Ginny Duenkel Fuldner visited the West Orange Recreation Department in the fall of 2014 to donate a few items commemorating her 1964 Olympic accomplishments. Seen here flanking Ginny on the left is her late brother Bob Duenkel and his dog. He and Ginny are both members of the International Swimming Hall of Fame. Recreation Director Bill Kehoe is in the back standing next to West Orange township historian Joseph Fagan holding a framed autographed photo of Ginny.
WEST ORANGE, NJ —Imagine being a national champion, world-record holder and Olympic gold medalist, all by the time you were barely a month into your senior year of high school.
In the case of Virginia “Ginny” Duenkel Fuldner, that’s exactly what happened.
Duenkel Fuldner was among a stellar group of 18 high school athletes, coaches, and contributors who were inducted on March 27 into the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association’s hall of fame. All 2022 inductees recognized during a celebratory event at the Westin Princeton at Forrestal Village in Princeton were selected by a statewide committee of journalists and both active and retired school administrators.
The West Orange native, who graduated from her hometown high school in 1965, burst onto the global swimming scene in the early ’60s. She clinched her first national championship at age 15 in 1962, winning the 200-meter backstroke in world-record time. She also won gold in the 400-meter medley relay at the 1963 Pan American Games in Brazil.
All of that set the stage for what happened in Tokyo, Japan, at the Olympic Games during October of 1964.
While her friends were beginning their senior year back in West Orange, Ginny was setting out to achieve Olympic glory. It wouldn’t be easy, since her two best events — the 200 backstroke and 1500 freestyle — were not contested at the Olympics. Instead, she had to compete in shorter events, the 100-meter backstroke and 400-meter freestyle.
Competing first in the 100 backstroke, she took the bronze after placing third by coming in just three-tenths of a second behind the winner. Two days later came the 400 freestyle, which featured four world record holders. She beat them all in a stunning performance.
She returned home to a resounding welcome, but with a twist. In those pre–Title IX days, there was no decision to make as to whether to swim for West Orange or compete on a higher level. There was no girls swim team at her school.
After graduating from West Orange High School, she attended the University of Michigan, where she won several collegiate championships while setting additional records. She’s remained active in the sport as a coach. She was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1985.
One of her biggest honors came after West Orange built a municipal pool complex in 1967 and called it the Ginny Duenkel Pool. Generations of town residents have associated her name with fun and recreation.
Duenkel Fuldner has lived with her husband, Chris Fuldner, in Missouri since the late 1970s. She started a swim team, the Water Thrashers, that has grown over the decades into a popular program. The Chris and Ginny Fuldner Aquatic Center in Monett, Mo., is named in their honor.
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