For her extraordinary leadership, her long illustrious career at The Olympic Club, her years of service in Club governance and her outstanding performances in swimming, Phyllis Quinn has been named the 2025 recipient of the Olympian
Award for Athletic Achievement.
“This is a huge deal to me. I look back at the incredible list of people who have won it and am quite proud,” she said.
Quinn grew up at a time when choices in sports were limited to softball and basketball in school. She did, however play basketball in college for one year for Mary Washington College, which was a women’s college at the time. She served as a lifeguard all four years, so she knew of the swim team. After freshman year, the swim and basketball seasons coincided, so she had to pick one.
She also chose swimming because, in basketball, “You can get hurt playing against really big players.” Quinn was one of the first women who worked out and swam at The Olympic Club. “We had very small locker rooms and felt like second-class citizens since we didn’t have a nice, plush locker room. “I swam and lifted weights and wondered if I’d get ‘the look’ from men, but knew if I did it was their problem, not mine. I worked in the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency), where I worked with mostly men, so I was used to it. Most of the men at The Olympic Club were quite welcoming.”
All that being said, Quinn has warm and fun memories of that time. “The first day I swam, I sat in the hot tub and in walks Joe DiMaggio. I thought, ‘Ok, this is pretty cool.’
Over the years, Quinn has served in a number of capacities at The Olympic Club, including the Board of Directors, countless committees (20+ years), swimming commissioner, Athletic Captain to the Athletic Committee and more.
“I served on a lot of committees, partly because they needed women on the committees, but also because I wanted to.”
For the 2021 U.S. Women’s Open, Quinn chaired the Volunteer Services Committee and co-chaired the Hospitality Services Committee. She has also served the swimming community in the Bay Area as the president of the governing body, Pacific Masters Swimming.
In 2025, the 69 year old Quinn consistently placed high in events, including eight first-place finishes in freestyle, breaststroke and the individual medley (which is, in order, butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle).
“Phyllis has been swimming for decades and is still trying to improve her technique,” Aquatics Director Bobby Savulich said. “We have four Masters coaches and she’s like the fifth.”
“Very coachable,” said Aquatics Manager and Coach Laureen Welting, who has worked for The Olympic Club for almost 25 years. “If I’m looking at her stroke and tell her she needs to rotate her body and get longer, and give her some drills, she immediately focuses on what I’m telling her, she immediately corrects it. She’s consistent and dedicated: she never misses practice.”
Quinn has done the 2.4-mile Waikiki RoughWater Swim an incredible 36 times. It’s the sixth most for an individual participant in the 55-year history of the race. Her best time was 52 minutes; her worst time was two hours and 11 minutes.
For her longest time, the organizers had warned the swimmers the current was against them. However, Quinn knew she could finish as long as she kept going, while also doing the best she could.
“For open water swims, I have to keep track of who’s around me and keep track of the course. And drafting is a real thing in swimming, I can get 10% improvement.”
Quinn’s career is the stuff of legends. She has competed for The Olympic Club’s rough water and Masters swimming teams for the last 32 years.
For the Masters swimming team, Quinn competes at every Spring Nationals and led the team to its most recent national championship.
At the 2017 World Masters Games in New Zealand, she won a pair of medals. In rough water, she won gold in the 2.5k. In the pool, she won bronze in the 400 IM.
Quinn holds 28 Masters swimming team records and will set many more in the years to come.
In 2025, her competition results show just how good she really is.
PACIFIC MASTERS OPEN WATER
- 1st Place, Del Valle 2.5k – 70–74 Age Group
- 1st Place, Del Valle 1.5k – 70–74 Age Group
- 1st Place, Del Valle 5k – 70–74 Age Group
- 2nd Place, Berryessa 2 Mile – 70–74 Age Group
- 3rd Place, Berryessa 1 Mile – 70–74 Age Group
OC 1500M
- 2nd Place, 70–74
PACIFIC MASTERS SCY CHAMPIONSHIPS
- 1st Place, 1000y Free – 65–69
- 1st Place, 200y IM – 65–69
- 2nd Place, 1650y Free – 65–69
- 2nd Place, 200y Back – 65–69
- 3rd Place, 400y IM – 65–69
- 3rd Place, 500y Free – 65–69
PACIFIC MASTERS LCM CHAMPIONSHIPS
- 1st Place, 200m Breast – 70–74
- 1st Place, 400m IM -70–74
- 2nd Place, 400m Free – 70–74
- 3rd Place, 800m Free – 70–74
- 3rd Place, 1,500m Free -70–74
- 3rd Place, 200m Back – 70–74
SPRING SCY NATIONALS
- 5th Place, 1,650y Free – 65–69
- 7th Place, 200y IM – 65–69
- 8th Place, 1,000y Free – 65–69
- 8th Place, 500y Free – 65–69
- 8th Place, 200y Fly – 65–69
- 9th Place, 400y IM – 65-59
SUMMER LCM NATIONALS
- 3rd Place, 1,500m Free – 70–74
- 6th Place, 400m Free – 70–74
- 6th Place, 400m IM – 70–74
- 6th Place, 200m Back -70–74
- 7th Place, 200m IM – 70–74
- 9th Place, 200m Breast – 70–74
