Happy Birthday Kenneth Treadway!!
Kenneth Treadway (USA)
Honor Contributor (1983)
Having been born in Oklahoma during the 1930’s into a Cherokee Indian Sharecropper family may cause one to ask, “How in the world did this guy become an inductee into the International Swimming Hall of Fame?” Buck Dawson would have answered that question by telling you, “He’s just a good ol’ country boy who loves people and swimming”.
Ken Treadway has received almost every award our sport has to offer, from receiving the AAU “Neptune” award in 1972, then swimming’s highest honor, to being inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1983. Ken doesn’t need another award, in fact he recently donated some of the ones he did receive to ISHOF. But he does deserve to be remembered for all he has done for swimming. Because Ken and his wife Bettie don’t travel much anymore, Buck Dawson believed the Olympic Trials in Omaha, just a three hour drive from their home in Overland Park, Kansas, provided swimming with an opportunity to recognize and once again thank Ken for all he has done for swimming.
Over a span of 45 years Ken Treadway was a competitor, coach, official, chairman of state, national and Olympic Committees as well as an employee of the Phillips Petroleum Company. He founded the Phillips 66 Splash Club, in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, in 1950 and the team is still one of the most successful swimming organizations in history. He then went on to found the successful Phillips 66 Long Beach Aquatic Club with Coach Don Gambril.
He persuaded his company to sponsor an annual swim meet and in 1963 this led to Phillips’ hosting four national swimming championships. In 1972, Ken and Dr. John Bogert, another “Red Man,” developed a plan to become a National Sponsor of Swimming. The sponsorship started in 1973 and today ConocoPhillips’ sponsorship of USA Swimming is the longest continuous corporate sponsorship of any amateur sport in America.
It was Ken and the late Dr. Hal Henning who had the honor of representing the United States at the FINA meeting when the International Swimming Hall of Fame was approved by that international body of aquatics.
Coach Peter Daland can tell stories all night about his and Ken’s travels around the world in support of a program Ken started called “Coaching The Coaches”. Both of them were great international ambassadors for the country, for ISHOF, for the American Swimming Coaches Association, for AAU Swimming and their sponsor, ConocoPhillips. In fact one of their sojourns was requested by the U. S. Department of State!
Treadway’s ability to get right at the crux of a problem, and then lead parties to an effective diplomatic compromise, endeared him to the swimming world, created advancement for him at Phillips and led to his selection as a member of the U.S. Olympic Swimming Team’s Staff in Tokyo, Mexico City and Munich.
Not the least of his accomplishments was finding a pathway for swimming and diving to operate in a high level business- like manner and to enhance their image without “passing the plate” at swim meets.
In 1983, he was inducted into the ISHOF as an Honoree Contributor, and now, we take time to remember and honor him again with ISHOF’s President’s Award.
ISHOF salutes Black History Month: Remembering the Tennessee State Tigersharks
Left to Right, First Row: Captain Meldon Woods, Co-Captain Clyde Jame, Ronnie Webb, Jesse Dansby, Osborne Roy, Cornelias Shelby, Frank Oliver, James Bass and Roland Chatman. Second Row: Cecil Glenn, William Vaughn, Raymond Pierson, Robert Jenkins, George Haslarig, Leroy Brown, Frank Karsey, John Maxwell and Coach Thomas H. Hughes.
The Tennessee State University Tigersharks finished the 1960 – 61 swimming season with a 6 – 1 record, losing only to Indiana’s Ball State University, one of two white schools willing to swim TSU. The first time they met in the 1950s, TSU won. Co-captain Clyde James, was a finalist in the NAIA National Championships in the 100 yard butterfly. Clyde went on to become a legendary coach at the Brewster Recreation Center and Martin Luther King HS in Detroit. Tennessee State started its swimming team in 1945 and it’s coach, Thomas “Friend” Hughes was the first African American accepted as a member of the College Swimming Coaches Association in 1947.
Throwback Thursday: Michael Phelps’ 41 Days to Remember in the 200 Individual Medley
by John Lohn – Editor-in-Chief
05 February 2026
Throwback Thursday: Michael Phelps’ 41 Days to Remember in the 200 Individual Medley
The lower-key nature of the 2003 Santa Clara Invitational belied what unfolded in the water of the George Haines International Swim Center. On the final day of the meet in Northern California, Michael Phelps treated the fans in attendance – and fellow athletes – to a surprise world-record performance.
In the final of the 200-meter individual medley, Phelps ripped a time of 1:57.94 to break the nine-year-old global standard of Finland’s Jani Sievinen (1:58.16). It was the sixth world record of Phelps’ fledgling career, No. 5 on an individual basis. While certainly a sensational swim, it was just the start of 41 sensational days by Phelps in the event.
More often than not, world-record performances slice miniscule amounts of time from the previous mark. Of course, there are outliers to this statement. For instance, last summer saw Frenchman Leon Marchand lop more than a second off the world record in the 200 IM. But for the most part, world records are lowered by a tenth here and a few hundredths there. Additionally, we don’t often witness multiple global standards in the same event within a tight timeframe.
So, the Summer of 2003 was anything but ordinary as Phelps, not yet an Olympic medalist, wore his eraser to a nub as he assaulted the record book in the 200 individual medley.
Phelps’ six-week assault began in late June at the Santa Clara Invitational, formerly a can’t-miss meet for elite athletes targeting a major summer competition. For Phelps, the meet was a tuneup for the impending World Championships in Barcelona, where Phelps would tackle a multi-event program at a global meet for the first time. The previous summer featured the Pan Pacific Championships and while Phelps contested multiple events in Yokohama, Japan, the meet did not include European foes.
On the final day of action in Santa Clara, Phelps left little doubt his trip to Barcelona would be memorable. Nine years after Sievinen set the world record in the 200 IM at the World Champs in Rome, Phelps cut .22 from the standard. For the first time, a swimmer covered the event in under 1:58, the effort further elevating Phelps’ rising star.
Less than a month later, Phelps – as expected – was the star of the World Championships. He doubled in the medley events and retained his world title in the 200 butterfly. A silver medal was added in the 100 butterfly. The 200 IM supplied the greatest fireworks. After Phelps set a world record of 1:57.52 in the semifinals, Phelps defeated Aussie Ian Thorpe by three-plus seconds in the final, a world record of 1:56.04 getting the job done. Phelps was now more than two seconds faster than anyone else in the history of the event.
Yet, he wasn’t done.
After arriving home from Barcelona, coach Bob Bowman had Phelps make the short trip from his training base at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club to the University of Maryland, which was hosting the United States National Championships. Could Phelps hold his taper from Worlds? That answer was emphatically provided when he broke his fourth world record of the summer in the 200 IM, going 1:55.94.
In the span of 41 days, Phelps became the first man under 1:58, 1:57 and 1:56 in the 200 individual medley. Phelps had a little extra motivation in Maryland, as Bowman told him he would shave his head if he went under 1:56. By the next summer, of course, Phelps had eight Olympic medals (six gold) from Athens.
“Wow. That’s all I can say,” Phelps said. “I shocked myself for sure. “I said, ‘I’m going out after it. I’m going out in 54 and try to hang on.’ I left it all in the pool.”
The Longest-Standing World Records in Each Event (Men’s Edition)
by John Lohn – Editor-in-Chief
28 January 2026
The Longest-Lasting World Records in Each Event (Men’s Edition)
What are the longest-standing world records in each event? Swimming World analyzed the sport’s world-record progressions to present that data, which can be found below. It turns out that several current world records are also the most-enduring, such as Adam Peaty’s breaststroke standards in the 50-meter and 100-meter distances. And not surprising, several of the longest-lasting marks are from the 2009 season, where super-suit technology powered the sport.
This list focuses on the longest-lasting singular world record in each event, not the athlete who has held a standard for the greatest duration. For example, Michael Phelps’ longest-lasting world record in the 400-meter individual medley was 14 years, 11 months and three days, the span between his swim at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and the day Leon Marchand broke the record at the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka. However, Phelps was the world-record holder in the 400 IM for 20-plus years, with his initial record in the event set in 2002 in Fort Lauderdale. A separate article in the coming weeks will look at the longest world-record reigns.
Here are the longest-lasting world records in each event:
50 Freestyle
Cesar Cielo (Brazil) – 20.91December 18, 2009-Present (16 Years, 1 Month, 10 Days)
100 Freestyle
Cesar Cielo (Brazil) – 46.91July 30, 2009-August 13, 2022 (13 Years, 0 Months, 13 Days)
200 Freestyle
Paul Biedermann (Germany) – 1:42.00July 25, 2009-Present (16 Years, 6 Months, 3 Days)
400 Freestyle
Paul Biedermann (Germany) – 3:40.07July 26, 2009-April 12, 2025 (15 Years, 8 Months, 17 Days)
800 Freestyle
Zhang Lin (China) – 7:32.12July 29, 2009-Present (16 Years, 5 Months, 30 Days)
1500 Freestyle
Sun Yang (China) – 14:31.02August 4, 2012-August 4, 2024 (12 Years, 0 Months, 0 Days)
50 Backstroke
Liam Tancock (Great Britain) – 24.04August 2, 2009-August 4, 2018 (9 Years, 2 Days)
100 Backstroke
Aaron Peirsol (United States) – 51.94July 8, 2009-August 13, 2016 (7 Years, 1 Month, 5 Days)
200 Backstroke
Aaron Peirsol (United States) – 1:51.92July 31, 2009-Present (16 Years, 5 Months, 28 Days)
50 Breaststroke
Adam Peaty (Great Britain) – 25.95July 25, 2017-Present (8 Years, 6 Months, 3 Days)
100 Breaststroke
Adam Peaty (Great Britain) – 56.88July 21, 2019-Present (6 Years, 6 Months, 7 Days)
200 Breaststroke
Mike Barrowman (United States) – 2:10.16July 29, 1992-October 2, 2002 (10 Years, 2 Months, 3 Days)
50 Butterfly
Rafael Munoz (Spain) – 22.43April 5, 2009-July 1, 2018 (9 Years, 2 Months, 26 Days)
100 Butterfly
Michael Phelps (United States) – 49.82August 1, 2009-July 26, 2019 (9 Years, 11 Months, 25 Days)
200 Butterfly
Michael Phelps (United States) – 1:51.51July 29, 2009-July 24, 2019 (9 Years, 11 Months, 25 Days)
200 Individual Medley
Ryan Lochte (United States) – 1:54.00July 28, 2011-July 30, 2025 (14 Years, 0 Months, 2 Days)
400 Individual Medley
Michael Phelps (United States) – 4:03.84August 10, 2008-July 23 2023 (14 Years, 11 Months, 13 Days)
Happy Birthday Mark Spitz!!
MARK SPITZ (USA) 1977 Honor Swimmer
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1968 gold (4x100m, 4x200m freestyle relay), silver (100m butterfly), bronze (100m freestyle); 1972 gold (100m, 200m freestyle; 100m, 200m butterfly; 4x100m, 4x200m freestyle relay; 4x100m medley relay); PAN AMERICAN GAMES: 1967 (5 gold); WORLD RECORDS: 33; NATIONAL AAU CHAMPIONSHIPS: 24; AMERICAN RECORDS: 38; NCAA Titles: 8; 1972 “World Swimmer of the Year”.
Mark Spitz was the 1971 Sullivan Award winner as the AAU’s top athlete in any sport, an omen of things to come. His 7 gold medals in the 1972 Olympics are all the more remarkable in that all were World Records. They were in such varied distances as the sprint 100m Freestyle and the endurance 200m Butterfly. He was everybody’s World Athlete of the Year for 1972 and along with Johnny Weissmuller is rated one of the greatest swimmers the world has ever known. This remarkable consistency was not easily come by. Always brilliant he ranged from the World’s best 10-and-under to the most disappointing swimmer at the 1968 Olympics before sticking it to his critics once and for all in Munich. Spitz was fortunate to have three of the greatest swim coaches the United States has known — Hall of Famers Sherm Chavoor, Doc Counsilman and George Haines.
The Longest-Lasting World Records in Each Event (Women’s Edition)
by John Lohn – Editor-in-Chief
05 February 2026
The Longest-Lasting World Records in Each Event (Women’s Edition)
World records are spectacular by nature, a performance better than anything previously produced. But some world records hold iconic status, thanks to their durability. For example, distance-freestyle legend Janet Evans owns three of the longest-standing world records in history, her former marks in the 400-meter freestyle, 800 freestyle and 1500 freestyle all enduring for at least 17 years.
A week after Swimming World examined the longest-standing world records in the history of men’s competition, we shift our focus to the longest-lasting global marks in women’s action. The records included highlight the oldest singular performances registered, not the individual who held the world record for the greatest stretch of time.
50 Freestyle
Britta Steffen (Germany) – 23.73August 2, 2009-July 29, 2017 (7 Years, 11 Months, 26 Days)
100 Freestyle
Willy den Ouden (Netherlands) – 1:04.6February 27, 1936-February 21, 1956 (19 Years, 11 Months, 25 Days)
200 Freestyle
Ragnhild Hveger (Denmark) – 2:21.7September 11, 1938-February 25, 1956 (19 Years, 5 Months, 14 Days)
400 Freestyle
Janet Evans (United States) – 4:03.85September 22, 1988-May 12, 2006 (17 Years, 7 Months, 20 Days)
800 Freestyle
Janet Evans (United States) – 8:16.22August 20, 1989-August 16, 2008 (18 Years, 11 Months, 27 Days)
1500 Freestyle
Janet Evans (United States) – 15:52.10March 26, 1988-June 17, 2007 (19 Years, 2 Months, 22 Days)
50 Backstroke
Zhao Jing (China) – 27.06July 30, 2009-August 21, 2018 (9 Years, 0 Months, 22 Days)
100 Backstroke
Gemma Spofforth (Great Britain) – 58.12July 28, 2009-July 25, 2017 (7 Years, 11 Months, 27 Days)
200 Backstroke
Krisztina Egerszegi (Hungary) – 2:06.62August 25, 1991-February 16, 2008 (16 Years, 5 Months, 22 Days)
50 Breaststroke
Jessica Hardy (United States) – 29.80August 7, 2009-August 3, 2013 (3 Years, 11 Months, 27 Days)
Ruta Meilutyte (Lithuania) – 29.48August 3, 2013-July 30, 2017 (3 Years, 11 Months, 27 Days)
100 Breaststroke
Lilly King (United States) – 1:04.13July 25, 2017-Present (8 Years, 6 Months, 10 Days)
200 Breaststroke
Rikke Moeller Pederson (Denmark) – 2:19.11August 1, 2013-July 30, 2021 (7 Years, 11 Months, 29 Days)
50 Butterfly
Sarah Sjostrom (Sweden) – 24.43July 5, 2014-Present (11 Years, 6 Months, 30 Days)
100 Butterfly
Mary T. Meagher (United States) – 57.93August 16, 1981-August 23, 1999 (18 Years, 0 Months, 7 Days)
200 Butterfly
Mary T. Meagher (United States) – 2:05.96August 13, 1981-May 17, 2000 (18 Years, 9 Months, 4 Days)
200 Individual Medley
Wu Yanyan (China) – 2:09.72October 17, 1997-March 25, 2008 (10 Years, 5 Months, 8 Days)
400 Individual Medley
Petra Schneider (East Germany) – 4:36.10July 26, 1982-October 13, 1997 (15 Years, 2 Months, 17 Days)
ISHOF and Masters Honoree Laura Val Breaks Four SCM Masters World Records in First Meet in 75-79 Age Group
Laura Val broke four Masters world records in her first meet in the 75–79 age group, adding to a legendary career that includes 430+ world marks.
by Terin Frodyma 11
February 03rd, 2026
2026 Fabulous Las Vegas Masters SCM Meet at UNLV
January 17, 2026
Buchanan Natatorium, Las Vegas, NV
SCM (25 meters)
In the newest chapter of an already decorated Masters Swimming career, Laura Val, a 47-time individual Masters All-Star, competed in her first short-course meet in the 75-79 age group. Wasting no time, Val settled into her world record-breaking ways, notching four World Aquatics Masters World Records at the Fabulous Las Vegas Masters Short Course Meet on January 17th.
Val, a representative of Team Redbird in the Southern Pacific LSMC, picked up her first World Record of the meet in the 100 backstroke, turning in the 10th fastest time in the mixed event at the meet, but the fastest ever in the women’s 75-79 age group, touching in 1:18.19, smashing Cecilia McCloskey’s time from January of 2025 in 1:23.61.
In the 50 free, Val powered to a final time of 30.95, bettering Charlotte Davis’ two and a half month old World Record mark of 33.21. In the very next event, Val would lower McCloskey’s 50 backstroke World Record of 38.04 down to 35.71.
To put a pin in a historic showing, Val would take down another one of Davis’ freestyle marks when she clocked a 1:0.53 in the 100 free, clipping the former mark of 1:11.92 that Davis set in March of last year.
The career of Val includes over 1,000 individual All-American honors and more than 430 career world records broken across both long course and short course events, with her first coming as early as 1987. She also is the current holder of 72 USMS National Records across SCY, SCM, and LCM.
Today, Val boasts 44 World Aquatics Masters World Records that stand today (26 SCM, 18 LCM), with her longest held mark coming in the short course 200 butterfly for the women’s 55-59 age group, where she set the all-time mark in 2:32.13 in September of 2008.
Val began her swimming career at the age of 10, joining the Mountain View Dolphins Swim Team, two years later she would become a Junior Olympic National Champion in the water.
She later enrolled at San Diego State University, where she earned a nursing degree and graduated in 1972. 12 years later, Val joined the Los Altos Masters team, with the goal to train and use it as a workout. A year later, she raced in the U.S. Masters National Championships, where she broke six national records, and kickstarted one of the most decorated Masters careers in history.
In 2003, Val would be inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame, and in 2004, she was inducted into the Masters International Swimming Hall Of Fame. In the more than two decades since, Val would rewrite both national and world record books, and firmly place herself in the conversation for one of the greatest masters swimmers of all time.
CSCCAA Honors IOC President Kirsty Coventry with McCaffree Award
Photo Courtesy: CSCAA
by Matthew De George – Senior Writer
03 February 2026, 02:53pm
Kirsty Coventry, former NCAA champion for the Auburn Tigers, back-to-back Olympic champion, and current President of the International Olympic Committee, has been named the Charles McCaffree Award winner by the College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America on Tuesday.
Selected by the CSCAA Board of Directors, the Charles McCaffree Award recognizes a collegiate swimming or diving graduate who has achieved outstanding success beyond the pool, exemplifying leadership, service, and lasting impact on sport and society. Coventry will be recognized at the 63rd Annual CSCAA College Swimming & Diving Awards Celebration May 4 in Chicago, Illinois.
Coventry’s athletic legacy is unparalleled. Collegiately, she competed for Auburn University, where she trained under co-head coaches David Marsh and Kim Brackin and emerged as one of the most accomplished swimmers in NCAA history. She led Auburn to three consecutive NCAA team championships (2002–2004) and earned seven individual NCAA titles, 25 All-America honors, and SEC Female Athlete of the Year (2004–05) recognition. Coventry also set multiple program records, including the 200-yard backstroke (1:50.54), and was honored as the nation’s top female collegiate swimmer with the 2005 Honda Sports Award.
“Since 2001, it has been evident that Kirsty seeks excellence and surrounds herself with hardworking, ambitious, and disciplined teammates,” said Brackin, Coventry’s coach at Auburn University and later as a postgraduate while Brackin served as head coach at the University of Texas. “She has always embraced audacious goals—from believing we could win the 2002 NCAA team title after finishing third at the SEC Championships to ultimately winning Olympic gold.”
On the world stage, Coventry is one of the most decorated Olympic swimmers in history. She competed in five Olympic Games (2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2016), capturing seven Olympic medals, including two gold medals in the 200-meter backstroke, and setting multiple world records. Her success established her as one of Africa’s most accomplished Olympic athletes.
“Kirsty carefully navigates her environment to ensure she is supported by like-minded teammates, family, and friends,” Brackin added. “Within that setting, she demonstrates a relentless drive and forward-thinking nature, leading both democratically and decisively. These qualities were nurtured during her time at Auburn, and I am confident her collegiate swimming experience helped shape her leadership trajectory.”
Since retiring from competitive swimming, Coventry’s influence has expanded well beyond competition. A dedicated global sports leader, she has served in numerous international roles, including as a member of the International Olympic Committee and Chair of the IOC Athletes’ Commission. In March 2025, Coventry made history when she was elected the first woman and first African President of the IOC, officially assuming the role in June 2025.
“Unlike many athletes who prioritize rest during Opening Ceremonies, Kirsty always insisted on attending,” Brackin said. “The ceremony embodied her Olympic spirit, and she has consistently demonstrated a deep dedication to the values of the Olympic Movement.”
In addition to her IOC leadership, Coventry has contributed to global sport through service on organizations such as the World Anti-Doping Agency and involvement with the International Surfing Federation, advancing integrity, inclusion, and opportunity across sport. Her personal initiatives, including the Kirsty Coventry Academy and community outreach programs such as HEROES: Empowering Children Through Sport, reflect a deep and sustained commitment to youth development, education, and social impact.
“I have complete confidence that she will lead with passion and a strong moral compass,” Brackin concluded. “I know she will be extremely proud to be recognized by one of the communities that helped shape her into a global sports leader.”
“Kirsty Coventry’s career is defined not only by her extraordinary achievements in the pool, but by her enduring commitment to expanding the reach and impact of sport,” said CSCAA Executive Director Samantha Barany. “Her journey exemplifies how the discipline, leadership, and resilience developed through collegiate swimming translate far beyond competition. As the recipient of the Charles McCaffree Award, Kirsty represents the very best of our sport—a champion who broke barriers in the water and continues to break glass ceilings through her leadership and service beyond the pool.”
McCaffree Award Winners
2025 – Dr. David Scott, Army West Point 1954
2024 – Ambassador Andrew Young, Howard University 1951
2023 – Dr. Tara Kirk Sell, Stanford University 2004
2022 – Victoria Gmelich, Dartmouth University 1991
2020 – Roger Von Jouanne, Southern Illinois 1982 & Walter Rogers, III, Southern Illinois 1962
2019 – Dr. Brian Casey, University of Notre Dame 1985
2018 – Carter Cast, Stanford 1985
2017 – Morgan Burke, Purdue University 1973
2016 – Brad Snyder, U.S. Naval Academy 2006
2015 – Dr. James DeBord, University of Illinois 1969
2014 – John Davis, University of North Carolina 1991
2013 – Major Ray O’Donnell, University of Hawaii 2001 & Dr. Steven Scott, Springfield College 1972
2012 – Frank Comfort, Syracuse University 1967
2011 – Adolph Kiefer, University of Texas 1939
2008 – R. Todd Ruppert, Kenyon College 1978
2006 – Chuck Wielgus, Providence College 1972
2005 – Rowdy Gaines, Auburn University 1981
1998 – Pat Wall
1997 – Jody Durst, University of California, Berkley 1968
1996 – Edwin G. Foulke, Jr., NC State State University 1974
1995 – Dr. Steve Rerych, Columbia University 1969
1994 – Jim Veres
1993 – Dr. John Crecine, University of Michigan 1962
1992 – Robert Helmick, Drake University 1957
1991 – Frank McKinney, Indiana University 1961
1990 – ‘Tiger’ Holmes, University of Florida 1948
1989 – Charles Keating, University of Cincinnati 1966
1988 – William Simon, Lafayette College 1952
1987 – Dave McCampbell, U.S. Naval Academy 1933
1986 – Paul (Buddy) Bacha, Army West Point 1965
1985 – Hal Henning, North Central College 1941
1984 – Alvin Benedict, Rutgers University 1948
Black History Month The Story of Charles Jackson French – A Hero For Our Time
by Bruce Wigo
On January 19, 2020, the United States Navy announced it was naming a new aircraft carrier after African American WWII war hero “Dorie” Miller. The announcement came more than 78 years after the events at Pearl Harbor that earned him the Navy Cross, the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps’ second-highest military decoration awarded for sailors who distinguish themselves for extraordinary heroism in combat with an armed enemy force. The U.S.S. Doris Miller is seen as a belated salute to the contributions of African Americans in the military. But it is just a first step. There is another Navy man who was at least equally heroic and deserves recognition.
The world first heard about this story on October 21st, 1942, when U.S. Navy Ensign Robert Adrian was in the Hollywood studios of the NBC Broadcasting Company. He was there for a weekly radio program called, It Happened in the Service. “For the past week,” the solemn sounding host began, “the prayers of the nation have been turned toward the Solomon islands, a small group of strategic islands in the South Pacific. Right now, one of the greatest battles of history is raging there and in the waters of the surrounding islands, and here in our studio tonight is a gallant naval officer who has already tasted the fury of that Solomon battle and who has had his ship blasted out from under him. But before we meet Ensign Robert Adrian, let’s listen to his story.”
That was the cue for dramatic organ music and the sound of sirens and explosions. Amidst those cacophonous sounds came a voice calmly announcing: “Abandon ship, all hands, abandon ship.” Adrian was the junior officer on the bridge when it took a direct hit from a Japanese ship. He was knocked unconscious for a moment and when he came to, he felt the ship turning on its side and sinking. Although wounded in his legs and with blast fragments in his eyes that clouded his vision, he managed to float over into the water with his life jacket as the ship sank below him. As he drifted, he saw the Japanese ships turn their searchlights and machine guns on the survivors. Then he heard voices and found a life raft filled with badly wounded shipmates. Upon questioning the men, he found only one shipmate who had not been wounded. It was Charles Jackson French, a negro mess attendant known only by his last name. When Adrian told French that the current was carrying them toward the Japanese occupied island, French volunteered to swim the raft away from shore. Adrian told him it was impossible – that he would only be giving himself up to the sharks that surrounded them. But French responded that he was a powerful swimmer and was less afraid of the sharks than he was of the Japanese. He stripped off his clothes, asked for help to tie a rope around his waist and slipped into the water. “Just keep telling me if I’m goin’ the right way,” he said. French swam and swam all night, 6 to 8 hours and pulled the raft well out to sea. At sunrise, they where spotted by scout aircraft who dispatched a marine landing craft to pick them up and returned them safely behind American lines.
When the dramatization ended, the host returned to the microphone: “And now standing here beside me is Ensign Bob Adrian of Ontario, Oregon. Ensign, yours was certainly an unusual rescue.”
“Yes, it was,” agreed Adrian. “And I can assure you that all the men on that raft are grateful to mess attendant French for his brave action off Guadacanal that night.”
“Well, he is certainly a credit to the finest traditions of the Navy.”
Adrian was then prompted to give a patriotic enlistment appeal and for everyone at home to unite behind the war effort.
Photo Courtesy:
The next day, the Associated Press picked up the story of the “powerful Negro mess attendant who swam six hours through shark-infested waters, towing to safety a raft load of wounded seamen.” The story reached Philadelphia and the War Gum Trading Card Company, which as the name suggests, sold bubble gum with commemorative baseball-like cards depicting the war’s heroes and events. The card, captioned as: “Negro Swimmer Tows Survivors,” was #129 in the 1942 set. It has a beautiful color rendition of French towing the raft of wounded seamen in wavy blue water with two shark fins near the raft. The flip side told the story, without knowing the identity of the hero beyond being a “Negro mess attendant, known only as ‘French.’” It went on to say that because Ensign Adrian was immediately hospitalized, he “never learned the full name of the heroic swimmer.”
Then, on October 30th, NBC revealed it had learned about French through the Navy Personnel Bureau in Washington. He was 23-year-old Charles Jackson French, of Foreman, Arkansas. The revelation brought a passionate editorial reaction from the Pittsburgh Courier, one the nation’s leading Black newspapers.
“All those who thrill to high HEROISM are paying tribute to a black boy from Arkansas, who risked his life that his white comrades might live. We did NOT learn about this act of heroism… from the Navy Department. We learned about it almost incidentally, from Ensign Robert Adrian, white officer of the destroyer Gregory…when he broadcast over an NBC national hookup from Hollywood. He and other white Americans owe their LIVES to a black man whom he identified as a ‘mess attendant named French.’ Mess attendants are none too highly regarded in the United States Navy. They are either Negroes or Filipinos and they are BARRED from service in any other branch of the Navy unless serving in a segregated unit. There is not much OPPORTUNITY for heroism in a ship’s galley or an officers’ ward room. But all the men on a ship are in DANGER in time of battle, no matter where they are serving or what their skin pigment may be…Although Mess Attendant Charles Jackson French of Arkansas was not in a heroic job, he MADE a heroic job out of it. He who had been looked down upon as a caste man, frozen in status, suddenly was looked up to as a SAVIOUR.”
It also described what happened prior to Adrian finding the raft. That French had found the raft floating and had swum around with it, piling “wounded white comrades upon it until it had almost sank.”
“All men honor bravery and LOYALTY, and today all America hails ‘A Mess Attendant named French” who risked death that others might live. Americans like Mess Attendant French and Ensign Adrian, mutually undergoing danger to preserve American freedom for all alike, will make democracy a glowing reality in this country for future generations to enjoy.”
In time it was learned that Charles Jackson French stood 5’8” tall and weighed 195 pounds. He had been born on Sept. 25, 1919, in Foreman, Arkansas. But after his parents died, he moved to Omaha, Nebraska to live with his sister. On December 4, 1937, French enlisted in the Steward/Messman branch of the United States Navy – the only positions open to African Americans at the time. He was assigned to the USS Houston, the flagship of the Asiatic Fleet. As a Mess Attendant 3rd class, his job was to serve meals to white officers and sailors, clear their tables and keep the mess, not a mess. While French was onboard, the Houston was stationed in Hawaii and cruised the Pacific Ocean with stops in the Philippines and Shanghai, to name a few. After his four year commitment ended in 1941, French returned to 2703 North 25th St. in Omaha, Nebraska. But four days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, French re-enlisted as a Steward’s Mate 1st class. He joined the crew of the USS Gregory in March of 1942. Although Stewards were a step up from mess mates, they were derisively labeled “seagoing bellhops” by the black press. Their job was to man the white officers’ mess and clean their quarters.
Back in the USA after the sinking of the Gregory, the “human tugboat” visited relatives in Foreman and received a royal welcome from citizens of all races in Omaha. He appeared before enthusiastic crowds at the halftime of a Creighton football game, at war bond rallies, on a calendar and in newspaper comic strips. There was even talk of a Hollywood film.
In early 1943, Twentieth Century Fox released the film adaptation of the Broadway musical,“Stormy Weather”with an all-black cast of Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Lena Horne, Cab Calloway, Katherine Dunham and Fats Waller. In June, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer brought to the big screen “Cabin in the Sky,” another musical with an all-black cast that included Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Ethel Waters and Lena Horne. Both were hits. “However,” reported the Pittsburgh Courier, “Warner Brothers has it in mind to go all of the companies one better and screen-Immortalize Messman French, the lad who swam through shark-infested waters, towing a raft of wounded sailors to safety after a Japanese sub had sunk their ship in the South Pacific.”
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Based on his incident report, Ensign Adrian had been informed that Mess Attendant French was being recommended for the Navy Cross. It was the second highest honor, just below the Congressional Medal of Honor, and it was the medal that had been awarded to Doris Miller. Then in December of 1943, French’s heroism was immortalized in a poem written entitled “The Strong Swimmer,” by the 1942 Pulitzer Prize recipient, William Rose Benet.
THE STRONG SWIMMERby William Rose Benet*
I have a story fit to tell,In head and heart a song;A burning blue Pacific swell;A raft that was towed along.
Out in the bloody Solomon IslesDestroyer Gregory gone;Ocean that kills for all her smiles,And darkness coming on.
The Gregory’s raft bobbed on the tideLoaded with wounded men.Ensign and seaman clung her side.Seaward she drifted then.
A mess-attendant, a Negro man,Mighty of chest and limb,Spoke up: “Til tow you all I canAs long as I can swim.”
Naked, he wound his waist with a line;Slipped smoothly overside,Where the red bubble tells the brineThat sharks have sheared the tide.
‘I’m going to tow this old craft inSince we ain’t got not one oar’He breathed, as the water lapped his chin;And he inched that raft ashore.
Strongly he stroked, and long he hauledNo breath for any song.His wounded mates clung close, appalled.He towed that raft along.
Clear to the eye the darkening swellWhere glimmering dangers glide;The raft of sailors grimed from HellAfloat on a smoky tide
And a dark shoulder and muscled armLunging, steady and strong.The messman, their brother, who bears a charm,Is towing their raft along.
He gasped, “Just say if I’m go’in right!”Yes, brother, right you are!Danger of ocean or dark of night,You steer by one clear star.
Six hours crawled by. … A barge in sightWith the raft just off the shore. . . .The messman coughed, “Sure, I’m all right’He was just as he was before.
And all that they knew was they called him “French*Not quite a name to sing.Green jungle hell or desert trench,No man did a braver thing.
He’s burned a story in my brain,Set in my heart a song.He and his like, by wave and main,World without end and not in vainAre towing this world along!
From “Day of Deliverance,” copyright, 1944, by William Rose Benet.
A significant award for heroism seemed assured, but it wasn’t to be. All he would receive was a letter of commendation from Adm. William F. Halsey, Jr., then commander, of the Southern Pacific Fleet. It read: “For meritorious conduct in action while serving on board a destroyer transport which was badly damaged during the engagement with Japanese forces in the British Solomon Islands on September 5, 1942. After the engagement, a group of about fifteen men were adrift on a raft, which was being deliberately shelled by Japanese naval forces. French tied a line to himself and swam for more than two hours without rest, thus attempting to tow the raft. His conduct was in keeping with the highest traditions of the Naval Service.” They were eight hours in the water, but Admiral Halsey reduced it to two.
Ensign Adrian was outraged, but the Gregory episode was complicated by the issuance of a posthumous Silver Star to Lt. Cdr. H. F. Bauer, the ship’s CO. Wounded and dying, the skipper had ordered Adrian and the signalman on the bridge to leave him and go to the aid of another crewman who was yelling for help. He was never seen again. By Navy standards, it would be nearly unprecedented for a subordinate to receive a higher decoration for an act of heroism comparable to that of a superior. In addition to the Silver Star, a Destroyer-minelayer was named the USS Harry F. Bauer in 1944.
Charles Jackson French was probably manning his mop or carrying food trays on the USS Endicott when he heard the news. At the time, his destroyer was escorting convoys in the Atlantic theater, along the African coast and in the Caribbean. With the Endicott needing repairs in May of 1944, French was assigned to the USS Frankford, a destroyer that provided support from its five guns for the successful landings on D-Day, along with rescuing survivors of mined ships and downed pilots, and driving off enemy E-boat attacks. In August, the Frankford arrived in Naples, Italy for the invasion of southern France.
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Little was known of French after the war ended and he was soon forgotten. But sometime after the Korean War, he was at a friend’s home in San Diego and told his side of the story. One of those listening was Chester Wright, who repeated what French said in his book, Black Men and Blue Water. French told it pretty much as Adrian had done years earlier, but with a few twists. He laughed when he told how he almost peed himself when he felt the sharks brush against his feet, but guessed they weren’t hungry for a scared black man. As he told of raft being rescued, his mood changed from jovial to anger and tears. After the badly wounded men were taken to the hospital, French and the others were taken to a rest camp where authorities wanted to separate French because he was “colored.” The white boys from the raft and some of the other survivors from the Gregory refused to have him separated. He was a member of the Gregory’s crew, they said, and they were going to stay together. Anyone who thought different had better been better been ready to fight. There was a standoff that lasted some time, with the crew of the Gregory, all covered with oil and grime and looking like madmen, facing off against the masters at arms in their clean and pressed whites. Eventually, they realized the Gregory’s crew meant what they said and backed down. As French told this part of the story, his shoulders shook and tears coursed down his cheeks as he told how the white boys had stood up for him.
According to Wright, French had returned from the war “stressed out,” from seeing too much death and destruction. He was probably discharged with mental problems and left to fend for himself. He died on November 7, 1956 and was buried in the Fort Rosencrans National Cemetery, in San Diego, an almost forgotten hero.
The name of Charles Jackson French resurfaced in 2009, when his story was part of an exhibit on Black Swimming History at the International Swimming Hall of Fame, in Fort Lauderdale. The irony of French’s heroics was that it came at a time when African Americans were prevented from swimming in virtually every swimming pool and public beach in America. When he was being celebrated in Omaha in 1943, there was no pool in the city where he could have taken a dip. So one of the questions that remain is where and how did he become such a powerful swimmer? Unfortunately his surviving relatives don’t have the answer. The best guess is in the Red River and stone quarries near Forman, Ark.
About ten years later, the exhibit came to the attention of a retired Navy couple, who began some research of their own. They found the family of Robert Adrian, who had passed away in 2011, but his family had their own story to tell of Charles Jackson French. Their father rarely spoke of his war experiences, except for French, for if not for a black man named Charles Jackson French, he would tell them, neither he nor any of them would be alive. For his 75th Birthday, Adrian’s children had found an old record amongst their father’s treasures. It had been given to him by NBC back in 1943. It was the recording of It Happened In the Service. Hearing it after all those years brought him to tears.
Adrian had tried to locate French after the war with no success, but he also had suffered another trauma. It was almost exactly a year after the sinking of the Gregory and he was the gunnery officer on the the destroyer USS Boyd, when it came under attack. As the crew was helping to rescue a downed pilot, two enemy shells crashed into the ship, destroying the forward guns and exploded in the engine room, bursting the steam pipes. One officer and eleven men were killed and another eight seriously wounded. It was Adrian who led the rescue team and he had recurring nightmares the rest of his life seeing the bodies of those men burned alive by 800 degree heat. He was at sea for much of his carrier followed by a successful career as a banker.
After his second retirement, he began writing and one of the stories was published in Tin Can Alley, a newsletter that appealed to men who served on destroyers. It was called, Our Night of Hell off Guadalcanal and it told the story of the Gregory and French and his recommendation for the Navy Cross. He spoke about French to Navy Brass, but social justice was not the issue it is today. He had hoped that before he died, French would receive the commendation he deserved, but since it wasn’t he told his children to carry on with his dying wish.
Then in April of 2021, an online post about French from the International Swimming Hall of Fame caught the attention of Rear Admiral Charles Brown, the Navy public affairs officer who said the Navy will see if “it can do more to recognize Petty Officer French.”
In Washington, Nebraska Congressman Don Bacon said that he believed French deserved the Congressional Medal of Honor.
In January of 2024, the United States Navy announced that it will name a ship after Charles Jackson French. The announcement was made by Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro during a keynote address at the Surface Navy’s 36th National Symposium in Arlington, Virginia. The U.S.S. Charles J. French will be an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer.
In fairness and with impartiality a destroyer should be named after French if not the medal of honor set the record straight !!! America home of the free and the brave. Show that the content of a person’s character and not the color of their skin. That is why the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA is the greatest nation in the world *****
Black History Month: During General Slocum Disaster, Harry George Was a Hero
Story by ISHOF Curator, Bruce Wigo
Black History Month: During General Slocum Disaster, Harry George Was a Hero
The General Slocum steamship disaster was the greatest single catastrophe in New York City’s history until Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001. On June 15, 1904, the Gen. Slocum was taking a group of almost 1,400 passengers, mostly women and children, on a trip of New York City’s East River to a picnic on Long Island.
Photo Courtesy: Pittsburgh Courier
The ship caught fire shortly after leaving the dock. Most of the passengers tried to escape the fire by jumping into the water, and because they didn’t know how to swim, they drowned. Bodies of mothers, grandmothers, and girls washed up on the shorelines for days. One of the forgotten heroes, saving some of the passengers, was Harry N. George, an African American.
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George was credited with saving 23 lives through his courage and resolve and was presented the Congressional Medal of Honor. He was also awarded the Life-Saving Gold Medal of New York.
The lesson from the Slocum disaster wasn’t lost on the nation: “Learn to swim!” commanded an editorial in the New York Herald that was repeated throughout the country. “That should be the resolve of every intelligent woman who does not already know how, upon reading the pitiful story of how woman after woman drowned within just a few feet of shore.”
As a consequence of the Slocum disaster, the American Red Cross was moved to begin its water safety and lifesaving programs and swimming became an essential part of public education. Unfortunately, most African Americans were denied the same opportunities to learn to swim, as virtually all pools and beaches were closed to non-whites during the first half of the 20th Century, in spite of the heroics of Harry N. George. It would not be until the 1930s when the first African Americans were certified as Red Cross Water Safety instructors and Lifeguards.