Site Products
Anne Cribbs – USATT Board of Directors, Independent Director

Anne Cribbs Honored by Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame

Anne Cribbs Honored by Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame

Courtesy of USA Table Tennis

USA Table Tennis is extremely proud of one of our Board members, Anne Cribbs on being inducted into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame!  Anne has been a champion swimmer, pioneer in women’s sports and helped bring the Junior World Table Tennis Championships to the United States for the first time.  Please read the amazing bio on Anne courtesy of the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame.

ANNE WARNER CRIBBS

The Bay Area has produced many great Olympic athletes. But if they could all appoint an official ambassador to represent them, Anne Warner Cribbs would be the runaway choice. She won a gold medal at the 1960 Rome Games as a 15-year-old swimmer, sparking a relationship with the Olympic movement that spanned six decades. Along the way, she set standards as a pioneering women’s sports executive while inspiring countless young girls —and boys. Cribbs, born in San Mateo, learned to swim at her Menlo Park neighborhood pool before attending Menlo-Atherton High School and joining the Santa Clara Swim Club. Coached by the legendary George Haines, Cribbs became a club standout and in 1959 won a gold medal in the 200-meter breaststroke at the Pan American Games in Chicago. In Rome the next year, she placed fifth in the Olympic 200-meter breaststroke and earned gold as part of the 4×100 medley relay team. In the days before Title IX, there were no competitive college women’s swim teams, so Cribbs “retired” from her sport, earned a Stanford degree and worked for the City of Palo Alto before co-founding the American Basketball League that allowed female college stars to pursue professional careers in the sport. The ABL lasted two seasons before its framework was copied by the NBA for its own women’s league. Cribbs then spearheaded Bay Area bids to host the 2012 and 2024 Summer Olympics, efforts that fell short but created a positive cooperative template among Northern California cities and counties. This paid dividends when the region, with Cribbs serving as CEO of the Bay Area Sports Organizing Committee (BASOC), successfully staged numerous world and national championships in swimming, table tennis, roller hockey, fencing and the multi-sport Senior Games. Cribbs unabashedly embraced her role as an Olympic evangelist. In 1984, she established a “Welcome Home” dinner for Northern California Olympians, now repeated every four years to provide grant money for local athletes’ training. “The Olympic Games are the way we want the world to be,” was Cribbs’ mantra. Her impact will be felt by future Bay Area Olympic generations, wherever and whenever they compete around the globe.

Latest News

Butterfly Training Tips with Bob Chen – After Serve Control and Short Ball Attack

April 18, 2025
(by: Bowmar Sports) In this Butterfly Training Tips, Bob Chen is working on the combo of Serve, Forehand… Read More

Butterfly Training Tips with Jabdiel Torres – Short Push & Forehand Loop

April 17, 2025
(by: Bowmar Sports) In this Butterfly Training Tips, Jabdiel Torres is working on his short game and transition… Read More

World Cup Macao: Main Draw

April 16, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins, photo WTT) Group play concluded today at the ITTF Men’s and Women’s World Cup Macao. … Read More

Kanak Jha Reaches World Cup Final 16

April 16, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins) Kanak Jha has faced Germany’s Dang Qiu (Currently World No. 11) four times, and in… Read More

Butterfly Training Tips with Rachid El Bou Bou – Backhand & Forehand Loop Stroke Chemistry

April 16, 2025
(by: Bowmar Sports) In this Butterfly Training Tips, Rachid El Bou Bou is working on his Stroke Chemistry… Read More

Gold Rush Dominate And Win The MLTT Cup!

April 15, 2025
Carolina Strikes Gold 🏆 It’s official – the Carolina Gold Rush have claimed their first-ever Major League Table Tennis… Read More

The WTT Youth Contender Arrives In Puerto Rico For The First Time

April 15, 2025
(by: Edgardo Vázquez /Puerto Rico National Coach ) From March 26 to 29, 2025, the Puerto Rican Table… Read More

Butterfly Training Tips with Jonathan Pino – Flip to Modified Falkenburg

April 15, 2025
(by: Bowmar Sports) In this Butterfly Training Tips, Jonathan Pino is executing the Flip, to Modified Falkenburg https://youtu.be/xjXvY4pBKbs… Read More
View All News

Get the latest from Butterfly

Stay “In The Loop” with Butterfly professional table tennis equipment, table tennis news, table tennis technology, tournament results, and We Are Butterfly players, coaches, clubs and more.