Happy Birthday Longtime Friend of ISHOF, Honor DiverGiorgio Cagnotto
Giorgio Cagnotto (ITA)
Honor Diver (1992)
The information on this page was written the year of their induction.
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1964, 1968 Olympic team member; 1972 silver (3m springboard), bronze (10m platform); 1976 silver (3m springboard); 1980 bronze (3m springboard); WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: 1978 bronze (3m springboard); FINA CUP: 1979 (3m springboard); EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: 1966 bronze (3m springboard); 1970 gold (3m springboard), bronze (10m platform); 1974 silver (3m springboard); 1977 silver (3m springboard); EUROPEAN DIVING CUPS: 1967 gold (3m springboard); 1969 gold (10m platform); 1975 gold (3m springboard); 1976 gold (3m springboard). on both the 1-meter and 3-meter boards. He is the producer of the prize-winning documentary, “Hobie’s Heroes”. Hobie’s greatest pride is in the fact that there are more diving coaches in the high school and college ranks in the U.S. that have graduated from Indiana University under his tutelage than from any other university.
Italy’s Giorgio Cagnotto was one of the world’s most prolific divers during the 1960s and 1970s. At the age of eight, he began to train with this uncle, professional diver Lino Quattrrini. Just eight years later he found himself competing in the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games, kicking off an Olympic career of epic proportion.
Cagnotto’s Olympic appearances spanned three decades, competing in five consecutive Olympic Games. He was best off the springboard, but medaled in the platform as well. After Tokyo, he competed in Mexico City in 1968, but it was during his third Olympic effort in the ’72 Munich Games that he earned a silver medal for his performance on the springboard and a bronze in the platform competition. At the 1976 Montreal Games, he won his third Olympic medal– a silver in the springboard competition. He retired at the age of thirty-two after earning his fourth Olympic medal at the 1980 Moscow Games where Cagnotto again medaled in the springboard competition, taking the bronze.
Giorgio was competing at a time when diving competition was dominated by fellow countryman Klaus Dibiasi, the only diver to win gold medals in three consecutive Olympic Games. Giorgio was as far in advance of the rest of the sport as Klaus was of him. Between them, the red, white, and green Italian flag was raised many times in international competition. Holder of two gold, two silver, and two bronze European Cup Championships and a medal winner in every European championship from 1966 through 1977, Cagnotto won eight outdoor and twelve indoor Italian National Championships.
Both Cagnotto and Dibiasi were coached by Papa Dibiasi, a former Italian National Champion with a long career in the sport. Papa retired just in time so as not to be competing against his son and Cagnotto. The only medal winner to dive in five consecutive Olympic Games, Giorgio Cagnotto is presently the Italian National Team Coach and the Federal Technical Director of Diving, living in Bolzano, Italy, with his wife. Giorgio Cagnotto is a true legend representing excellence and longevity in a sport demanding commitment, style and grace.
ISHOF’s 2023 Buck Dawson Author’s Award Winner, Elaine K. Howley’s story: A Marathon Swimmer’s Extraordinary Journey and Literary Dive into History
Elaine Howley
shared from: WOWSA 05/30/2023 open water swimming
Elaine K. Howley, a remarkable marathon swimmer, recently sat down with Ned Denison, Chair of the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame, to share her incredible journey in the sport.
Elaine’s marathon swimming odyssey began in 2006 with the Boston Light Swim, an event she now directs. One of her notable achievements came in 2009 when she completed the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming, conquering the challenging English Channel, Catalina Channel, and swimming around Manhattan Island. Elaine also accomplished The Triple Crown of Lake Monster Swims in 2016, taking on the lengths of Lake Memphremagog, Loch Ness, and Lake Tahoe. Elaine admits her fascination with lake monsters was a driving force behind her decision to tackle these unique swims. She became the first person to swim the 32.3-mile length of Lake Pend Oreille in northern Idaho and completed multiple ice miles.
Beyond her personal triumphs, Elaine is deeply involved in promoting and organizing marathon swimming events. She holds a significant role in the Massachusetts Open Water Swimming Association (MOWSA), the governing body responsible for the Boston Light Swim and the Jim Doty Memorial Mile. Taking the helm as MOWSA’s president in 2021, Elaine succeeds Greg O’Connor and has exciting plans to expand the scope of solo swims. Additionally, she aims to reintroduce The Egg Rock Scramble, a group swim that harkens back to a historic event dormant since 1975, set to launch in the upcoming fall season.
Elaine’s speaks about her involvement with the Marathon Swimmers Federation (MSF), where she became a member in 2014. Collaborating with Evan Morrison and other passionate individuals, Elaine played a crucial role in shaping the official rules of marathon swimming. Recognizing the value of codifying these rules and defining the parameters of the sport, she actively participates in the MSF’s efforts, ensuring the recognition and promotion of swims while creating opportunities for fellow athletes. Elaine appreciates the collaborative nature of the MSF and its significant contribution to the marathon swimming community.
In addition to her remarkable swimming career, Ned Denison inquired about Elaine’s writing endeavors. Elaine has been a columnist for Outdoor Swimmer magazine since around 2009, sharing her insights on historical swimming topics through her column called “Splashback.” In 2017, she expanded her repertoire with more in-depth features. She recalls her initial proposal, which aimed to explore the rich history of open water and marathon swimming.
Elaine’s most recent article for Outdoor Swimmer delves into the life of the first Baron Lord Desborough, also known as William Henry Grenfell. Desborough served as the inaugural president of the Channel Swimming Association. Elaine’s interest in Desborough was piqued by Michael Loynd’s book, “The Watermen.” She was fortunate to interview Sandy Nairne and Peter Williams, authors of an upcoming biography on Desborough, who provided her with invaluable insights and details. Elaine finds Desborough’s involvement in marathon swimming and other water sports during the early 20th century particularly captivating, making for a compelling exploration in her article.
Check out the interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNfOaWUY1Ls
A Life Aloftby Thomas Gompf (Author), Elaine K. Howley (Author)
“Being airborne, aloft, free of the bonds of gravity—that, for Thomas Gompf, is the stuff of life.When he first learned to fly an airplane, he found himself applying terms from his beloved sport of diving to the maneuvers he was mastering. The line blurred between the two disciplines, and he realized that being a pilot and being a diver have an awful lot in common. As an Air Force officer in the Vietnam War, a commercial airline pilot for 30 years, and an Olympic medal-winning diver, Tom found ways for his body to soar. His work in support of Olympic divers and as the “father of synchronized diving” has left an enduring legacy that has inspired others to fly, too. In A Life Aloft, Tom reflects on what he’s learned from pushing himself and the sport of diving to ever greater heights.” ~ Amazon.com
Elaine K. Howley will be presented to 2023 Buck Dawson Author’s Award with co-author and subject of the book, A Life Aloft, Tom Gompf, in Fort Lauderdale, on September 29, at the site of the 68th annual International Swimming Hall of Fame Honoree Induction Ceremonies. The event will be held at the Marriott Harbor Beach Resort and Spa, 3030 Holiday Drive, Fort Lauderdale. Fort ticket information, please call, Meg Keller-Marvin at 570.594-4367
Happy Birthday to our new 2023 ISHOF Honoree, Trischa Zorn!
Trischa Zorn is the easily the most successful athlete in Paralympic Games history, having won 55 medals, 41 of which are gold, competing in seven Paralympic Games. To put it into perspective, Trischa has won more Paralympic medals than some countries.
She first began competing as a 16-year old, qualifying for her first Paralympic Games in 1980, in Arnham, Netherlands, where she came away with seven gold medals. Trischa was born with a genetic eye condition that left her blind. After her first Games in the Netherlands, it was on to New York in 1984, where she won six more gold medals. From then on, she never looked back for the next five Games.
Photo Credit: International Paralympic Committee
In 1982, Trischa was awarded an NCAA Division I scholarship, becoming the first visually impaired athlete to earn a full ride, which she then used to become a four-time All-American backstroker at the University of Nebraska.
Trischa became a teacher for special needs students in Indianapolis. After several years of teaching, she decided to make a career change and entered Law School. She earned her Juris Doctor degree from the Indiana University Law School in 2005. Zorn now works for the Department of Veterans Affairs in Indianapolis where she works to ensure that veterans obtain the care they are entitled to receive.
USA Swimming created the Trischa L. Zorn Award to honor a swimmer or relay team with a disability for outstanding performance and excellence.
Trischa Zorn-Hudson was inducted into the International Paralympic Hall of Fame in 2012 and was inducted into the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame in 2022.
2023 will mark the first year that ISHOF will induct a paralympic athlete. It was suggested and unanimously voted on by the ISHOF Board of Directors to include Paralympians in the ISHOF family in 2021. With the Covid pandemic, it was agreed that 2023 would be the first year that an athlete would be chosen. A committee was selected and formed with Dave Denniston, as Chairman and his group of experts from around the world, and Trischa was a unanimous selection as the first ISHOF Paralympic Honoree. We are thrilled to welcome the Paralympic family to ISHOF and hope we can broaden the awareness of Paralympics, their sport and dedication.
Come join Zorn and this year’s class of 2023 in Ft. Lauderdale. If you cannot join us, consider making a donation.
To make a donation, click here: https://www.ishof.org/donate/
On the last day of May, when we celebrate Asian American Heritage Month, we honor two of our best: Dr. Sammy Lee and Victoria Manalo Draves
Diving and ISHOF had two very special friends in Dr. Sammy Lee and Victoria (Vicki) Manalo Draves. Sammy and Vicki were close friends who were both Californians, and who both went to the 1948 Olympics together, winning double gold medals in diving. Vicki won both hers in 1948, on the 3-meter springboard and the 10-meter tower and Sammy won his back to back in 1948 and in 1952. After the Olympic Games, both Lee and Manalo were married and had families but always stayed friends. They also stayed involved in the sport of diving. Once the new Hall of Fame opened in Fort Lauderdale in the late 1960’s they were both frequent visitors, wether if was for a diving meet, an induction ceremony, either their own or a fellow divers. We lost both Sammy and Vicki, but they will always be remembered as lifelong supporters of the sport of diving and wonderful friends of the Hall of Fame. Please read their bios below…..
Dr. Sammy Lee (USA)
Honor Diver (1968)
The information on this page was written the year of their induction.
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1948 gold (platform), bronze (springboard); 1952 gold (platform); 1964, 1968 (U.S. Olympic diving coach); NATIONAL AAU CHAMPIONSHIPS: springboard, platform; SULLIVAN AWARD: 1953.
Sammy Lee was born in Fresno, California, of Korean parents. At both Luther Burbank Jr. High and Benjamin Franklin High School in Los Angeles, he was the first non-Caucasian Student Body President, graduating No. 1 scholastically, and was chosen the school’s top athlete in 1939. While at Occidental College in 1942, he won his first Men’s Senior National AAU springboard and 10 meter tower diving championships. He retired in 1943 upon entering the School of Medicine at the University of Southern California.
In 1946, during his internship, Lee came out of retirement to win another outdoor tower championship. Two summers later in London, he won the Olympic platform diving title and was third in the springboard. Sammy was the first American born Oriental to win an Olympic gold medal for the USA.
As the 1952 Helsinki Olympic Games came closer (he had expected to make the 1940 Games at Helsinki before they were cancelled by war), the now retired 28-year-old Dr. Lee again got the bug and came out of retirement at age 32. He made the team and again won the tower, the first man ever to accomplish this double.
In 1953, Sammy Lee won the heralded Sullivan Award as America’s outstanding amateur athlete. In 1960, Dr. Sammy Lee again took medical leave and came out of diving retirement, this time as U. S. Olympic diving coach in Rome. His diving protégé, Bob Webster, won the platform and repeated again in 1964 at Tokyo. Since Sammy Lee was the first man to double in successive platform wins, it seemed only natural to this born winner that his pupil should be the second to accomplish this double.
Sammy Lee is still coming out of retirement as he did in 1963 and 1968 to coach the Japanese and Korean divers. He’s married to a Chinese-American wife with two children, 12 and 7. In 1966, he was named outstanding American of Korean parentage by the American-Korean Society of Southern California.
Dr. Lee specializes in diseases of the ear, including, quite naturally, that occupational hazard known as “swimmer’s ear.” Don’t expect any phony sympathy, however, because, whatever the pain, Sammy Lee has probably had it before.
Victoria “Vicki” Manalo Draves (USA)
Honor Diver (1969)
The information on this page was written the year of their induction.
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1948 gold (springboard; platform); NATIONAL DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS: 1946, 1947, 1948 gold (platform); 1948 gold (springboard); First woman in Olympic to win both springboard and platform diving crowns in same games.
Victoria Manalo Draves was the first woman in Olympic history to win both springboard and platform diving crowns in the same games. She was the only swimmer or diver to gold medal in two individual events at the 1948 London Olympiad. Her rise to No. 1 in the world was meteoric but far from easy. Vickie was a twin born in San Francisco to an English mother and Filipino father. When Vickie was 16, she and her sisters would take the trolley car to Fleishhacker Pool to swim and admire the divers. Admiration was mutual as one of the boy divers introduced her to Phil Patterson, coach of then national champion Helen Crlenkovich. Vickie learned rapidly under Phil, but her biggest hurdle was not on the diving board. Her diving club on Nob Hill required that she drop her father’s Filipino name and take her mother’s maiden name, Taylor. Finances were another problem and a year later, she joined Charlie Sava’s famed Crystal Plunge team where she worked with Jimmy McHugh. McHugh left coaching and on Sava’s advice, Vickie crossed the bay to dive with Lyle Draves and his star pupil Zoe Ann Olsen at the Athens Club in Oakland.
With a third diver, Gloria Wooden, Draves took his girls to the 1945 Indoor Nationals in Chicago and they placed 1, 2, 3 in the 3 meter springboard.
Wartime duties, another Nob Hill meet argument over Vickie’s Filipino parentage, and Draves returning to Southern California left Vickie once more without a coach. There followed some commuting to Los Angeles, a second and a third at the Outdoor Nationals, and then, on the death of her father, Vicki retired and returned to San Francisco and to her old job as a secretary in the Army Port Surgeon’s office.
When the war ended, Vickie finally moved to Southern California for good. She married her coach and her winning ways began immediately with the national Tower Diving Championship (10 meter platform), in 1946, 1947 and 1948. In 1948, she won her first springboard national title. She made the team but was not first at the Olympic Trials in either springboard or platform. She was the first woman of oriental ancestry to win an Olympic gold medal in diving. The first man was Korean-American Sammy Lee, who, like Vickie, stands 5’1″ when he stretches. The incredible performances of these two Asian-Americans helped heal the scars of an Olympic-canceling World War, and personified the Olympic revival of individual competition regardless of race, creed or national origin.
Passages: Kathy McKee, ASCA Hall of Famer and SwimMAC Coach
Photo Credit SwimMAC Carolina
by MATTHEW DE GEORGE – SENIOR WRITER
31 May 2023, 11:35am
Passages: Kathy McKee, ASCA Hall of Famer and SwimMAC Coach
Kathy McKee, a long-time member of the SwimMAC coaching staff and an inductee to the American Swim Coaches Association Hall of Fame, has died.
The ASCA announced her death on Wednesday. She was 69 years old.
McKee coached at SwimMAC Carolina, Dynamo Swim Club in Georgia and North Carolina Aquatic Club. Most of her professional life was spent at SwimMAC, tracking the growth of one of the most influential clubs in the nation.
She was hired in 1994 as the manager of competitive team development, helping then head coach Pat Hogan develop the club’s original site at Davidson College. She was instrumental in working with swimmers from pre-competitive to senior team for a club whose numbers swelled through the years. Among her accolades was being a coach on the 2007 national junior team that competed in Australia.
McKee left SwimMAC in 2012 and returned in 2017, hired as an associate head coach. She was listed as a member of SwimMAC’s leadership team as of her passing.
McKee’s five-year hiatus from SwimMAC took her to North Carolina Aquatic Club in Chapel Hill. She helped one swimmer qualify for the national junior team there and was honored as North Carolina Swimming Age Group Coach of the Year in 2014.
Before SwimMAC, McKee helped develop national-level swimmers at Dynamo in Georgia, where she spent 17 years and rose to become the head age-group coach. Among her charges were Mary Ellen Blanchard, Carlton Bruner and Eric Wunderlich. She was three times voted the Georgia Age Group Coach of the Year and won the Phillips 66 Outstanding Service Award.
McKee was inducted to the ASCA Hall of Fame in 2019. She served for six years on the ASCA Board, among other committees within USA Swimming and the LSCs in North Carolina and Georgia. She had been scheduled to speak at this year’s ASCA World Clinic.
Every Child A Swimmer signs Legislation in Georgia and Arkansas
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., May 24, 2023 – Every Child A Swimmer (ECAS), an organization. aimed at promoting water safety and swim education to children, is proud to announce the successful passage of new legislation in Georgia, Arkansas, following the first state to pass the bill last year, Florida.
Championed by Casey McGovern, mother of Edna Mae McGovern, who was tragically lost in a drowning accident. Casey has dedicated her life to creating impactful change through early education and exposure to water safety resources. The legislation in Georgia was given the name of Edna Mae to honor her legacy and the impact this will have on students.
The new legislation created in tandem with local governments and Every Child A Swimmer emphasizes the importance of equipping students with the necessary skills to navigate water environments safely. Drowning is the number one cause of death of children ages 1-5 and the ECAS legislation looks to curb that by introducing early access to water safety information.
The passage of these bills in Georgia, Arkansas, and Florida is a monumental step forward in our mission to make every child a swimmer, said Casey McGovern, Program Director at ECAS. Water safety education is crucial, and we hope this legislation makes a tangible impact on the lives of children and families.
The legislation mandates that schools incorporate water safety resources, such as where to find free swim lessons, educational materials, and drowning prevention strategies, into their curriculum. By partnering with local swimming facilities, ECAS ensures that children receive proper training and access to supervised swim programs. This collaborative approach between schools, community organizations, and government agencies creates a comprehensive network of support for water safety education.
For more information about the Every Child A Swimmer organization and its initiatives, please visit https://everychildaswimmer.org/
About Every Child A Swimmer Organization: Every Child A Swimmer (ECAS) organization is dedicated to promoting water safety education and reducing drowning incidents among children. By working closely with schools, community organizations, and government agencies, ECAS provides access to swim lessons, educational resources, and drowning prevention strategies.
The organization strives to empower every child with life-saving swimming skills and create a culture of water safety awareness.
Bill, Mike and Casey McGovern traveled to Arkansas for the Every Child a Swimmer bill signing ceremony with Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Rep. Mary Bentley and Senator Jim Dotson.
We would like to promote the Every Child a Swimmer legislation is a law in three states, with more to come. We want to continue working to have it passed in every state throughout the country.
We would like a HUGE PUSH through all channels focusing on the positivity that this law (and our program) will do.
54% of adult Americans cannot swim well enough to save themselves in an emergency.
Learning to Swim reduces the risk of drowning by 88%.
This law will help to educate parents and caregivers on the need to make swim lessons a priority.
Swimming is the only sport that has the potential to save a life.
The numerous health benefits of swimming.
Having the ability to swim, opens up multiple career opportunities that require the ability to swim.
The connection to ISHOF
Learn to Swim Scholarships available to families from underserved communities.
We need everyone’s help to implement the ECAS legislation into their state.
Drowning is Preventable!
On May 4, Bill Kent, Casey McGovern and the Every Child a Swimmer Team traveled to Atlanta to see the Every Child A Swimmer bill be passed into legislation.
Thank you Senator Shawn Still, Scott Hilton, Representative Matt Dubnik, @Representative Chris Erwin and all of the representatives who helped to see this bill come to fruition. From the ECAS social media page: “Yesterday was a great day for water safety and saving lives.” ~ May 4, 2023
Together, WE will make Every Child a Swimmer.
Molly Carlson, Constantin Popovici Claim High Dive Titles at World Aquatics High Diving World Cup in Fort Lauderdale
by DAN D’ADDONA — SWIMMING WORLD MANAGING EDITOR
28 May 2023, 09:19am
The World Aquatics High Diving World Cup saw some tremendous diving Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center this week.
As a qualifier for the World Aquatics Championship in Fukuoka Japan this summer, divers from all over the world competed in the high dive events at the newly renovated Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center.
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Canada’s Molly Carlson and Romania’s Constantin Popovici claimed titles on Saturday as they gear up for the world championships after automatically qualifying with their performances.
“I’m so excited to go to Fukuoka,” Carlson told World Aquatics. “Not only to be with this incredible group of high divers changing the world and pushing the sport, but to be able to see other sports and cheer for Canada in swimming and water polo.”
Carlson finished with 374.00 points, earning 121 on her fourth dive (a half-twisting forward quad with a 4.4 degree of difficulty) to have enough for the title after two days of elite diving.
“It’s definitely surreal,“ she said. “I knew deep down: if you get the right take-off, you’re going to get the perfect entry. In the air, I was like: this is it. I came up and I knew; I knew I was on top of the podium.”
Rhiannan Iffland finished second just 10.15 points behind Carlson in another stellar finish in Fort Lauderdale.
“The last dive is my bread and butter,” Iffland told World Aquatics. “I was excited to see where it was at the start of the season. Now I know what I need to do. I need a stronger take-off and I could have stood up a little more at the end. In Fukuoka, I’ll be working to chase my two gold medals from 2017 and 2019. I’m not ready to give up the top spot just yet.”
Third place went to Carlson’s training partner Jessica Macaulay.
Photo Courtesy: Eric Espada/World Aquatics
In the men’s field, the top three from Friday maintained their positions on the podium, all within 17.15 points of each other. Popovici finished with 473.90 points to pull away from the field.
Spain’s Carlos Gimeno was second with 454.40 points, followed by France’s Gary Hunt (438.15).
Popovici will also be competing on the 10m platform in Japan in an effort to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics on 10m.
“I was injured last year so the results in 2022 were not what I had expected,” he said. He recently changed coaches and clubs. “I want to win everything this year, not just in Fukuoka.”
Who remembers this iconic Sports Illustrated photo from 1973? 50 years old this month…..
50 years ago Mark and Suzy Spitz tied the knot and were married at the Beverley Hills hotel in Beverly Hills, California, on May 6, 1973. About a week later, they were featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated in this iconic photo.
Today in Fort Lauderdale, Mark came home to ISHOF to visit the museum with his family, wife Suzy, son Justin and his fiancé, as well as attend the World Aquatics High Diving World Cup in its second day of competition. In a complete stroke of luck, ISHOF Curator, Bruce Wigo, pulled out the May 14, 1973 Sports Illustrated Issue of Mark and Suzy to show them and they re-created the classic pose, just like they did 50 years ago. Mark and Suzy celebrated 50 years of marriage on May 6, 1973.
Mark and Suzy Spitz May 14, 1974 and today May 27, 2023
Mark looking over his Honoree panel from his induction year, 1977.
It is always great to have Honorees come back for a visit but we must say today was one of those really special days. Thanks Mark and Suzy for stopping by and thanks Bruce for pulling out the Sports Illustrated and to Mark and Suzy for posing again for us!!!
ISHOF Curator Bruce Wigo and Honoree Mark Spitz
Look who made the front page!!!
Thanks to the World Aquatics High Diving World Cup being in town and competing at the Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Complex, our beautiful new tower once again made the front page of the Sun Sentinel.
Article from today’s Sun Sentinel:
High-diving competition draws divers from all overParticipants could punch a ticket to championship event
By Abigail Hasebroock South Florida Sun Sentinel
Before Braden Rumpit jumps into some weekend fun, he will face a far more daring plunge — one that involves falling a distance of about eight stories.High divers from 20 countries around the globe will compete Friday and Saturday at the High Diving World Cup. This year, the international event will be held at the Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center.
Competitors are vying not only for World Cup champion titles but also a spot at this summer’s 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.
For the upcoming showdown, teams are traveling to Fort Lauderdale from countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Ukraine, Mexico, Germany and more.
Rumpit, who is representing New Zealand because his father is from there, became the youngest person ever to perform a quintuple flip of a 27-meter diving platform at 21. He moved to Fort Lauderdale from Wisconsin in October to train with Steven LoBue, a professional diver.
This is the biggest competition Rumpit has ever contended with, but because he’s been training on the Fort Lauderdale dive tower, which is what all divers will use during the competition, he said he feels prepared. “I’m hoping that can carry me through and give me some extra confidence going into this weekend,” he said. “But for the most part, 27 meters is 27 meters.”
Four divers, including Rumpit, constitute Fort Lauderdale’s team.
The other three are: Eleanor Smart, 27, from Missouri, who placed second in the the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series twice.
James Litchenstein, 28, from Illinois, who also competed in the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series, making his debut in 2022.
Victor Ortega Serna, 35, from Colombia, who competed in the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Olympics.
Women compete on a 20-meter, or about 65-foot, dive tower while men compete on a 27-meter, or about 88-foot, dive tower.
During the event preview on Thursday, Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis presented the athletes from the Fort Lauderdale diving team with construction pieces from the new diving platform as a souvenir.Rumpit said high diving is a small community, so he already knew almost all his competitors.“It’s going to take some of the pressure off,” he said.
Today, we celebrate Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month
The were many early Honorees from the Hawaiian Islands, as well as other Pacific Islands, the most famous was probably Duke Kahanamokou, Olympian and the Father of Surfing and his brothers, but there were many others that paved the way for the athletes of today. Let’s take a look at some of those athletes that we have inducted over the years:
Duke Kahanamoku (USA)
Honor Swimmer (1965)
The information on this page was written the year of their induction.
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1912 gold (100m freestyle), silver (4x200m freestyle relay); 1920 gold (100m freestyle; 4x200m freestyle relay), 4th (water polo); 1924 silver (100m freestyle); 1932 team member (water polo); WORLD RECORDS: freestyle.
The history of modern swimming started with the English in 1838. It was the breaststroke, and still the breaststroke, when Matthew Webb swam the Channel in 1875; yet, bas-reliefs dating to 880 B.C. taken from the palace of Nimroud (now in the British Nimroud Gallery) show a fugitive escaping from soldiers by swimming a river using a head high overarm crawl. This stroke was evolving painfully in the western world until a bronzed Duke Kahanamoku swam out of the Hawaiian Islands with it in 1911. His world record times no one would believe.
Jam Handy describes The Duke as a superbly conditioned athlete planing and crawling over the top of the water as no one his size and only one smaller man, Perry McGillivry, seemed able to do. Only after ten years in Hollywood did a 42 year old Duke Kahanamoku in 1932 finally fail to make an Olympic team in swimming. He made it in water polo. He made his first Olympic team in 1912. “He still swam well,” says Handy, “but in the water like other mortals, he was no longer in that superb condition needed to get his body planing up on top of the water.” Kahanamoku, the perennial Sheriff of Honolulu, and island king in so many movies, was and is a real Duke by christened surname, as well as in deference to his royal Hawaiian blood. His father, Captain Kahanamoku, born in Princess Ruth’s palace during a visit of the Duke of Edinborough, named him Duke in honor of that occasion.
In swimming, he rates his dukedom by Olympic titles as well as his ambassadorship in first introducing surfing around the world, including Australia where it has become a national sport. Duke’s royal position in swimming took time to be recognized. He first startled the swimming world by shattering both the 50 and 100 yard world records on the anniversary of Hawaiian annexation day, August 2, 1911, just 12 days before his 21st birthday–doing 24 1/5 in the 40 or 1 3/5 seconds better than the record, and 55 2/5 in the 100, 4 3/5 seconds better than the record. Unfortunately the cast was all Hawaiian and the times were so unbelievable that the Amateur Athletic Union, headquartered in New York, refused to recognize them in spite of the careful reports that were compiled showing that the course in Honolulu Harbor had been measured before the race and 3 times after; had been surveyed by a registered surveyor, that the swimmers were swimming against the tide; and that his nearest competitor, Lawrence Cunha, was 30 feet behind.
After considerable correspondence back and forth, President Wahle of the AAU wrote:
“According to my mind, this matter should be treated very carefully and with extreme caution before the 100 yard record is to be accepted as an AAU record. If his 55 2/5 seconds were accepted and he should afterwards compete in the U.S. or Europe and be beaten by swimmers, the correctness of his 55 2/5 seconds would be seriously questioned as well as the good faith of the AAU.
For this reason, I would like to see Kahanamoku beat the fast men first and have the record accepted afterward.”
In the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, Longworth of Australia was the favorite but Duke won the Olympic championship in 63 2/5 seconds. Eight years later at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics, on his 30th birthday, the Duke had to win his gold medal twice. The Australians protested his first win saying their man had been boxed, so the Duke had to win it again. Australia was fourth with Hawaiians first, second and third.
From the time the King of Sweden presented him with his Olympic gold medal and wreath of olive branches in 1912, the Duke has been an international idol, the first and foremost in a long line of Hawaiian world record holders, national and Olympic champions. These tiny islands dominated world swimming from 1912 until 1956 when the six Hawaiians on the U.S. Olympic team were no match for the Australians. Swimming had gone full cycle for it was the Australians who had been dominant in swimming when Duke swam past them in 1912.
Mariechen Wehselau (USA)
Honor Pioneer Swimmer (1989)
The information on this page was written the year of their induction.
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1924 gold (400m freestyle relay), silver (100m freestyle); WORLD RECORDS: (100yd, 100m freestyle; 400m freestyle relay); Hawaii’s first woman Olympic gold medalist.
Mariechen Wehselau became Hawaii’s first woman Olympic gold medalist by swimming anchor on the USA winning 400 meter freestyle relay team at the 1924 Paris Olympics. She was 18 years old and never had been out of the territory of Hawaii before she traveled to the tryouts in New York. It was the year that nine Hawaiian swimmers made the team…eight men and Mariechen.
On board the SS America, during the voyage from New York to Paris, Mariechen remembers training in the little canvas pool below deck. She wore a harness suspended from a cable so the swimmers would swim in place, a not very elegant way to stay in peak condition. But it was enough to enable her to set the world record in the Olympic 100 meter freestyle semi-final, take the silver medal the following day in the finals, and anchor the gold-medal winning freestyle relay team for the USA (she had already set the world record for the 100 yard freestyle the year before). Teammates Euphrasia Donnelly and Hall of Famers Ethel Lackie and Gertrude Ederle joined Mariechen in setting a new Olympic and world record in this event.
After Paris, Mariechen was invited by the Australian Swimming Association to compete in their championships and perform in various exhibitions. She and Mrs. E. Fullard Leo traveled to Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, and many small towns where Mariechen won every head-to-head race, except one which was an impossible handicap.
From 1928 to 1937, Mariechen helped her coach, Dad Center, train the younger swimmers. She had retired from active competition leaving her mark in US and International swimming.
Ellen Fullard-Leo (USA)
Honor Contributor (1974)
The information on this page was written the year of their induction.
FOR THE RECORD: Organized first women’s swim clubs in Capetown, South Africa; Victoria, British Columbia; and Honolulu, Hawaii; started the Royal Life Saving Course; Representative to 1921 AAU Executive Committee (first women delegate); In 1921 helped launch the U.S. Olympic Association; Manager-Chaperone for swimming trips to Australia, Olympics and Nationals, raising money for the athletes to attend.
“Ma Leo” was the grand dame of Hawaiian swimming for more than half of her 90 years. She was not a “women’s libber” but it could have come naturally. Born in Capetown, South Africa, she was the youngest of 19 children (17 were brothers). “I had to fight for women’s rights,” she said, “just to hold my own at the breakfast table.” There were also 11 step-children so “Ma Leo” also came naturally by her success in handling large fractious groups of energetic children, something she did so well and for so long in amateur athletics as the primary organizing authority in Hawaiian AAU.
Still in Capetown, she married Leslie Fullard-Leo in 1908. They moved to New York, “Mother City” of the AAU in 1909, then on to Victoria, British Columbia in 1912. In 1915, on her way to Australia she visited Honolulu and decided to stay. In all three places, Capetown, Victoria and Honolulu, she organized their first women’s swim clubs and started the Royal Life Saving Course. The Fullard-Leos bought a home site on Waikiki from Prince Kuhio. “Ma Leo” introduced Royal Life Saving Classes to the Islands in 1917. With their great Nui Lani, it was natural for the Hawaiians to take to leadership from females, so Ellen Fullard-Leo was elected their representative to the 1921 AAU Executive Committee meetings in Chicago. She sent in her credentials and they were accepted. The only problem was that on arrival the delegate bearing the name E. B. Fullard-Leo turned out to be a woman, the first woman delegate in AAU Convention history. “One man grumbled that he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to smoke during the meetings. I put him at rest by explaining I was used to my husband’s pipe and tobacco.”
In that same year (1921) she helped launch the U.S. Olympic Association. In 1922, the Fullard-Leo’s had their Mid-Pacific Palmyra Island annexed to her adopted country the United States. The island was an important Naval Station in World War II.
Whether marching in Olympic parades, organizing the first women’s swim clubs in South Africa, Canada and Hawaii, or organizing the Pan Pacific Games and the Hawaiian AAU, “Ma Leo” has been a prime force in Amateur Athletics for 65 years. Her oldest of three sons, under the stage name Leslie Vincent, played featured and supporting roles in more than 100 Hollywood movies before returning to Honolulu to manage and develop the Fullard-Leo holdings.
Mrs. E. Fullard-Leo got involved in amateur athletics “because her husband was a great athlete and not because she was a tomboy,” says Hal Wood, sports Editor of the Honolulu Advertiser. “I grew up in the Victorian age when it was considered vulgar for young ladies to compete in athletics,” she once told him. “So of course I didn’t compete, although I knew how to swim.” “Ma Leo” never limited her interests to swimming. It followed that she was the manager-chaperone for swimming trips to Australia, various Olympics and Nationals on the mainland. It cost money to send Hawaiian athletes to Nationals in New York and Chicago, so she raised the money. She also raised the money for the Hawaiian lava waterfall in the entrance-way at the International Hall of Fame where she was one of the first individual Charter members. After she died in October, 1974 her ashes were spread from a surfboard off Waikiki in an ancient Hawaiian burial. No mermaid Haole ever deserved the honor more.
Warren Kealoha (USA)
Honor Swimmer (1968)
The information on this page was written the year of their induction.
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1920 gold (100m backstroke); 1924 gold (100m backstroke); NATIONAL AAU CHAMPIONSHIPS: 2 gold (50 freestyle); Backstroke world record holder and national champion for 6 years.
Hawaiian Olympic swimming is a study in brotherhood — the Kahanamoku brothers, the Kealoha brothers and the Kalili brothers. The Kahanamoku brothers, Duke and Sam, were second and third to Johnny Weissmuller in the 1924 Olympic 100 meter freestyle after Duke had won in 1912 and 1920. The Kalili brothers, Mailola and Manuella, were on the silver medal 800 meter freestyle relay team in 1932. The Kealoha brothers, Pua and Warren, won gold medals in the 800 freestyle relay (Pua) with The Duke; and the 100 meter backstroke (Warren) in the 1920 Olympics.
Warren Kealoha, the baby of the 1920 team, was 16 when he won his first Olympic backstroke crown. He came back to win again in 1924 as the Olympics first double winner in any stroke other than freestyle.
Warren Kealoha, like his brother, was a USA champion freestyler, twice winning the National AAU 50 freestyle gold medal, but he was supreme for 6 years as backstroke world record holder and national champion.
“It wasn’t easy for Hawaiians to get to the Olympics back in those days,” Warren says, “or I might have had a chance at my third Olympics in 1928.” Warren Kealoha had more trouble getting to his races than winning them. “We had to break a world record before they could afford to send us to the Mainland,” he says, “then when we arrived by boat and out of shape, we had to beat all comers on the West coast, again in Chicago, and again in New York before we finally made the Olympic team.” Warren joins the late Duke Kahanamoku, Bill Smith, Buster Crabbe and coach Soichi Sakamoto as Hawaiian swimmers in the Hall of Fame. Now a successful rancher, Kealoha represents an amazing heritage of Island swimming which dominated the world for 50 years. The list, beginning with coach “Dad” Center and ending with diver Keala O’Sullivan, including Sargent Kahanamoku, Keo and Bunny Nakama, Douglas and Jerry Miki, Bill Woolsey, Allan Stack, Dick Cleveland, George Onekea, Sonny Tanabe, Halo Hiroshi, Ford Konno, Oshi Oyakawa, Charlie Oda, Evelyn Kawamoto, Thelma Kalama, Ivalena Hoe, Clarence Lane, Dudley Pratt, Jose Balmores, Kenny and Sammy Nakasone, Walt Richardson, the Honda boys and many others.
There may have been years when the Hawaiian Islands would have won the Olympics without help from the Mainland. It should be an inspiration to island peoples everywhere that swimming championships can become part of the way of life in island recreation.
Soichi Sakamoto (USA)
Honor Coach (1966)
The information on this page was written the year of their induction.
FOR THE RECORD: Great Hawaiian coach who developed many of the world champions between 1948-1956. All of his swimmers became National Champions during this period.
Soichi Sakamoto is the great coach responsible for modern Hawaiian swimming success. Hawaiian swimmers dominated the sport from 1912, but Buster Crabbe, in the 1932 Olympics, was their last champion of that long illustrious era.
Then came a drought and Japanese-Hawaiian Sakamoto, starting with children in an irrigation ditch, was developing new ideas of pace and rhythm with a metronome. His young swimmers were not the greats of Punaho School, then and still going on to Yale, but a new breed of public school swimmers going on to Ohio State and Indiana–Hirose, Nakama, Smith, Konno, Oyakawa, Onekea, Cleveland, Woolsey, Tanabe, Miki and the girls Kalama Kleinschmidt, Kawamoto and Hoe. All became national champions, most made the Olympic teams of 1948, 1952 and 1956.
During this period, Sakamoto was sought out by swimmers all over the world, journeying to Hawaii in search of the magic touch. They found technique, method dedication and conditioning, which produced champions at all strokes and distances, but as the coach told all in his somewhat difficult-to-understand English, “Magic, No!”
“The swimming stroke is a ‘working tool’,” says this master coach, “and therefore it must be one which must be sound in its practical use–to get the most out of a given effort. It must be simple and efficient, and one which can be controlled at will by the individual. . . Swimming with and not against the water.”
“Patience, above all, is tantamount and a rule,” Sakamoto continues, “as improvement, growth, speed and success come only at a snail’s pace. First, it is learning to swim, training and conditioning, competing and going through the bitter experiences of defeat and chagrin. The light of success comes only when everything seems hopeless and wasted.”
Takashi “Halo” Hirose (USA)
Honor Pioneer Swimmer (2017)
The information on this page was written the year of their induction.
FOR THE RECORD: 1938 NATIONAL AAU MEET: 2ND (200m freestyle); 4TH (100m freestyle); 1939 NATIONAL AAU: 4TH (100m freestyle); 1940 NATIONAL AAU: 2ND (100m freestyle); 1941 NATIONAL AAU: 1ST (100m freestyle, 800m freestyle relay); 1940-44 MEMBER OF THE MYTHICAL OLYMPIC TEAM, WHICH WAS NOT ABLE TO COMPETE DUE TO THE WAR; 1946 BIG TEN: 1ST (100yd freestyle), NCAA: 1ST (100yd freestyle), OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY: WON BIG TEN, NCAA AND AAU TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS, 3 TIME ALL-AMERICAN; 1987: INDUCTED INTO OHIO STATE’S SPORTS HALL OF FAME
He learned to swim in the irrigation ditches of Maui’s Pu’unene’s sugar plantation, where his parents worked as laborers. Watching over him and the other kids was Soichi Sakamoto, one of their elementary school teachers.
Sakamoto knew nothing about swimming, but in time, he would come to be regarded as a coaching genius. In 1937, he dared to dream that some of his “ditch kids” could represent the USA, in the home of their ancestors, at the 1940 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Just one year after “coach” started his “Three Year Swim Club”, 15 year-old Takeshi “Halo” Hirose placed second in the 200m freestyle at the US Nationals, finishing just inches behind the great Adolph Kiefer. This earned him a spot on the US team that toured Europe and the distinction of being the first AJA (American Japanese Asian) to represent the USA in international competition.
During the tour, Halo became the first AJA to set a world record, as a member of the USA’s 4x100m freestyle relay team, at a meet in Germany.
At the 1939 Nationals, Halo was selected along with Maui teammate Keo Nakama for the US team that participated in the Torneo Panamericano de Nation in Guayaquil, Equador – a forerunner of the Pan American Games. Shortly before that meet, in the face of an international boycott, the Japanese Olympic Committee announced it was giving up the Games for financial reasons, owing to its costly war with China. While Finland was an eager replacement, the outbreak of WWII dashed Halo’s Olympic dreams. It was little consolation that he, along with his Maui teammates, Keo Nakama and Fujiko Katsutani were selected for the USA’s “mythical” 1940 Olympic Team.
After he won the US National 100m title in 1941, came Pearl Harbor, and once Japanese Americans were permitted, he volunteered to fight in Europe as a member of the 442nd “Nisei” Regimental Combat Team. On the battlefield he gained almost as many honors as he had in swimming events in Hawaii, the USA, South America, Germany, Austria and Hungary. A member of a machine gun platoon through some of the heaviest fighting in France and Italy, Hirose received five battle stars, the combat infantry badge and a Presidential Unit Citation. In November of 1944, he contracted “trench foot” during deployment in France and was paralyzed from the hips down. It was feared that he might lose his feet. Although he recovered the use of his legs after six months in rehabilitation, he would feel the effects of “trench foot” for the remainder of his life.
After the war, Hirose followed his Maui teammate, Keo Nakama to the Ohio State University where he became a three-time All-American for the Buckeyes. Although he was an NCAA champion in the 100m freestyle and helped Ohio State win the Big Ten, NCAA and AAU team titles, Hirose had been denied his opportunity to swim in the Olympic Games in 1940 and 1944, and his war injuries no doubt affected his chances to make the US team in 1948. The story of Halo resurfaced when author Julie Checkoway published the remarkable story of The Three-Year Swim Club and the men and women who brought national and international acclaim to the island of Hawai’i and the USA.