Born at home in Brooklyn, New York to Russian Jewish immigrants on January 26, 1913, Celia Tabachnakov, a spirited nonconformist, would win more than 100 medals and trophies in international amateur track and field events and challenge family and societal expectations throughout her life. By the time she was 15, Celia had changed her name to Sylvia and captured the attention of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, which ran a feature story on the teen’s political activism. Illustrated with a photograph of the “champ girl speaker” handing out leaflets, the article described a hefty schedule of speaking engagements and mentioned her artistic talents. Yet it was silent about another early accomplishment that would set the tone for her life for the next decade and beyond: In 1927, Koff, as she was then known, had won her first sports medal—second place in track and field at Bushwick High School. A multi-talented athlete with a keen competitive spirit at a time when girls of her age and background were not encouraged to engage in sports, Syd Koff, as she now called herself, won medals in the hurdles, high jump, and running events organized by the American Athletic Union, Millrose Association, and German American Club. The years 1931 to 1936 were filled with championships at home in the New York City metropolitan area and abroad. Standing out among her fellow teenage competitors, Syd’s medals included seven gold, silver and bronze medals in the 1932 and 1935 World Maccabee Games, the first two such competitions for amateur Jewish athletes held in what was then known as Palestine. Overcoming stiff yet loving parental objections, the young Syd accepted an invitation to join the 13-member American team. Syd was one of only two women on the team. Their three-week long voyage began on March 11, 1932 at City Hall, where New York City Mayor Jimmy Walker wished Syd and her teammates good luck. Photographs captured the team practicing aboard ship on the transatlantic leg of their journey, before they continued traveling via train, donkey cart and camel. New York City’s newspapers chronicled the games closely, providing in-depth coverage of Koff’s gold medal wins in multiple events. Reporters also observed female fans wearing berets in the stadium and around town, showing their support for the stylish young American athlete by adopting her favored choice of hat. Away from home for months, Syd exchanged letters with her family, reporting on what she was seeing, doing and feeling thousands of miles away. Koff garnered American Athletic Union National and Metropolitan championship medals in the years that followed before returning to Palestine for the Second Maccabee Games and three more medals. Photographs show her wearing a distinctive red and white striped t-shirt, chosen to make her more visible in the crowded field of competitors. Four holes in the shirt testify to the number of times over the years that she pinned her racing number to that one signature shirt. Interested in the world beyond sports, Koff traveled extensively while she was abroad in 1932 and 1935 and saw the rise of fascism then underway in Europe. Koff’s stellar athletic feats in the early to mid-1930s led to dreams of competing in the 1936 Olympics, slated for Berlin. Many American athletes struggled with the moral dilemma of whether to compete in the games to be held under the auspices of the Nazi regime; Koff’s conscience and Jewish identity, as well as first-hand witness of anti-Semitic and racist actions during her travels, made her choice clear. She declined to compete in a country where civil liberties were being systematically denied and worse was on the horizon. In so doing, Koff sacrificed her chance for Olympic acknowledgment but did not lose her love of track or the urge to compete. Indomitable, Koff remained a force in U.S. amateur athletics. Recognizing her competitive zeal and winning record, one sports-writer dubbed her “Bensonhurst’s One-Girl Track Team.” Undeterred by the war-time cancellation of the 1940 Olympics, for which she had qualified, Koff retained her drive and passion for track and field throughout her life. She returned to competitive hurdling, jumping and running years later, after a brief marriage and the birth of two sons. As a single mother she supported herself and her family by harnessing another of her youthful talents—a love of drawing and sculpture. Changing her name once again, Sybille Koff ran a ceramic studio near her home in Greenwich Village. In addition to teaching adults and children, she created functional works of modern ceramic art. A Village denizen for the rest of her life, Sybille also became known for her Sunday afternoon salons, filled with artists, musicians and their patrons. In 1968, at age 55, she again put on her track shoes to compete in inaugural Masters’ track events and began accumulating new medals and trophies. Koff’s athletic career is well-documented in the pages of American newspapers from the 1920s through her death in 1998. Her prowess and moral fiber have captured the attention of scholars in the fields of the history of women in sports and Jewish sports history. Koff’s medals, diaries, photographs, press clippings and signature striped shirt have been preserved by her family and serve as a resource for writers, filmmakers and scholars.