Richard Walter GILBERT

Rick Gilbert dove at Indiana University, coached by the legendary Hobie Billingsley. He would later become the first of Billingsley’s pupils to become a well-known diving coach. Gilbert was a four-year All-American and won four AAU titles – 1966 outdoors on both springboard and platform, and 1962-63 on springboard. Gilbert won gold on the 1-metre and 3-metre springboards at the 1965 Universiade. He also won a bronze medal on springboard at the 1963 Pan American Games. A sprained ankle hampered him at the 1968 Olympics when he finished 17th on platform.

Gilbert earned bachelor’s (’65) and masters’ (’67) degrees at Indiana. In 1968 he became diving coach at Cornell and spent 39 years in that position. He was a three-time Eastern Diving Coach of the Year. In the early 1970s he started the Rick Gilbert Diving Camp. Gilbert was inducted into the Indiana University Hall of Fame in 1997. After retiring from Cornell, he and his wife settled near Houston, Texas.