Ann Roniger (February 13, 1943 – June 9, 2019), later Ann Roniger Hussong, was an American athlete, a high jumper and pentathlete.
Early life
Martha Ann Roniger was born in Manhattan, Kansas, the daughter of Pascal Allen Roniger and Martha Sharer Roniger. She was a member of 4-H. Her high school in Elmdale, Kansas had no track team, so her father and brother built some practice equipment on the farm, and Roniger trained in nearby Emporia.[1][2] Ann Roniger attended Colorado State University[3] in Fort Collins for one year, then transferred to the University of Hawaiʻi, on a full athletic scholarship.[4][5]
Career
In 1956, Roniger broke the national standing broad jump record, and tied the National Junior Olympic record for the 50-year dash.[6] From 1957 to 1959, as a teenager in Elmdale, Kansas, Roniger was three-time Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) women's pentathlon national champion.[7][8] Her 1957 win was considered especially notable, because she "had never competed previously in the shotput, hurdles, or high jump", three of the component events.[9][6] She was featured in Sports Illustrated for her accomplishment.[10] In 1958,[11] she won three events, set two Ozark regional records,[12] and finished with the highest total points across the five pentathlon events. In 1959 she was included in the All-America Women's Track and Field Team.[13]
She continued competing as an athlete in college at Colorado State University, where she was a member of the school's first women's track and field team, along with sprinter Lillian Greene-Chamberlain, high jumper Ann Marie Flynn, and Rose Melanchuk.[3] She aspired to a place on the American team for the 1960 Summer Olympics,[14][15] but failed to qualify.[16] In 1961 she transferred to the University of Hawaii, where she continued as a track athlete.[4] In 1962, she set a state women's high jump record at Hawaii's Cooke Field.[17]
In adulthood, Hussong was a health science teacher at a Kansas high school for 25 years. When she retired to Oklahoma, she became a professional organizer.[1]
Personal life
Ann Roniger married Bill Hussong in 1962. They had three children, William, Shawn, and Stephanie. She died in 2019, aged 76 years, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.[1]
References
^ abc"Dies Sunday". Council Grove Republican. 2019-06-14. Retrieved 2019-12-27.
^"Fran Welch Dies". Council Grove Republican. 1970-06-19. p. 1. Retrieved 2019-12-27 – via Newspapers.com.
