Bloomington High School, 1976 – 77
Alysa Gould Marx was a diver for Bloomington South High School for her senior year. She won the state championship in diving at the 1976 IHSAA state meet and set a new meet record of 464.94 points. She had just moved to Indiana from Minnesota where she had won the Minnesota state diving title the year before and became the first female diving All-American in the state of Minnesota. Alyssa was very successful on the international diving scene placing first on the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard at the Nine Nations International Diving event at the Bouwes Palace in the Netherlands. She also competed in front of the Monaco royal family and was presented with a medallion by Princess Grace. These accomplishments led her to be featured in Faces in the Crowd in Sports Illustrated and on 5 million boxes of Wheaties. She also won silver medals in both the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard at the AAU Age group nationals. Alysa began her collegiate career at Indiana University where she earned a scholarship and was coached by the legendary Hobie Billingsley. Unfortunately, an injury led to her ending her competitive diving career. Alysa finished her degree in Recreation with a Therapeutic emphasis at the University of New Mexico where she graduated with distinction. She lived in Albuquerque where she coached diving and was a teacher’s aide. She then took time to raise her five children. After three years of volunteering with the refugee population in Dallas, Alysa founded Refugee Resources in 2006 which works to empower refugees through literacy skills development. Alysa (Gould) Marx now resides in Dallas with her family.