George R. Fissler, the one with arms crossed, was a member of the 1932 Olympic team and won a Silver medal, in the men's 4×200-meter freestyle relay. Ruddy competed in the 1928 Olympics, and also the 1936, Berlin, Olympics, as a member of the US water polo team.

How sad. Even today many people don't realize that a head injury can be fatal hours later, even though the victim is able to walk away, thought to be unscathed. That is how Vanessa Redgrave's daughter Natasha Richardson died after a skiing accident.

Could that possibly be Gilligan at the far right?

Google of course can't go inside the house (yet) to see the actual stairs.

New York Times, Dec. 5, 1938.

RAY RUDDY, OLYMPIC SWIM STAR, KILLED
BY PLUNGE DOWN FLIGHT OF STAIRS

        Raymond Ruddy, whose achievements as a swimmer and water-poloist caused him to be ranked among the outstanding athletes of the world, died at 7 o'clock last night at the age of 27 in Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center from the effects of a fall twenty-four hours earlier.
        The swimmer was about to leave the home of his aunt, Mrs. Walter Leary, 68-47 Exeter Street, Forest Hills, Queens, Saturday evening when his foot caught in the carpet of a stairway leading down from the second floor. He lost his balance and fell nearly the entire flight, striking his head against a radiator on the first floor.
        He was able to rise, but was forced to abandon a plan to go to the New York Athletic Club, for which he had competed during most of his career.
        Instead, he went to bed and apparently fell asleep. In the morning, however, members of the family found it impossible to arouse him. He was taken to the Medical Center, where it was found he had suffered a fracture at the base of the skull. He died without regaining consciousness.