Kenneth Sitzberger

Who was Kenneth Sitzberger?

Kenneth Robert Sitzberger was a diver from the United States and Olympic champion. He represented his native country at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, where he received a gold medal.

Born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa Sitzberger was trailing U. S. teammate Frank Gorman after nine of the ten dives in the springboard competition at the 1964 Olympics, but Gorman performed poorly on his last dive and Sitzberger was nearly flawless, winning the gold medal.

As a student at Indiana University, Sitzberger won the AAU national indoor 1-meter and 3-meter springboard championships in 1964 and 1965. He was the NCAA champion in the 1-meter from 1965 through 1967, in the 3-meter in 1966 and 1967.

He married Jeanne Collier, who won a silver medal in the women's Olympic springboard in 1964.

He died under rather mysterious circumstances in Coronado, California. He was brought to a hospital unconscious and died shortly afterward. His wife said that he had fallen and hit his head on a table during a New Year's Eve party and had been complaining of headaches before losing consciousness.

The death of the former Olympic diving champion was ruled an accident.