Euphrasia Donnelly

Euphrasia Donnelly, full name Euphrasia Louise Donnelly (June 6, 1905 – May 20, 1963), was an American competition swimmer who won a gold medal in the women's 4 × 100-meter freestyle relay at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris, swimming the lead leg of a United States team that set a world record of 4:58.8. Known as "Fraze" to family and friends, she was also a former world record-holder and later worked as a professional swimmer, swimming instructor, and X-ray and laboratory technician in Warsaw, Indiana.¹

Early life and Indiana swimming

Donnelly was born in Indianapolis to Maurice Donnelly, of Irish descent, and Sarah Jane McCarthy, and was one of seven children. She attended Technical High School in Indianapolis and began training and racing by the age of ten with the Hoosier Athletic Club, where she spent most of her pre-Olympic career.

At a Hoosier Athletic Club meet on November 3, 1923, she set an AAU Indiana State record of 1:09.2 in the 100-yard freestyle, breaking the previous mark by a full second. During her career she held Indiana State records in the 50, 100, and 220-yard freestyle events, and she also competed successfully in diving. Despite her Olympic title, she never won a national AAU championship.³

The 1924 Paris Olympics

The United States entered a strong women's swimming squad in Paris; the official report lists Donnelly of Indianapolis among the relay swimmers, with Louis de B. Handley of New York's Women's Swimming Association as women's coach.⁴ In the 4 × 100-meter freestyle relay final on 18 July 1924, the American quartet of Donnelly, Gertrude Ederle, Ethel Lackie, and Mariechen Wehselau swam 4:58.8, taking gold and setting both a new Olympic and world record.^{1 • 2}

A record by a wide margin. The winning time improved the previous world and Olympic record of 5:11.6, set by the United States at Antwerp in 1920, and beat the second-place British team (5:17.0) by about 18 seconds; Sweden took bronze in 5:35.6.² She later recalled the raising of the American flag and the playing of the national anthem after the win as one of the proudest moments of her life; her Olympic traveling companions included Johnny Weissmuller, Duke Kahanamoku, and Jack Kelly.⁵

Later life

By 1925 Donnelly had turned professional, swimming in professional meets. She won a 9-mile professional distance swim in Toledo, Ohio, taking $250 for first place.

On November 1, 1934, she married Bruce Raymond Bungard of Terre Haute, a fireman who died in 1952; in 1957 she married Richard L. Berlin, and she was also known as Euphrasia Bungard Berlin. In the 1940s and 1950s the couple lived in the Little Chapman Lake area of Indiana, where she kept fit through bowling, and she later worked as an X-ray and lab technician in Warsaw, Indiana.⁵

References

1. Euphrasia DONNELLY, World Aquatics official athlete profile
2. Pływanie na Letnich Igrzyskach Olimpijskich 1924 – 4 × 100 m stylem dowolnym kobiet
3. Olympedia – Fraze Donnelly
4. Report on VIII Olympiad Paris, France, 1924, LA84 Foundation
5. Fraze Bungard – Olympic Swimmer, Yesteryear (Clunette)
6. Fraze Donnelly Berlin - Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, indyencyclopedia.org

Topic: Encyclopedia › Sports, games, and recreation › Individual sports and outdoor recreation › Water sports › Swimmers (biographies and medalists) › Freestyle swimmers › American freestylers › Early 20th-century freestyle pioneers

Initially written Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Oct 25, 2026

© 2026 Biostate AI. Free to use with credit under the Edgepedia Community License. Developers: read Edgepedia by API or MCP. Embed a reference card.