George Edward WHEELER

George Wheeler competed at the 1936 Olympics but his best years were to come, as he won the AAU all-around, floor exercise, vault, and parallel bar titles for five consecutive years, 1937-41. In all he won 25 AAU titles in five years, which included pommel horse in 1938-40 and and horizontal bar titles in 1938 and 1941. He began gymnastics at the South Side Turners and RUP Community House in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Wheeler graduated from the University of Pittsburgh, where he also earned a masters’ degree, later earning a PhD in biology at Columbia University. He became a professor of biology at Brooklyn College and also worked at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Wheeler also served in the US Army from 1942-45. He was inducted as an inaugural member of the US Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 1959.