Passages: Andy Burke, Devoted US Water Polo Administrator, 91
25 August 2020
Andy Burke, a long-time administrator for water polo who served on numerous U.S. and international committees, passed away last Friday at the age of 91.
For his efforts on behalf of American water polo, in 2018 Burke was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) for his substantial contributions to the sport.
[Andy Burke 2018 induction to ISHOF]
A long-time member of The Olympic Club in San Francisco, Burke recently became one of a handful of members to have earned a 75th anniversary membership pin. An unbridled supporter of the club’s master’s water polo program, for more than half a century he was likely to be found anywhere polo was being played, especially when it came to his beloved OC.
Burke (far right) and The Olympic Club men’s water polo team. Photo Courtesy: The OC
In 1945—while still a high school student in San Francisco—Burke beganplaying water polo for The Olympic Club. He narrowly missed selection for the U.S. men’s polo teams that competed at the Pan American Games of 1955 in Mexico City, and 1959 in Chicago, as well as the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne and the 1960 Games in Rome.
Following his final failed attempt at Olympic glory, Burke traded in his speedo for a referee’s whistle. He also took on administrative duties with the U.S. men’s national program. In 1960, he was elected Chairman of the National AAU water polo committee; from 1961 through 1964 he also served as chairman of water polo for the U.S. Olympic Committee.
Burke realized his dream to participate in the Games when he oversaw the Olympic team selection process and also served as manager for the USA water polo squad at the 1964 Tokyo Games. From 1966 through 1976, he served as Chairman of the AAU Water Polo Rules Committee; internationally, he served on the Technical Water Polo Committee UANA, the Swimming Union of the Americas, from 1963 through 1975, and on the UANA Executive Board from 1975 to 1995.
As described by Michael Haley, a longtime Olympic Club competitor, Burke was almost never absent when the OC men participated in polo competition—a three decade period that coincided with the Club’s most enduring period of polo success.
“I can only recall a handful of games over the last 30 years that Andy wasn’t on our bench,” Haley write in an email. closing with: “Andy Burke We Love Your Show.”
Along with Russ Hafferkamp Burke produced Water Polo at The Olympic Club, 1896-2012: A Century of Excellence, a comprehensive publication on The Olympic Club’s century-long polo success. He was also intimately involved in the Peter J, Cutino Award, which for the past two decades has been annually presented to the top male and female collegiate athlete in the U.S.
Burke with the Cutino Award. Photo Courtesy: The OC
His passing touched many in the polo community; following are a selection of tributes for Burke, considered one of the country’s greatest supporters of the sport in America.
Andy Burke turned 91 last Saturday and as little as a year ago, he was right in the mix at FINA World Masters Championships with many of us enjoying yet another epic OC polo trip.
His dedication to our sport was unparalleled and his commitment to our Club was inspiring. He was recently awarded his 75th anniversary membership card and special lapel pin from the OC which put him in the rarified air of only 26 other people, [that accomplishment] speaks for itself…
Bennett Indart, Olympic Club member, Co-founder and Chairman, Peter J. Cutino Award
***
I am so saddened to hear about Andy’s passing. Over the course of the past few years we have lost legends of the sport we all love. Each one of those legends were selfless to the game of water polo. It was never about them and all about the players and the betterment of our sport.
I will forever be thankful for Andy’s support—no matter what team you played for. I had the privilege of becoming close with him during my time with the national team and during the premier league with NYAC. It was always great to saddle up to the bar with Andy and hear about our sport’s history. USA Water Polo is in a better place because of Andy’s contributions and there will be a void on the OC bench without the man in a bucket hat.
Adam Wright, head men’s and women’s coach, UCLA; three-time Olympian
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Terribly sad news indeed, for the Club and the entire water polo universe. An incredible man, dedicated to doing the right thing by his teams, teammates, friends and family.
John Tanner, head women’s coach, Stanford
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Andy was a true sportsman and someone always willing to advise and help in any way possible. I will miss him as he was devoted to the Club in water polo, basketball, the Cutino Award, committee functions and life and people in general. Thank you, Andy for being a mentor and friend.
Gary Crook, Athletic Director at The Olympic Club
***
Burke, Denny Harper (left), Russ Hafferkamp (right). Photo Courtesy: The OC
“The Legend passed away at 1am today surrounded by all of his boys. He was peaceful and ready to be with Carolyn. A new chapter has begun and we shall all take on the challenge to continue the O Club legacy in the name of the legend Andy Burke.”
I think Rich Ambidge said it best and certainly how Andy would want it. He would want us to continue to pick up the ball and run with it. We will forever be grateful for all that Andy has done for our sport.
While it would be almost impossible individually, my hope is that collectively, we can fill the incredibly big shoes he leaves behind. So as Rich stated above it is “Our” challenge to continue the O Club legacy in the name of Andy Burke.
Michael Haley, masters’ player for The Olympic Club, induction in the ISHOF for water polo in 2013
***
How do I put it? He was like the president, sergeant at arms and secretary of water polo for so long. He organized tournaments, knew the rules, kept people in line and has helped US Water Polo with running nationals.
In the late sixties in one of my first club games he kicked me out for a profanity—I was a little kid. That’s just the way Andy was. Things were by the rules.
He was a wonderful guy, a real gentleman and just super for water polo. He was organized, kept us legitimate… pretty amazing.
– Was Burke one of a kind, never to be experienced again?
Yes and no. We’re gonna miss Andy [because] there aren’t a lot of people who commit their lives to the the sport. Barbara Kalbus comes to mind—someone like that. They were always there and always helping organize and keep us going.
I’m sure there will be people in the future who will be as involved. [Polo’s] more widespread now—it’s nationwide—than it was in the past.
The five years that I coached the Olympic Club group, Andy was always hanging out with us and kept those guys in line because [they were] kind of a crazy group.
Absolutely one of a kind.
Bruce Watson, head coach, San Jose State men’s team; former head coach The Olympic Club men’s master’s team
Water Polo Fans: Today we celebrate the birth of Jimmy Smith, the Father of Modern Water Polo
JAMES “JIMMY” SMITH (USA)
1992 Honor Pioneer Water Polo/Contributor
FOR THE RECORD: Father of modern water polo; Designer of modern water polo ball; 1955 PAN AMERICAN GAMES Coach; Author of first water polo textbook, 1936.
Jimmy Smith, father of modern water polo, knew more rules and history of the sport than anyone before or after him. Smith introduced and wrote them, developing many of the modern rules which are used in competition today, including the use of the yellow rubberized ball adopted by FINA in 1956.
A native of Oakland, California, Jimmy began his athletic career at the University of Southern California in 1924. Elected team captain of both the swimming and water polo teams, Smith earned an undergraduate degree in Business (1928) and a Masters degree in Education (1935).
Smith used his athletic experience to begin his professional career as a swimming and water polo coach and collegiate athletic director. For over thirty years, Smith served as the athletic director of Fullerton Junior College and Fullerton High School. His water polo and swimming teams amassed 164 team championships, including five national, five AAU, and six California State Championship titles. Internationally, Smith coached the United States Pan American Water Polo Team in 1955 at the second Pan American Games in Mexico City.
Smith was a mentor to many of America’s top coaches, including Hall of Famer Monte Nitzkowski, United States National and Olympic team water polo coach. “He was the man who launched my career,” said Nitzkowski. “It was Jimmy’s guidance, leadership, and undying love for the sport that inspired me.”
Smith authored several works on water polo mechanics and coaching. His first book, Playing and Coaching Water Polo, published in 1936 and revised in 1948, was the world’s first complete textbook on the sport. Smith also produced and edited The World Encyclopedia of Water Polo, published in 1989. A member of the 1948 and 1952 United States Olympic Water Polo Committees, Smith was elected to the United States Water Polo Hall of Fame in 1976, and in 1985 received the highest honor in the United States Water Polo, the Peter Uebberoth Award, for his contributions to water polo.
Smith was an innovator and his creation of the modern day water polo ball was instrumental in the development of the above-the-water, faster-moving, ball-controlled game. From the 1912 Olympics, the leather soccer ball absorbed water and became extremely heavy, slippery and out-of-control when wet. Following the 1936 Olympic in Berlin, Jimmy developed a ball made with a cotton bladder, which later changed to nylon to improve performance, with a rubber fabric cover. The new ball was red, but by 1948 yellow was adopted for better visibility. It became an official Olympic ball in 1956, greatly increasing spectator interest.
Jimmy Smith is honored for his achievements, friendships, and trail-blazing accomplishments in the sport of water polo. As competitor, coach, and author, water polo was his life.
Happy Birthday Cynthia Potter !!!
CYNTHIA POTTER (USA)
1987 Honor Diver
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: Member of the U.S. Olympic Diving Team 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980; 1976 bronze (springboard); AAU NATIONALS (28): Outdoor (1m 1968 through 1976, 1978; 3m 1971, 1972, 1975, 1976; platform 1970, 1971); Indoor (1m 1969 through 1971, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1979; 3m 1969, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1977); WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: 1978 silver (springboard); PAN AMERICAN GAMES: 1975 bronze (springboard); WORLD UNIVERSITY GAMES: 1970 gold (springboard), silver (platform); World Diver of the Year: 1970, 1971, 1977; Lawrence J. Johnson Award for the “Outstanding U.S. Female Diver”: 1973.
In the sport of women’s diving long dominated by U.S. divers, Cynthia Potter won 28 nationals to become the most winning U.S. woman diver. She also won 20 gold medals in world competition. She was voted “World Diver of the Year” three times.
Weighing less than 100 pounds, this diminutive dynamo competed in diving for the USA a record 20 years both on springboard and tower. Since hanging up her suit, she has coached diving at SMU and Arizona, been a successful model, lecturer and has acted as ABC-TV and Mutual Radio commentator at a variety of events including the 1984 Olympic Games. A graduate of Indiana University, Cynthia made four Olympic teams and won at least one U.S. National Diving Championship in each of 12 years from 1968 to 1979. She goes down in history as the most durable of our lady divers.
Controversy at the 1960 Olympic Games in the Men’s 100m Freestyle event Devitt vs Larson
Larson and Devitt after race
On this day, August 27, in 1960, the Olympic Games were taking place in Rome, Italy. Australian swimmer John Devitt controversially won the 100m freestyle gold medal while American Lance Larson, recorded the same time 55.2 but was awarded the silver medal.
Back in 1960, results were decided by finish judges who relied on their eyes and did not use replays. Three judges were assigned to each finishing position. There were three official timers in 1960 for each lane and swimmer, all timing was by hand. All three timers for Devitt, who was in lane three, timed him in 55.2 seconds. The three timers for lane four timed Lance Larson in 55.0, 55.1, and 55.1 seconds.
FINA co-founder Max Ritter inspected the judge’s scorecards. Two of the three first-place judges believed that Devitt had finished first and the third voted for Larson. Of the three-second-place judges, two found that Devitt finished in second place and the third found that Larson was second. Ritter explained to chief judge Runströmer (Sweden) that the results proved a tie. Runstrümer made the final decision and declared Devitt the winner. However, at the time, the rules did not provide the chief judge to have a vote or allow him to break ties. That job was supposed to be broken by referring back to the timing machine. So, the official results gave Devitt the gold and Larson silver, both with the identical time of 55.2 seconds. The USA appealed, providing videotaped footage of the finish which they believed showed Larson the winner. Headed by Jan de Vries, President of FINA in 1960, the appeal jury rejected it, Devitt remaining the winner.
This controversy made way for the need for electronic touchpads to be included in swimming events to determine finish and accurate timing. And thanks to the hard work of our 2020 ISHOF Honor Contributor, Peter Hurzeler, it soon became a reality.
Today we Celebrate what would have been 1984 Honor Swimmer Bill Mulliken’s 81st Birthday !
BILL MULLIKEN (USA)
1984 Honor Swimmer
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1960 gold 9200m breaststroke); PAN AMERICAN GAMES: gold (200m breaststroke); AAU NATIONALS: 1 (220yd breaststroke); NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS: 1 (200yd breaststroke); AMERICAN RECORDS: 5 9200yd, 200m, 220yd breaststroke).
Sometimes it’s not so much who you beat as when you beat them. That’s the case for Bill Mulliken, the Chicago lawyer and Masters swimmer.
Mulliken is credited by 1960 U.S. Olympic coach Gus Stager with the surprise Olympic gold medal that inspired the U.S. team to beat the favored Australians. The USA had not won an Olympic breaststroke since 1924, yet nobody should have been too surprised noting Mulliken’s past record.
While it was true that Mulliken only occasionally beat the Michigan and Indiana breaststrokers in U.S. Collegiate or AAU competition, he had, on occasion, beaten everybody at everything. As his coach Raymond Ray so proudly put it, “Bill has held, at one time or another, the National Collegiate 200yd (breaststroke) record, the National Indoor 220 yd (breaststroke) record, the Pan-American 200m and the Olympic 200m breaststroke records.” Ray might have added the U.S. Olympic trial, for without this one more unexpected win, Bill Mulliken would not have been in Rome to put Australia in his Mulliken stew.
Welcome Bill Mulliken to the International Swimming Hall of Fame where winners are always remembered.
We look back on one of ISHOF’s first Masters Swimmers, Tim Garton, as we celebrate what would have been his 78th Birthday
TIM GARTON (USA)
1997 Honor Masters Swimmer
FOR THE RECORD, MASTERS SWIMMING: WORLD RECORDS (21: freestyle, butterfly, individual medley), USMS RECORDS: (52: freestyle, butterfly, breaststroke, individual medley); 1984 MASTERS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (50m, 100m, 200m freestyle, 50m, 100m butterfly, 200m, 400m IM, 50m breaststroke); 1985 MASTERS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (50m, 100m, 200m, 400m freestyle, 200m, 400m IM); 1986 MASTERS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (100m, 200m, 400m freestyle, 200m, 400m IM, 100m butterfly); 1988 MASTERS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (100m, 200m, 400m freestyle, 200m, 400m IM, 100m butterfly); 1990 MASTERS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (100m, 200m, 400m freestyle, 200m, 400m IM, 100m butterfly); 1992 MASTERS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (100m freestyle), silver (400m freestyle, 200m IM), bronze (400m IM); 1994 MASTERS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (100m, 200m freestyle, 200m, 400m IM), silver (400m freestyle); 40-44 Age Group: 5 WORLD RECORDS; 45-49 Age Group: 9 WORLD RECORDS, 16 NATIONAL RECORDS; 50-54 Age Group: 7 WORLD RECORDS, 13 NATIONAL RECORDS; 30-34 Age Group: 6 NATIONAL RECORDS; 35-39 Age Group: 5 NATIONAL RECORDS; US MASTERS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS (85): 63 short course (100yd butterfly, 200yd breaststroke, 50yd, 100yd, 200yd, 500yd freestyle, 100yd, 200yd, 400yd IM), 26 long course (100m butterfly, 50m, 100m 200m freestyle, 200m, 400m IM).
Few male swimmers have been as dominant as Tim Garton in Masters Swimming from both the beginning of the program and the beginning of the first age group, 25-29. Over Tim’s 25 years of competing in Masters Swimming, he has accumulated over 39 world age group records and 144 national records, all in the toughest age group categories.
After all, swimming was a big part of his family. He learned to swim at age two and one-half in Elkhart, Wisconsin. But, after that age, his older and bigger brother began holding him underwater. Tim didn’t receive any sympathy from his mother, and she informed him he would either have to get tougher or learn to swim better. So, she woke him every morning at 7:00 a.m. to train until he got as strong as his brother. Although he succeeded in a few months, the workout routine lasted a lifetime.
He swam in the AAU Wisconsin age group program and in high school, but his first big opportunity to swim in a serious program came when he attended Yale University from 1960 to 1964. Yale workouts were approximately 2000 yards in distance and represented a 500% increase over his minimal high school program. He faced daily workouts with 1964 Olympians Steve Clark and others, resulting in faster times in all events. He was twice elected to the NCAA All American team, based on relay performances. He failed to make the 1964 US Olympic team after graduation, but the pent up frustrations of not having achieved his swimming goals may have given Tim the motivation to prove himself in the Masters Swimming program once it started in the early 1970s.
Garton moved to Vail, Colorado in 1967, and has lived there ever since. In 1972, he read about the results of the Masters National Championships, and he and his close friend Chuck Ogilby of Indiana University, decided to train for the 1973 championships. He was the surprise new comer, winning the 200m IM and 200m and 100m freestyles, setting a national record in the 100m, the first of 144 national records through 1996. The older he got, the faster his times were improving. By his late 30s and early 40s, his times compared favorably with some of his college efforts.
In 1984, Tim hired Mark Schubert’s assistant coach at Mission Viejo, Al Dorsett, to work closely with him to help develop a Masters program and build a better swimming facility in Vail. All three endeavors succeeded.
Tim competed in the first International and World Masters Championships and throughout the past seven championships has won 36 gold, three silver and one bronze. Twenty gold medals were earned in the 40-44 age group, and he won no less than six titles at each championship in 9 events – 50m, 100m, 200m, 400m freestyle, 50m, 100m butterfly, 50m breaststroke, and 200m, 400m IM. His versatility is overwhelming, and he has set 39 world records in the freestyle, butterfly and individual medley, to the present.
He has attended over 24 US National Championship Masters meets winning 94 first places, 30 of those 94 as national records. Tim holds 144 total national records.
In 1991, Tim was diagnosed with lymphoma, considered an incurable cancerous disease of the lymph system. During chemotherapy and radiation treatments, he continued to train at reduced levels. When his cancer was declared in remission, in August of 1991, some of the doctors credited his devotion to swimming as being largely responsible. In 1992, he started competing again, and in the World Championships in Indianapolis, he won his 100th national and international victory by winning the 100m freestyle. Tim has been a member of the United States Masters Swimming All-American team every year from 1979 to 1996. He was the first man in the 50-54 age group to lower the USMS national record for the 100yd IM to under one minute, a time many of the 25-29 swimmers wish they could do.
Tim Garton lost his battle with cancer in late April, 2016. His wife Mara, still keeps Tim’s memory alive at ISHOF and recently become a member of the One in a Thousand Club!
Happy Birthday JOHN KINSELLA !!!
JOHN KINSELLA (USA)
1986 Honor Swimmer
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1968 silver (1500m freestyle); 1972 gold (relay); WORLD RECORDS: 4 (400m, 1500m freestyle; 2 relays); AAU NATIONALS 11 (200yd, 400yd, 500yd 1650ye, 400m 1500m, 4 mile freestyle); NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS: 6 (500yd, 1650yd freestyle; 2 relays); AMERICAN RECORDS: 9 (500yd, 1650yd, 400m, 1500m, 1 mile freestyle; 1 relay); 1970 Sullivan Award; World Professional Marathon Champion: 1975, 1976, 1978, 1979.
John Kinsella was a big, big swimmer at 6 ft. 3 in. and 200 lbs.
He won the Sullivan Award as the USA’s #1 amateur athlete of the year in 1970, halfway between his two Olympics. He was the dominant high school middle distance swimmer, swimming for Don Watson in Hinsdale, Illinois, and the dominant college middle distance swimmer for Doc Counsilman’s Indiana University. He also dominated and set records lasting 12 years in the U.S. National AAU.
Afterwards, in his professional career, Kinsella was unbeatable, being declared the World’s Professional Champion on a point system including all sanctioned races from 1975 through 1979. During this time he won races across Lake Ontario, the English Channel, and all around the world circuit, usually in world record time. He retired in 1979 with no more swimming worlds to conquer having used his professional earnings to put himself through Harvard Business School.
As a milestone achievement, Kinsella was the first swimmer in history to break 16 minutes for the 1500 Meter swim in 1970.
Let’s celebrate, on this date in 1931 one of the greatest Water Polo Players in Hungarian history was born: Kalman Markovits
KALMAN MARKOVITS (HUN)
1994 Honor Water Polo Player
FOR THE RECORD: 1952 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold; 1956 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold; 1960 OLYMPIC GAMES: bronze; 3 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS (1954, 1958, 1962); WORLD STUDENT GAMES CHAMPION (1954); Coach of 1992 Hungarian Olympic Team; gold; Coach of 1968 Hungarian Olympic Team: bronze.
Not only is Kalman Markovits a water polo player extraordinaire, but he has the master ability to coach his players onto an Olympic gold medal. One of the famous Hungarian trio with Hall of Famers Deszo Gyarmati and Gyorgi Karpati, Kalman Markovits was one of the cleverest and fastest water polo players to compete for Hungary, a country that has dominated the sport of water polo for decades.
Markovits was on Hungary’s Olympic gold medal teams of 1952 and 1956. At the 1960 Olympics, the Hungarian team took a bronze. Kalman Markovits played on the 1954, 1958 and 1962 gold medal European Championship teams. All told, he played in 137 international competitions for his native country.
After retiring from playing, Markovits coached the 1968 Hungarian Olympic team to a bronze medal and won the Europe Cup and Super World Cup that same year. He moved on to the Spanish National Team in 1985 and spent two years with the Mexican National Team before he made his way home to Hungary and the Hungarian National Team.
Markovits once again made his country proud as the 1992 Hungarian Olympic water polo team won the gold medal in Barcelona.
The world of water polo and all of aquatics lost Kalman on December 5, 2009.
ISHOF Honoree and The Race Club’s Two New Metrics to Evaluate Breaststroke….
Click Here:
https://theraceclub.com/aqua_note/two-new-metrics-to-evaluate-breaststroke/
August 24 – Celebrate the birth of one of Hawaii’s greatest sons and 1965 ISHOF Honoree, DUKE KAHANAMOKU
DUKE KAHANAMOKU (USA)
1965 Honor Swimmer
The Duke was a great friend to ISHOF in the early days. He helped ISHOF and Buck whenever and however he could He flew all the way to Fort Lauderdale for the grand opening of the pool in the mid 1960’s and for his induction. He was part of the first class of the greatest aquatic athletes ever. Along with Johnny Weissmuller and Buster Crabbe, the trio were always the crowd favorites.
Below is the 1965 bio for Duke’s induction. Also are some photos of his career and visits to ISHOF. One of the great ones……..
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 Edinburgh, 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.
Duke putting his “handprints in cement”
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.
Duke’s original Honoree alcove in the “new” ISHOF museum
Duke adding Hawaiian waters to the new pool
Johnny Weissmuller, Duke, Buster Crabbe