Sharon Beckman
2020 Inducted into the New England LMSC Hall of Fame (Open Water/Long Distance)
1983 Swam on the professional marathon circuit where she finished as the highest-ranked female marathon swimmer in the U.S. and third-best in the world. Swims included:
Length of Lake Memphremagog – 25 miles
Around Atlantic City – 22 miles
1982 First woman from New England to swim the English Channel (21 miles). Her time of 9 hours 6 minutes was the 17th fastest time for men or women at the time and is still among the top 40 fastest female finishes.
1982 Boston Light Swim – 8 miles, First place finisher overall
1981 Boston Light Swim – 8 miles, First female & second finisher overall
1977 Lake Michigan – 10 miles
USMS Records
Pool – 1 lifetime relay
USMS Top Ten – 8 individual, 17 relay
Club: New England Masters (NEM)
Born in Chicago and raised in Park Ridge, Illinois, Sharon Beckman swam AAU as an age-grouper and then competed in high school and college. She was co-captain of the Harvard Women’s Swimming and Diving team under Coach Stephanie Walsh and captain of the Harvard Women’s Water Polo team. Walsh crewed for Beckman on her English Channel swim in 1982.
Sharon’s name (along with that of her sister, who swam the English Channel 24 years later) on the wall in the White Horse Tavern in Dover, UK
Sharon graduated from University of Michigan Law School and clerked for two federal judges, including Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. She practiced criminal and civil rights law in Boston and Chicago before joining the Boston College Law School faculty in 1995. She is founder and director of the Boston College Innocence Program, a clinical program where students and faculty represent innocent people wrongly convicted and imprisoned in Massachusetts for crimes they did not commit. She is a cancer survivor, wife, and mother.