Louis Clay Tharp

Following years of agency marketing experience, Louis Clay Tharp became a social entrepreneur. He advocates for healthcare, gay issues and sports.

Louis Clay Tharp co-founded and acted as the initial funder for CreakyJoints, an advocacy organization for people with arthritis . Subsequently, he co-founded Global Healthy Living Foundation, which includes two more disease-specific communities: RedPatch and CreakBones, and advocates for a better quality of life for people with chronic illness.

Tharp is an elite swimmer and won two gold and silver medals at the 2006 Gay Games, and two silver and two bronze medals at the 2009 Outgames in Copenhagen.

He was very successful as the first openly gay swim coach for the West Point Military Triathlon Team, training them to be global contenders. You can read about his training methods in his book 'Overachiever's Diary'.

Louis endowed the first-ever scholarship at Butler University, where he graduated in 1972, for gay and lesbian students, starting in the fall of 2008.