Frank A. Wolcott was born on September 30, 1928 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. A four year member of the Men’s Gymnastic Exhibition Team at Springfield College, he captained the gymnastics team in 1952, his senior year. After graduating in 1952 with a bachelor’s degree in physical education K thru 12 and a double major in YMCA Studies, he served for two years, one year overseas in the Korean War, as a captain of a rifle company in the United States Marine Corps Reserve.

In 1955, Wolcott returned to his alma mater as a physical education professor and varsity gymnastics exhibition coach. The following year, he restarted Springfield College’s competitive gymnastics team after a twenty-year absence. While coaching the men’s and exhibition teams, Wolcott simultaneously earned his master’s degree in physical education at Springfield College, graduating in 1961. He wrote his thesis on gymnastics. In 1963, Diane Potter, who was appointed the first women’s gymnastics team coach, and Wolcott both assisted in coaching the women’s exhibition team. He coached the men’s and exhibition gymnastics teams for almost 30 years, until finally retiring in 1984. Under Wolcott’s leadership, the Exhibition Gymnastic Team’s toured Canada, Puerto Rico, Bermuda, and the Eastern United States, from Florida to Maine and as far west as Michigan. In 1965, the exhibition team performed before fifty-thousand people in Shea Stadium between a double header baseball games while the same day performed at the New York World’s Fair for four thousand people at the United States Pavilion.

During Wolcott’s time at Springfield College, his gymnasts placed in the top four at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Nationals eleven times and won eight individual national titles, sixty-two All-American Awards, five New England Team Championships, fifteen individual event championships, two Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Gymnastic Team Championships (with eight individual champions), and nine Eastern League Titles. In 1977 he won the NCAA National Men’s Gymnastic Team Championship. Since Springfield College had one of the earliest gymnastics teams, Wolcott’s players ultimately filled the ranks of coaches in New England and throughout the East.

In 1976, Frank Wolcott was inducted into the United States Gymnastics Hall of Fame. In 1983 he was inducted into the Springfield College Athletic Hall of Fame. After the 1980-1981 academic year, he retired from coaching. However, he continued to teach and in August 1985 replaced Mary Ellen Olcese as the assistant director of athletics, a position he held until 1996. During this time, he taught Health and Fitness courses. In his 41-years of teaching at Springfield College, he was an Instructor (1955), an assistant professor (1962), Associate Professor (1970), and Full Professor (1978). In 1987, he co-hosted the Home Show with Kathy Corrigan (1964 Olympian); the show was dedicated to Leslie Judd, who had recently passed away. Wolcott continued to direct the Home Show until 1984 and co-hosted the home show in 1987 with Kathy Corrigan in a show that was dedicated to Coach Leslie J. Judd who had recently passed away.

In 1959, Frank Wolcott and Leslie J. Judd founded the Stony Brook Acres Summer Sports School (Wilbraham, Massachusetts), one of the first summer sports schools for children in New England. The camp served three hundred children per day, ten weeks each summer for forty one years, until it was sold to the Springfield YMCA in 2000. In 1963, he co-founded, with three other gymnastic coaches, the Annual Thanksgiving New England Gymnastics Clinic. At its peak, this 3-day clinic attracted over seven-hundred children from the ages of ten to eighteen. As co-founder and co-director, he served as a member of the clinic’s Executive Committee. The teaching staff was composed of college students, high school and college coaches, coaches from Europe, and former members of the United States Olympic teams. The New England Gymnastics Clinic lasted until 1975.

Frank Wolcott was a 12-year member of the United States Olympic Men’s Gymnastics Committee, serving for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, 1968 Mexico City Olympics, and 1972 Munich Olympics. He also served for twelve years as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Men’s Gymnastics Rules Committee from 1961-1964, 1965-1968, and 1975-1978. During this time, the committee made the change from twelve to six competitive events. He was president of the National Association of Collegiate Men’s Gymnastic Coaches from 1967-1971. In 1965, 1967 and 1970 he won the Eastern (NCAA) Coach of the year. In 1977, he was named the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II Men’s Gymnastics Coach of the Year. In 1981 he was named National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II National Honor Coach of the year. From 1955 through 1976, he served on the National YMCA Gymnastics Committee. In October 1977, Frank Wolcott accepted the prestigious position of Chairman for the National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches. In this position, he was responsible for annual collegiate gymnastics awards, including Hall of Fame inductees, the All-America listings, Special Services recognitions, and the Coach of the Year award. He held this position until 1981. He was also a teacher-coach for the AAPHER’s National Association for Sport and Physical Education’s Mexico Exchange Program. Frank Wolcott also attended the first National Institute on Girls Sports in 1964, where he gave a lecture titled The Principles of Conditioning Girls for Gymnastics. He contributed to numerous gymnastic publications and books, such as The Magic of Gymnastics by Dr. Gerald S. George and The Art and Science of Judging Men’s Gymnastics by Richard M. Aronson. Frank Wolcott married Sandra Thorndike and had five children: Jill, Jeff, Joy, Kim, and Heidi.

Finally, Frank Wolcott is known for the invention of the “Parachute Number” in Gymnastics. Invented in 1963 when the exhibition team became co-ed, “The Parachute Number” replaced the dangerous fifteen foot high ladder and parallel bars men’s pyramid building number. This forty-by-forty nylon parachute, originally homemade by women on the team, was soon manufactured by the JayFro equipment company. It was, by Wolcott’s design, modified to twelve feet and used throughout the country in physical education classes for elementary schools. In the beginning they made a hundred, but the company sold a hundred thousand during the first few years of production. The parachute as designed by Frank Wolcott is still used for physical education classes and recreation throughout the world, as well as still being a highlight for Springfield College’s Home Show exhibition performances.

Written by Emily Graham with corrections and revisions by Frank Wolcott, 2014

The biographical information contained in this note is drawn from:

F. Wolcott. (n.d.). Retrieved from USGHOF: http://www.usghof.org/files/bio/f_wolcott/f_wolcott.html (accessed April 01, 2014)

Frederick, A. Bruce. “Gymnastics in Physical Education.” USA Gymnastics 1 Jan. 1964: 13-18. Print.

“Plan to Attend the 1966 New England Thanksgiving Clinic.” Modern Gymnast 8 Oct. 1966: 6. Print.

Hery, George and Al Bickum. “Third Annual New England Gymnastic Clinic.” Modern Gymnast 2 Feb. 1966: 8-9.

Wolcott, Frank. Biographical Note by Frank Wolcott (fully rewritten version of the above biographical note with additional information not used here): http://cdm16122.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15370coll2/id/8132