2010 Inducted into the New England LMSC Hall of Fame (Pool Performance)
1948 Olympian
1995 Inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame
2003 Inducted into the Masters International Swimming Hall of Fame
USMS Records – 146 lifetime, 0 currently held
USMS All American – 341 (2387 points)
USMS Pool All Star – 7 Years
USMS Top Ten – 469 Individual
NE LMSC All Time Top 3 – 143 points
Excerpts from the 1995 IMSHOF Induction Ceremony program:
When Clara Lamore climbed out of the pool at the 1948 Olympic Games in London after swimming the 200-meter breaststroke as a member of the United States Women’s Olympic Team, she swore she would never do it again. At 22 she had been swimming ten years and had had enough. After all, she was the winner of three U.S. national championships. She had done it.
It lasted for 33 years, until her doctor recommended, she start swimming to relieve the pain from a bad back. She was 54 at the time. She had worked for the telephone company, spent seven years in a cloistered religious order and became the first female graduate of Providence College in Rhode Island. She was married to Doneal Walker, a Naval officer and traveled through Europe with him for seven years until he died unexpectedly in 1970. She then taught school and became a guidance counselor at Western Hills Junior High School. It was then that she got back into the pool—for therapeutic reasons. Wasn’t much, just three days a week for a few months. But after she entered her first swim meet, maintaining somewhat the same stroke that Coach Joe Whatmore had taught her years before, she set a U.S. national record in the 50-yard breaststroke in the 50-54 age group. It re-inspired her and re-enthused her to train hard. It was as if all the years away from the water didn't matter. It was as though she were alive again back in the Olneyville Boys Club, her world defined by the borders of the pool.
Once again swimming became everything to Clara.