Kitty O’Neil
Born March 24th, 1946 in Corpus Christi, Texas
At 4 months, contracted measles, mumps and smallpox concurrently; the fever
left her totally deaf and impaired sense of balance
Her mother, Patsy, moved them to Wichita Falls, Texas and attended University
of Texas to become a teacher of deaf children
Patsy established School of Listening Eyes in Wichita Falls and taught other deaf
children
Kitty was not allowed to learn to sign, she learned to “read” throat vibrations and
lips, and how to speak
Spent 1 year at Jane Brooks School for Deaf, learned to read and write
Age 8, entered third grade in public school
She studied cello and piano, and became champion swimmer and diver
At 14, she won AAU Southwest District Junior Olympics Diving Championship
in TX
At 16, moved to Anaheim, California to train with Dr. Sammy Lee (two-time
Olympic diving champion)
Went to Savannah High school, where her teacher forgot to face her while
speaking so she missed portions of the lectures – made it up during weekends
Kitty and Dr. Lee wanted Kitty to get a gold medal in 1964 Olympics but she
contracted spinal meningitis and was left half paralyzed
Few though she would walk again, let alone dive, but she walked out in 2 weeks
Won the 10-meterJunior Olympics Diving Championship in 1964 but broke her
wrist – she placed 12th in Olympic tryouts
1963, graduated from Savannah High with honors – had 38 blue ribbons, 17 first
place trophies, 31 gold medals for swimming, diving
Began to try racing drag boats, top-fuel dragsters, and production sports cars;
snowmobiles, sky-diving, scuba-diving, and high-speed water-skiing
Kitty set two world speed records for women, racing a high-powered boat (285.23
mph) and water-skis (104.85 mph)
She was the only woman in the world to qualify for international competition in
cross country motorcycle racing
1970, diagnosed with cancer, two operations and three years passed and she was
cancer free
1971, met Duffy Hambleton, Hollywood stuntman and Kitty’s competitor, and
settled down with him for a few years in Fillmore, California
Hambleton taught Kitty “tricks” of the stuntman profession
After two years of training, they went to Stunts Unlimited – where Kitty was the
first woman to