Thelma Payne grew up in Portland, Oregon and competed for the Multnomah Athletic Club there. She was AAU indoor champion on the springboard in 1918-20. At the time of the 1920 Olympics she worked at City Hall as a receptionist. After the Olympics she started coaching swimming at the Los Angeles Athletic Club and Breakers Beach Club in Santa Monica, coaching two Olympians, Bowen Stassforth and . Payne also taught swimming to John Wayne’s, Loretta Young’s, and Bing Crosby’s children. She also became a swimsuit model for Jantzen suits. Payne married Guy Sanborn and in 1947 the two raced in the Trans-Pacific Yacht Race together.
