San Francisco's Ann

As a little girl she helped her mother get breakfast for 20-odd boarders, did the dishes, made the beds and went to school. But she still found time for three miles of swimming every day. Now that she is 19, Ann Curtis is convinced that the business of being a champion swimmer is a full time job in itself. Two months ago she quit her home economics course at the University of California. She felt that she had to concentrate if she wanted to win three of the women's National A.A.U. indoor championships.

Last week in Chicago's Town Club pool she did it. The first woman ever to win the Sullivan Award (as outstanding U.S. amateur athlete of 1944), Ann Curtis was up to her free-style best. Swimming more skillfully the farther she swam, the San Francisco blonde won the 220-yd. final in second gear, had even less trouble taking the 440. Her rival in, the 100-yd. dash was beauteous, brunette Champion Brenda Helser. But Ann's single-mindedness paid off: she sprinted from behind the final lap and finished 18 inches ahead.

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