Biography: ROTTMAN, Curtis

Inducted: 1960

It appears that this early U.S. gymnast was first an expert on the HB as his four national HB championships would indicate. But he had to be an important part of his team for them to win on the several times the New York Turners won the National Team Championship.  All in all, Curtis Rottman won 14 gold medals in the U.S. Championships. This number includes his medals for being a member of the winning team. This writer can’t help but wonder if his absence from the national scene in 1920 & 1921 was due to military service. It was a time to serve, and his obvious spirit and passion for action may have been due to an enlistment. In any case, he was one of the top gymnasts in the U.S. during the period 1918 to 1924, and he was competing against some of the finest.

Olympic Games: Team member, (1924). National AAU Championships: Gold-HB, (1918); Gold-Team, AA, FX*, HB, PB, PH, & V, (1921); Gold-HB, (1922); Gold-Team, AA, HB, & V, (1923); Gold-Team, (1924). *The NAAU held the FX event for the first time in 1921. Rottman represented the NY Turners through all of these championship performances.  He is reported to have also competed for the Philadelphia Turners earlier in his career. No records were found to indicate whether Rottman remained active in gymnastics after he retired from competition.

Sources: The complete results of NAAU competitions 1885 to 1970 when the USAG replaced the AAU was supplied by Abie Grossfeld, plus data courteously shared by Jerry Wright, author of Gymnastics Who’s Who, 2005 who also provided the photo of Rottman. Introduction and formatting by Dr. Larry Banner, Web Manager.