Jackie Brummer
Gymnastics
Jackie Brummer was making heads turn with her gymnastic abilities at the tender age of 8. Brummer competed at the junior varsity level while in junior high school, and won the Section VI Championship in uneven parallel bars, balance beam and all-around in 1978 as an 8th grader.
Her awards and achievements continued to mount throughout her high school years at Sweet Home. In 1979, she won uneven bars and vault titles at the Empire State Games. She became an Elite gymnast in 1980 and competed for the United States in East Germany in 1981. From 1979-82 she won four consecutive New York State all-around championships including wins in vaulting, uneven bars and balance beam, setting sectional and state records in all events.
Brummer was widely recruited by more than 20 colleges with prominent gymnastics programs, but accepted Arizona State University’s offer of a full scholarship. Her collegiate record was impressive and extraordinary, too. In 1984 she won the NCAA championship on uneven bars. She followed that up two years later with NCAA balance beam and all-around championships.
Brummer won five Pacific 10 Conference titles and set NCAA records in all-around with a 38.20 and a 9.8 performance on the balance beam. She is the only Arizona State gymnast to win two NCAA titles in the same year. As a professional gymnast she toured with the Kurt Thomas Gymnastics America Tour.
Brummer has been a member of the Screen Actors Guild since 1988, and went on to appear in national commercials, did stunt work on the TV show “Moonlighting,” was a stunt double for actress Heather Locklear in the movie “Return of the Swamp Thing,” and was an actress and gymnast in the movie “Spitfire.” She also is a “C” licensed skydiver and has made more than 300 jumps.
An attorney licensed to practice in California, Colorado and New York, Brummer spends a fair amount of her free time working with, and mentoring young athletes at Gleason’s Gymnastics in North Tonawanda.
Brummer’s induction into the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame will mark the fifth time she will be recognized for her gymnastics career. In 2008, she was inducted to the National Federation of State High School Associations Hall of Fame, the first Western New Yorker to be selected to that hall. She also has been inducted into the sports halls of fame of Arizona State University (1996), Sweet Home High School (2004) and the New York State Public High School Athletic Association (2006).
