diver he won the Ohio Conference three times, and as a gymnast, he won National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) titles in the all-around in 1949–50, on parallel bars in 1949–50, on the horizontal bar in 1950, and on the pommel horse in 1951. He also won three Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) titles, in the vault in 1948 and on parallel bars in 1948 and 1951. While competing on rings at the 1956 U.S. Olympic Trials he crashed to the floor due to a failed support mount.

Professional life

Kotys retired shortly after his injury in the U.S. Olympic Trials and became a gymnastics coach in Ohio. In 1978, he was inducted into the U.S. Gymnastics Hall of Fame. During the early 1960s, he was a gymnastics coach in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.

Kotys was a member of Swiss Turners of Cleveland.

Death

Ailing with pancreatic cancer, Kotys died from cancer-related complications in Florida on August 21, 2012.

External links

• Joe Kotys at the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame
• Joe Kotys at Olympics.com
• Joe Kotys at Olympedia