An Unrivalled History of Athletic Success
The Story of the NYAC is told in the Accomplishments of its Athletes
Looking back more than 150 years, one may wonder if the New York Athletic Club's founders - John Babcock, Henry Buermeyer and William Curtis - had any concept of the impact that their nascent club would ultimately have on athletics around the world. The NYAC was formed in 1868 with the simple yet challenging mandate of bringing structure to the world of amateur sport. Looking back through the lens of a century and a half, it cannot be denied that the strides that those visionaries made in those early days as they strived to make their vision a reality have impacted international sport to a seismic degree.
Had the NYAC not come into being, one can only wonder how sports such as track and field, wrestling, fencing and swimming would have evolved and how - or even if - the Olympic movement would have grown to become the phenomenon that it is today. Before the NYAC was founded, there had never been a purpose-built athletic club house in the USA. Before the NYAC was founded, there had never been an indoor track and field meet in North America, and spiked shoes had never been worn in official competition. Rowing shells did not have sliding seats, national championships in swimming, track and field, boxing and wrestling did not exist; and the sport of fencing was unknown in the USA. All of these innovations came about following the birth of the New York Athletic Club, and at the instigation of its members, innovations that gave rise, not only to an athletic powerhouse, but also spurred the great leap forward of amateur sports in the USA and the emergence and evolution of the Olympic Games.
The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU, formerly known as the National Association of Amateur Athletes of America) was formed at the instigation of the NYAC in alliance with other like-minded organizations, while the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (originally the American Olympic Committee) was founded at the NYAC. Colonel Robert Thompson, president of the NYAC, also served as president of the AOC.
It should not be surprising that on so robust a foundation should be built a dynasty of athletic excellence that continues to this day. NYAC member Thomas Burke won the 100m and the 400m at the inaugural Olympic Games in Athens in 1896. Between 1900 and 1908, Club member, Ray Ewry, amassed 10 Olympic gold medals in the standing jumps. Between 1956 and 1968, discus thrower Al Oerter won four consecutive gold medals, along the way coining the NYAC motto: "Great things are expected of you when you wear the winged foot." Wrestler Bruce Baumgartner claimed four Olympic medals - two gold, one silver, one bronze - between 1984 and 1996. In 2012 and 2016, judoka Kayla Harrison became the first American, male of female, to win a judo gold medal, doing so twice. And, between 2012 and 2020, water polo player, Maggie Steffens, claimed three Olympic golds, installing her as one of the finest exponents of that sport in history.
The list continues, a wellspring of accomplishment born of the vision and determination of a small group of athletic-minded individuals more than 150 years ago. That the groundswell that they started still reverberates today is a remarkable testimony to those pioneers, as well as to the enduring commitment of the NYAC, through generations, to athletic exellence. The flame was lit in 1868, and it burns just as brightly today, evidenced by the 30 Olympic and six Paralympic medals won by NYAC athletes in Paris in 2024. Following those Games, the full NYAC tally of Olympic and Paralympic medals stood at 321 and 11, respectively. The gold medal total is 174 Olympic and four Paralympic.
Athletic excellence is in the DNA of the New York Athletic Club and, as firmly as it was in 1868, remains the bedrock on which this Club is built.
