Fernanda Crescente

Cincinnati

Nancy Kleinman, a world champion archer, died Saturday, family said. The longtime Indian Hill resident was 78.

Ms. Kleinman picked up archery at age 21 after her future husband, Marvin Kleinman, became interested in the sport. After two years of practice, she won the 1961 World Archery Competition in Oslo, Norway.

Ms. Kleinman grew up in Bond Hill and graduated from Withrow High School in 1956. She started practicing archery in Winton Woods, where Jim Blackburn, a former pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds, ran an archery facility.

Blackburn gave Ms. Kleinman her first bow sight – a matchstick – after he recognized her as a talent.

“She was a natural, but she was a very, very hard worker,” her husband said. “Not only did she outshoot everybody, but she outworked everybody.”

Ms. Kleinman traveled the world as an archer, representing the U.S. in Mexico, Canada, England, Finland and Amsterdam. She won two national championships, more than 60 tournaments and broke multiple records.

Her archery made the pages of The Enquirer frequently in the 1960s. She was featured in Sports Illustrated.

Listening to the U.S. national anthem in the top podium spot in Oslo, however, was Ms. Kleinman’s proudest career moment.

“She had tears in her eyes and had to keep from crying the whole time,” her husband said.

After nearly a decade in the sport, Ms. Kleinman hung up her bow when she became a mother. Libby Frank of Mount Lookout, one of her two daughters, said she mastered the new role as naturally as she did her sport.

“She worked so hard to be a good mom, and she didn’t need to work at it,” her daughter said. “She just was.”

Some of the fondest memories of her mother stem from the several holidays the family spent together. It was “the four of us against Florida” during shopping trips, visits to a Mexican restaurant and fishing boat rides, Frank said.

She said her mother also taught her about friendship. “Through her life, she has always been the most loyal of friends. If you were her friend, there is nothing she wouldn’t have done for you.”

Ms. Kleinman’s friendship extended to her daughter’s classmates. It went as far as calling the high school’s vice principal when he interrupted an Advancement Placement test to complain about the kids being excused from campus, according to Frank.

“I will never forget that,” Frank said. “A lot of parents would have not bothered, and she got him on the phone and told him exactly why she thought he was wrong,”

Frank said several of her friends came to know, love and yearn for her mother’s approval over the years. With several calls and emails pouring in, she said everyone has had a great story to share about her mom.

But for Frank, she will miss the simple things.

“Every time my phone rang, it generally was my mother,” Frank said. ”I will miss that. I will miss getting phone calls about random things that probably could have waited or whatever.”

Marvin Kleinman agreed: “I will miss everything. I spent 53 years with that babe.”

In addition to her husband and daughter, survivors include daughter Amy Hulina of West Port, Connecticut; sister Lois Tudor of Milford; and six grandchildren.

Mass of Christian Burial will be 10 a.m. Friday at St. Columban Church, 894 Oakland Road, Loveland.

Memorial contributions can be made to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, P.O. Box 5014, Hagerstown, MD 21741-5014 or online at http://bit.ly/2nsHa96; or Hospice of Cincinnati, P.O. Box 633597, Cincinnati, OH 45263-3597 or online at http://www.hospiceofcincinnati.org/donate.