Col. Micki King
Branch of Service: Air Force
Years of Service: 1966-1992
Award: Olympic Gold Medal, Diving
Maxine “Micki” King joined the Air Force in 1966, ultimately becoming a faculty member of the Air Force Academy and the first female to coach a male athlete to a NCAA championship (Air Force Academy, Diving). She was also the first female Commander of an Air Force ROTC detachment at the University of Kentucky. She retired in 1992, after nearly 26 years of military service. While in the military, King competed in the 1968 and 1972 Olympic Games. She earned 10 national diving titles and captured a gold medal in 1972 in Munich for 3-meter springboard diving, along with competing in two Pan American Games. She was instrumental in supporting Title IX in 1972, ushering in equality in education programs based on gender and led the way for women to be admitted to US military academies. She joined tennis star Billie Jean King and others to found the Women’s Sports Foundation and served on President Gerald Ford’s “Commission to Study Olympic Sports.” She served on the US Olympic staff for eight Olympiads.