Happy Birthday Rebecca Adlington !!!
Rebecca Adlington (GBR) 2018 Honor Swimmer
FOR THE RECORD: 2008 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (400m freestyle, 800m freestyle); 2012 OLYMPIC GAMES: bronze (400m freestyle, 800m freestyle); 2009 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (LC): bronze (400m freestyle, 4×200m freestyle); 2011 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (LC): gold (800m freestyle), silver (400m freestyle); 2008 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (SC): gold (800m freestyle) , silver (4×200m freestyle); 2006 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS (LC): silver (800m freestyle); 2010 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS (LC): gold (400m freestyle), bronze (4×200m freestyle); 2010 COMMONWEALTH GAMES (Representing England): gold (400m freestyle, 800m freestyle), bronze (200m freestyle, 4×200m freestyle)
The youngest of three girls, Rebecca Adlington naturally wanted to do what her older sisters did, and the sisters were all swimmers. Before long, her desire to keep up with them made her into a serious competitor.
By the age of 14, when she was showing real promise as a distance swimmer, she came under the guidance of coach Bill Furniss, who would remain her coach throughout her career. Her commitment to training combined with mental toughness and her ability to tolerate pain made her one of Britain’s brightest Olympic hopefuls. After a year with Furniss she won the 800m gold medal at the 2004 European Junior Championships.
Both Becky and her coach looked forward to 2005 with high expectations, but early in the year she came down with a case of glandular fever. Then, just as she was getting back in the pool, her sister Laura came down with a case of encephalitis that put her on life-support and fighting for her life for over a month. Laura eventually recovered, but the experience was traumatic for Becky and the next few years were full of ups and downs.
As the British Olympic Trials in 2008 approached, Becky knew she would have to swim her heart out and to the surprise of many, she won the 200 and 400m freestyle, in addition to the 800, which was her signature event. She eventually dropped the 200 to focus on the longer events.
First up in Beijing was the 400m freestyle, an event for which she had not even been certain to qualify for the British team. In the prelims she swam brilliantly and qualified for the finals in lane five. Then, in the final, she went from fifth place with 50 meters to go to snatch the gold medal from American Katie Hoff and teammate Joanne Jackson in a thrilling finger-tip finish. It was the first Olympic gold medal for a British woman since Anita Lonsbrough won the 200m breaststroke in 1960.
When she won the 800m freestyle five days later, destroying the field and smashing Janet Evans‘ 19-year old world record, there was no precedent. Adlington was the most successful woman swimmer Britain ever produced, and the first British swimmer since Henry Taylor had won multiple gold medals one hundred years earlier, in 1908.
Her triumphs in Beijing brought her instant fame: front-page headlines, an open-top bus parade in her home town and a coveted pair of gold Jimmy Choo shoes. In 2009 she became a celebrity spokesperson for the Encephalitis Society and received an Office of the British Order (OBE) by HRH (Her Royal Highness) Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace. In 2010, the refurbished Sherwood Swimming Baths was renamed the Rebecca Adlington Swimming Centre.
And she hadn’t even retired. In fact, between the Beijing and London Olympics, she stood on the podium in every major international event in which she competed, even though she refused to wear the polyurethane suits that helped the world records tumble in 2009. When she won gold in the 800 and silver in the 400m freestyle at the 2011 FINA Championships in Shanghai, expectations were high that she could repeat her double gold medal performance from Beijing in London.
But it was always going to be tougher for her competing at home. In Beijing she was an unknown, which is a tremendous psychological advantage in terms of pressure and surprise. In London, that advantage belonged to a 15-year old American named Katie Ledecky. It just wasn’t to be.
When Adlington took bronze in the 400m, she was delighted, for the 400 was her weaker race. But after winning a second bronze in the 800, the disappointment showed.
The British public adored her and when she retired a few months later, at the age of 23, it was as Great Britain’s most decorated female Olympian of all time. Since then she has joined the BBC as a popular commentator for the aquatic sports. In 2015, she gave birth to a daughter, Summer, and in 2016 she launched Becky Adlington’s Swim Stars, a partnership program designed by Becky for pool operators to make learning to swim fun and enjoyable. Her vision is to ensure that every child leaves primary school able to swim at least 25 meters.
Today in 1881, Capt. Bert Cummins was born, read his story here:
CAPT. BERTRAM WILLIAM “BERT” CUMMINS (GBR) 1974 Honor Contributor
FOR THE RECORD: Created and edited “Swimming Times” magazine for 47 years. The magazine has been published continually longer than any magazine in aquatic history; Served as Southern District Association of England for 60 years and President in 1926; President of Amateur Swimming Association, 1946; Public Relations and Publicity Officer of the ASA between 1947 and 1956; Member of Organizing Committee for swimming events in 1948 Olympic Games.
Bertram William “Bert” Cummins, from Croydon, in Surrey, England created and edited the “Swimming Times” for 47 years. This “Captain” of swimming journalism was a man who truly gave most of his life to the consuming interest of his youth and the love of his old age…swimming. Born on February 16, 1881, Cummins retained a keen interest in the sport for which he has done so much for more than 80 years until his death October 30, 1974. After hearing he had been honored by the International Swimming Hall of Fame, an honor he characteristically attributed it to all those who had helped him.
His magazine, which he started as a four-page give-away called “Waddon News” in 1923, and renamed “Swimming Times” in 1926, had grown from its humble beginnings into a monthly publication of up to 96 pages with 8,000 subscribers in 61 countries. In 1970 Cummins, then in his 90th year, decided to sell it to the Amateur Swimming Association.
He probably would have stayed on to celebrate his golden jubilee at the helm had it not been for the sudden death of his right hand man, Bill Juba (a former director of the Hill of Fame), in April of that year.
Captain Bert’s “Swimming Times” has been published continually longer than any magazine in aquatic history. For many of its fifty plus years it has been the number one periodical in swimming. Sometimes during the Depression (1930s) it was the only swimming magazine published. Not satisfied with being the advertising and circulation manager, sub-editor, picture editor, often writer and always fund raiser to keep his magazine on swimmers’ bookshelves (he published 474 issues), Captain Cummins still found time for a lot of other swimming tasks.
He served as a member of the Southern District Association of England for 60 years, was their President in 1926, President of the Amateur Swimming Association in 1946 and public relations and publicity officer of the Association between 1947 and 1956.
Even during World War I, Cummins couldn’t keep away from swimming. During an eight-day leave away from the frontlines in France, he organized a swim gala for the troops of his division.
He was a member of the Organizing Committee for the swimming events at the 1948 Olympic Games in London and has been always a welcoming, helpful friend to teams visiting Britain.
Two of the undertakings which gave him most pleasure were arranging the 3,500-mile tour of Britain by Hall of Famer Matt Mann and his University of Michigan team in 1951 and the first Synchronized Swimming Clinic Tour in the United Kingdom by the American Champion Beulah Gundling and Canadian Peg Seller in 1953. Cummins through arranging and accompanying this tour, introduced synchronized swimming to Great Britain.
Typically, Bert Cummins who had done so much for swimming felt it was the other way around. “Those who have helped me and my magazine cannot be numbered,” said Cummins at 93. “Swimming has been good to me. What a life to look back on.”
Passages: Honor Masters Swimmer Burwell “Bumpy” Jones Dies at Age 87
by ANDY ROSS
11 February 2021
2005 Honor Masters Swimmer Burwell “Bumpy” Jones passed away last week February 6, 2021 at the age of 87, his family confirmed in a Facebook post. Jones was inducted into the International Masters Swimming Hall of Fame in 2005. There is a masters meet hosted in his name in Sarasota, Florida every year.
A memorial service has been scheduled for Wednesday the 17th at the national cemetery at 12:30 on Clark Road in Sarasota Florida. There will be a luncheon in Sarasota at Laurel Oak Country Club at 1:30.
At the age of five, a young Bumpy Jones started swim racing, embarking on an illustrious career that would span over 70 years, setting world records as a collegiate swimmer and again years later as a Masters swimmer.
Bumpy has taken part in many swimming firsts. He competed in the first Pan American Games in 1951 winning gold and bronze medals, was a world-record holder in the 150 individual medley and competed during the first year of Masters swimming in the United States in 1971.
Born in Detroit in 1933, Bumpy chose swimming over other sports. At age 12, he enrolled at Matt Mann’s swimming camp, Chikopi, located in Ontario, Canada, where over the next several summer seasons he rose from camper to counselor. This began a lifetime coaching relationship with Matt that developed while he swam for Redford High School and continued into college at the University of Michigan. While attending Redford, he would sometimes drive from Detroit to Ann Arbor to swim with the many Michigan All Americans coached by Matt.
Bumpy Jones was a high school and college All-American and a three time NCAA champion at the University of Michigan. He was a member of the 1952 Olympic gold medal winning 4×200 meter freestyle relay swimming in the preliminary heats. He competed on U.S. teams in Bermuda, Japan, and England. He set three world records in the 400 individual medley. In 1954, Jones was elected captain of Michigan’s Swim Team and was a Sullivan Award nominee. During these years, he swam part time under other Hall of Fame coaches including Bob Kiphuth at Yale, Soichi Sakamoto at Hawaii, Mike Peppe at Ohio State and Gus Stager at Michigan.
In 1959, Bumpy graduated from the University of Michigan Medical School and then interned in Ann Arbor for one year. In the summer of 1960, after a five year retirement from swimming, he spent one month training for the Olympic Trials in Detroit. His time in the 200 meter freestyle greatly improved from 1952, but the best swimmers in the country were also much faster. After failing to make the finals, he retired from swimming again and spent his next years in residency at the University of Virginia, in the Air Force, and finally at Duke University. It was during this time that he became an accomplished golfer, winning 28 state and local tournaments.
In 1965, Bumpy Jones moved to Sarasota where he began and continued his private practice in Dermatology.
When Masters swimming began in 1971, it was thought to be a get-together party for former swimmers. But that soon changed from not only being a fun gathering, but also a highly competitive challenge too. During his Masters career, which began at age 38, Bumpy has won 110 National Masters Championships, 5 FINA Masters World Championships,7 Canadian and 22 YMCA championships. He has set 39 FINA Masters World Records and 145 Masters National Records. During his Masters career he has 38 number one, 18 number two and 10 number three Masters world rankings. His Masters times nearly equaled his best collegiate times. His competition has always been tough and the camaraderie has been at its best.
Happy Birthday Amy Van Dyken
Amy Van Dyken (USA) 2007 Honor Swimmer
Amy’s 2007 bio:
FOR THE RECORD: 1996 OLYMPIC GAMES; gold (50m freestyle, 100m butterfly, 4x100m medley, 4x100m freestyle), 4th (100m freestyle); 2000 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (4x100m medley, 4x100m freestyle); ONE WORLD RECORD: (50m butterfly-sc); 1994 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: silver (4x100m freestyle, 4x100m medley), bronze (50m freestyle); 1998 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (50m freestyle, 4x100m freestyle, 4x100m medley); 1995 PAN AMERICAN GAMES: gold (100m butterfly, 4x100m freestyle, 4x100m medley), silver (100m freestyle); 1994 NCAA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (50m freestyle).
Amy Van Dyken set the world on fire when she qualified in five events for the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games and won an unpredicted four gold medals – 50 free, 100 fly and both relays, the most ever by an American woman at one Olympic Games and a feat achieved only two other times in women’s Olympic swimming history.
An asthmatic since childhood limiting her to about 65% of normal lung capacity, she was advised by her doctors to take up swimming. A slow starter, it took her a few years to finish one length of the pool. But after winning a race, she was hooked. As she matured, she became a Spartan, no-nonsense competitor who tried to psych out her opponents with pre-race claps, growls and stares. After her stellar Atlanta Olympic performance, she won three gold medals at the 1998 Perth World Championship and another two more Olympic gold medals at the 2000 Sydney Games as a member of the 4 x 100 meter freestyle and medley relays giving her a total of six career Olympic gold medals.
Amy competed in the 1995 Pan American and Pan Pacific Games winning four gold and three silver medals in freestyle and butterfly events. She was the NCAA Female Swimmer of the Year at Colorado State University in 1994 and then trained with US National Team coach, Jonty Skinner. At 6’0” and 145 pounds, Amy is one of the world’s great freestyle and butterfly sprinters who held the World Record in the 50m butterfly – short course. She was the 1996 U.S.O.C Female Athlete of the Year and the Associated Press Worldwide Female Athlete of the Year. She is seen on the Wheaties cereal box, Got Milk ad and TV and radio programming along with husband Tom Rouen, NFL punter who has won two Super Bowl rings with the Denver Broncos.
Happy Birthday Jonty !!!
JONTY SKINNER (RSA) 1985 Honor Swimmer
FOR THE RECORD: WORLD RECORD: 1976 (100m freestyle); AAU NATIONALS (4): 1976, 1977, 1978 (100yd, 100m freestyle; 1 relay); NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS: 1975 (100yd freestyle); U.S. OPEN RECORDS: 3 (100yd freestyle); SOUTH AFRICAN CHAMPION: 1973, 1974 (100m freestyle); Awarded South African “National Colours” in Swimming and Life Saving.
John Alexander Skinner, better known as Jonty, was born in South Africa, educated at Alabama and now coaches the San Jose Aquatic Club in California. He weighed 185 pounds, stood 6’5″ and was the fastest sprinter in the world, but it was 1976, and South Africa was non-grata in the Olympic Games. Jonty watched his friends go one, two, three in the Montreal Olympics on television.
Jonty’s big chance came on “The Day,” August 14, 1976 at Philadelphia’s John B. Kelly Pool. It was the U.S. Nationals, held as an anti-climax. It was hard to get oneself up for a race after the Olympics, as many Americans found four years later trying to beat the times they could have swum if not for the Moscow Olympic boycott. Jonty Skinner knew this was the only chance he’d have to prove he was the world’s best sprinter, even if no one was watching.
In the preliminaries, Jonty barely qualified eight and entered the final in an outside lane. In the finals, Skinner swam home in a new World Record, the first man in history to break 44 seconds in the 100m freestyle. His time: 43.92. Olympic Champion, Jim Montgomery, came in second with 44:01. Joe Bottoms, a silver medalist in Montreal was third.
Skinner was strictly a hundred sprinter. In addition to his World Record, he won the U.S. Nationals three times, the N.C.A.A.’s once and set a U.S. Open Record and three American Records. He was voted Alabama’s most valuable swimmer three straight years and was both Alabama and South Africa Athlete of the Year.
Peter Heatly Joins ISHOF’s One in a Thousand Campaign to Continue Family Legacy
by ANDY ROSS
12 February 2021, 10:58am
Peter Heatly, the son of 2016 ISHOF Honor Contributor by the same name, has joined the One in a Thousand campaign, designed to help the Hall of Fame prosper during the financial difficulties of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“My dad used to go over to the Hall of Fame regularly and officiate diving events and had a great relationship with the people there,” Peter Heatly said. “I never went with him but I had always been interested in sport and never went. Two months after he passed away in 2015, we got the letter that he was going to get into the Hall of Fame. Ironically, that year it would be in Santa Clara. It wasn’t where the Hall of Fame was but it was still great to be there.
Peter Heatly next to his father’s honoree panel. Photo Courtesy: Peter Heatly
“In 2018, Becky Adlington got into the Hall of Fame and said to my wife, ‘why don’t we go over to Fort Lauderdale? Becky Adlington is getting into the Hall of Fame and I know quite a lot of people there and it would be nice to see where dad used to go to. It was a great weekend but the Hall of Fame pool was coming to the end of its lifespan. It was rundown then but you could see how glorious it was, and it’s great to see it being refurbished at the moment.
“I’m a bit of a fanatic of sport and I have a lot of my dad’s records so I am very enthusiastic and I enjoyed it over there. We decided we would come back to see the new pool when it was finished. We wanted to keep my dad’s legacy alive but also my family and I just enjoyed the place and love what they’re doing with the sport.”
Heatly would make frequent visits to the Hall of Fame pool to referee diving events at the facility and had developed a friendship with then ISHOF CEO Buck Dawson, and had even been on the Hall of Fame selection committee. In 2016, Heatly had been invited to attend the Hall of Fame induction on behalf of his late father in Santa Clara, but had booked his plane ticket before the event had been postponed from June to October.
Instead of cancelling, he took the trip to meet with then CEO Bruce Wigo and attended the Santa Clara International Swim Meet and two soccer matches, and again made the trip for the induction in October, with his three siblings, two of his sons, and then three other nephews.
“It was our second home at this point,” Heatly joked about Santa Clara, where he was able to make good relationships with the Hall of Fame staff during his visits, but hadn’t been to the legendary Fort Lauderdale facility. So when Adlington had been selected two years after, Heatly made the trip over to Florida to meet with the staff again and see the museum and pool that his father spent so much time at.
“We didn’t actually know Rebecca Adlington that well, but we wanted to take the opportunity to go over.
“I had the pleasure of looking after my dad’s affairs in the later years of his life and I had been asked by Bruce to make a speech in 2016. At the end of my speech I said we had been to a lot of events where we have organized ourselves for dad’s legacy but this was one we didn’t organize, we were invited to come to. It was the best one of all.”
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Sir Peter Heatly – 2016 Honor Contributor
As a swimmer, he was the Scottish freestyle champion and record holder over several distances between 1942 and 1947 before deciding to concentrate on diving. Self-taught and self-coached, he won gold medals at the 1950, 1954 and 1958 Commonwealth Games on the 10-meter platform and represented Great Britain at the Olympic Games in 1948 in London and in 1952 in Helsinki.
Sir Peter Heatly (left) with ISHOF’s Buck Dawson. Photo Courtesy: ISHOF Archives
After Peter Heatly’s career as an athlete ended, he decided to give back to the sports he so loved. He would serve the aquatic sports in some capacity for over seventy years at the local, national and international levels as either a manager, official or administrator.
Peter joined the FINA and LEN technical diving committees in 1966, serving as Honorary Secretary of the FINA Committee from 1972 to 1984 and Chairman from 1984 to 1988. He was selected Chairman of the Great Britain Swimming Federation in 1981 and again in 1992. He served as chairman of the National Scottish Learn to Swim Campaign from 1964 to 1974 and went on to become Chairman of the Scottish Sports Council from 1975 to 1987.
Heatly was involved in 17 consecutive Commonwealth Games from 1950 to 2014, becoming Vice -Chairman of the Organizing Committee, when the Games were held in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1970, and Chairman of the Commonwealth Games Federation from 1982 to 1990 after the first ever balloted election.
As a Chartered Civil Engineer, he produced and delivered papers on the design of swimming pools to professional bodies both in Great Britain and Europe. He also received Honorary Doctorates from three universities for his contributions to the sport.
Peter Heatly was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1971 and in 1990 was installed as a Knight of the Realm by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. He was inducted into the Scottish Hall of Fame in 2002 and into the Scottish Swimming Hall of Fame in 2010.
The International Swimming Hall of Fame wants to know if you are one in a thousand? We think you are! Show how special you are and become a member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame’s “One In A Thousand” Club. Help keep the International Swimming Hall of Fame moving forward toward a new vision and museum by joining now!
During these unprecedented times, the ISHOF Board is calling on every member in the aquatic community to make a small monthly commitment of support to show how special you are and how special the International Swimming Hall of Fame is to everyone.
“Our goal is simple. If we get 1,000 people to simply commit $10, $25 or $50 per month, we will generate enough revenue to go beyond this Covid-19 Pandemic Crisis.” – Bill Kent – Chairman of the ISHOF Board
“Those that believe in our vision, mission, and goals can join us in taking ISHOF into the future and be a part of aquatic history.” – Brent Rutemiller – CEO and President of ISHOF
Since 1965, ISHOF has been the global focal point for recording and sharing the history of aquatics, promoting swimming as an essential life-skill, and developing educational programs and events related to water sports. ISHOF’s vision for the future is to build a new museum and expand its reach by offering its museum artifacts digitally through a redesigned website.
The ISHOF Board of Directors is calling on all members of the aquatics community to make a small monthly commitment to show their dedication to aquatics and how special the International Swimming Hall of Fame is to everyone.
Happy Birthday Carrie Steinseifer !!!
CARRIE STEINSEIFER (USA) Honor Swimmer
FOR THE RECORD: 1984 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (100m freestyle, 4x100m freestyle relay); 1983 PAN AMERICAN GAMES: gold (100m freestyle, 4x100m freestyle relay, 4x100m medley relay); 1987 PAN AMERICAN GAMES: gold (4x100m freestyle relay); TWO U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: 100m freestyle.
Carrie Steinseifer is a wonderful example of the old fashioned values of swimming, one club, one coach, parents as mentors and role models and lots of hard work and determination.
Carrie’s swim with fame began at age 11 when she started swimming for Ken Belli (now retired) at West Valley Aquatic Team in the San Francisco Bay area. It was a small club where Carrie got lots of attention as one of the only Senior National qualifiers in the history of the team. Steinseifer credits Belli and her 110% trust in him for her success. His philosophy was to train for the 200 and swim the 100. Belli had always seen the stars in Steinseifer’s eyes. He helped her realize her potential. The duo provided once again that one swimmer can make it with her original coach and club.
Carrie’s national experience began in 1982 and soared upwards to the Olympic gold just two short years later at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. In 1983 she was the 100 free national champion and won three golds at the Pan Am Games. She was ranked number one in the USA and fourth in the world. As the favorite going into the 1984 Olympics, Carrie and Hall of Famer Nancy Hogshead made Olympic swimming history together. The two competitors, who shared a room at the Olympic Village, tied for the gold in the 100 free; it was the first time that two gold medals were awarded in the same swimming event. Sixteen year old Steinseifer won a second gold in the 4×100 free relay, becoming the youngest swimming gold medalist at the 1984 Games. “I still get choked up when I hear the National Anthem.”
Steinsefer continued to swim after the ’84 Games and won the Nationals in 1985, a gold in the 1987 Pan Ams and two NCAA titles with Richard Quick in the University of Texas.
Carrie remembers fondly how her dad, promoted to president of his company, used to bring her to every practice at 5:30 a.m. in his business suit. He was a scholarship diver at Oregon State who met her mom on a blind date. Bob used to model Jantzen swimsuits at Mr. Jantzen’s home 50 years ago. Ironically today Carrie is the sports marketing manager for Nike Swim, who bought out Jantzen years ago.
“Having the Necessities:” The Extraordinary DuSable High School Swimming Team of Chicago, 1935-1952
This is a story of an all-black high school in Chicago, DuSable, which for some 15 years, from the late 1930s to the early 1950s, earned plaudits in the city’s black community as a swimming power.
Background
Before we get to this story, however, it is important to review the context in which it is being told, and give a look at popular and academic perceptions—true and false—relating to the subject of African Americans and the sport of swimming. A year ago, the Journal of American History ran a fascinating article by Kevin Dawson, “Enslaved Swimmers and Divers in the Atlantic World.” The author uncovered a wealth of information from explorers to plantation owners of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries on the superb swimming and diving abilities of black people in both Africa and America. What more, many slave owners showed a preference for slaves who exhibited skill in swimming and diving, their abilities being valued for harvesting pearls, salvaging cargoes, and clearing sea beds for fisheries. Some were even use as lifeguards to safeguard less proficient white swimmers. Dawson wrote an epilogue to his paper, in which he raised the question that with all this previous evidence of black proficiency in swimming in slave owning days what explains the perception today by both blacks and whites that swimming is simply not a black sport. He also discussed some of what these perceptions are.1
Dawson started with Al Campanis’ infamous interview on Ted Koppel’s Nightline show in April of 1987, when the LA Dodgers’ vice president made the comment that blacks “may not have some of the necessities to be…a field manager or, perhaps, a general manager.” He shortly followed with the comment: “Why are black people not good swimmers? Because they don’t have the buoyancy.” 2
Campanis was not the only person to have this perception on this supposed biological impediment for blacks in swimming. Martin Kane in a Sports Illustrated article from 1971 suggested that the historically poor showing of blacks in swimming could well be a result of, “greater bone and muscle density, smaller lung capacity, and less advantageous fat distribution.” He suggested that these presumed factors could decrease buoyancy, thus making swimming more difficult. He reported on the findings of Georgia Tech swimming coach Fred Lanoue, who found that 2 percent of the predominantly white freshmen at his institution were what are called “sinkers,” while some 30 percent of the freshmen at predominantly black Morehouse were “sinkers.” Kane, who gave no citations, obtained his information from a 1969 article by R. L. Allen and David L. Nickel that appeared in the Journal of Negro Education. Other articles in the late 1960s and early 1970s likewise discussed African-Americans, swimming, and the buoyancy issue. Of particular interest was that of Malachi Cunningham Jr., a swimming coach of an African American team in Philadelphia, who was agnostic on the subject. He concluded that whether or not buoyancy was a factor in the low interest and performance of blacks in swimming, “something had to be done to offer swimming to a larger segment of the Black community.” 3
For his Sports Illustrated article, Kane interviewed legendary Indiana University swimming coach James “Doc” Councilman, who while did not dispute the validity of the lack of buoyancy issue, dismissed it as a factor, pointing out one of his champion swimmers, Chester Jastremski, had “very poor buoyancy.” Instead he cited such social and cultural factors as lack of opportunity and lack of interest. This has been affirmed by various studies conducted by educators. Councilman was on to something. In building a strong swim team, race is an irrelevancy. Take this issue of the reputed lack of buoyancy in African Americans. This is a contention based on percentages, and if buoyancy is a factor in building a swim team a coach will tend to get swimmers who are so-called buoyant, white and black.4
Sport historian Patrick Miller has condemned Kane’s article as an example of “racial essentialism,” built on false science he called “scientific racism.” I am going to avoid a long-winded debate here, other than to note that the concept of race is both a highly sensitive issue and a highly disputed issue. Most sociologists and anthropologists, as well as a few geneticists today assert that race is more of a social construction than a biological one. On the other hand an increasing number of geneticists using recent techniques in DNA sequencing have found in terms of genotype and phenotype that to some degree there is a biological component to race that corresponds roughly to the popular conception.5
We have to go back to Doc Councilman’s point about lack of opportunity. Historically in black neighborhoods swimming facilities have been less abundant than in white communities. Famed physical educator and sport historian Edwin Bancroft Henderson would write occasional letters to D.C. newspapers faulting the District of Columbia for its lack of swimming facilities for African Americans. He noted a 1936 survey that showed that of the 41 public, private, and commercial swimming pools in the District, only six were available to black residents. In 1949, he noted that number had been reduced to five. In recent years, many blacks, who tend to be of more modest means, have been shut out from the top end of swimming competition with the rise of expensive private swim clubs, designed to give year-round training for the development of Olympic competitors.6
More importantly, historically, public swimming facilities have been often barred to blacks, particularly in the South, but certainly not unknown in the North. The Chicago Defender is replete with decades worth of stories from both the South and the North over racial conflict engendered by the breaking of barriers or the attempt to break barriers in the use of swimming facilities. The worst Chicago race riot in its history, in 1919, erupted over a black youth transgressing the segregated space that whites had created over the water on the Lake Michigan beach.7
Recently as last year, a Republican Congressional candidate in Florida showed a bit of racial insensitivity by saying, “I grew up in Alabama, and I understand, and I know from my own experience that blacks are not the greatest swimmers or may not even know [how] to swim.” He apologized for his remarks, but there is a truth in the statement had it been presented in a more sensitive matter.8
Simply put, historically blacks have not done well in swimming, and this is considered a health issue by the U.S. government’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Drowning statistics for 2002-2003 showed that the drowning rate for African Americans was 1.25 times higher than for whites. For children ages 5 to 19 years, African Americans had a fatal drowning rate at 2.3 times the rate of white children. The National Center attributed this higher African American rate of drowning to a widespread lack of swimming ability in the black community.9
A look at blog comments on these statistics show two common assertions why black do not swim—the lack of interest and opportunity on the part of African Americans (which is the environmental explanation), and the lack of buoyancy on the part of blacks (which is the biological explanation). Some of the assertions are insensitive and blatantly racist—that reputed lack of intelligence lowered survival strategies in water, that black parents were less conscientious in supervising their children, and that black women avoided water because the chemicals in pools damaged their hair straightening treatments.Altogether, whether the assertions are true or false—racist or nonracist—the common perception today is and that blacks do not like to swim and have lesser swimming abilities.10
Likewise, the widespread view is that blacks are not engaged in competitive swimming, and that perception gets disseminated throughout our popular culture. In 1991, in an episode of the situation comedy, Designing Women, we have this exchange on blacks and swimming between the characters called Bernice and Anthony:
Bernice: “You know there’s something else you don’t see much of these days—black swimmers.”
“Why is that Anthony?”
Anthony: “Well since it seems I am speaking for all my people today, I will venture to answer that question.”
“Black people are too smart to get involved in swimming because there is no future in it. No one has ever swum their way out of the ghetto. Believe me, if it was possible to make five million dollars a year as a professional swimmer, it wouldn’t be Air Jordan it would be River Jordan!”11
As you can see the subject of black competitive swimming has become punch line material for situation comedy laughs.
DuSable Begins to Compete
With this context in mind, let us look at the DuSable story, beginning in the 1930s. In context, black achievement in swimming was certainly not unique at this time. Elsewhere on the interscholastic level, the segregated schools of Baltimore and Washington, D.C., had been competing in an annual meet for the South Atlantic High School Athletic Conference since 1929. Many of the Negro colleges had strong swimming programs, and beginning in 1948, the Colored Intercollegiate Athletic Association began conducting an annual tournament that drew Negro colleges in the East and in the border states. These colleges drew their swimmers both from the DuSable swim program and from the black high schools in D.C. and Maryland.12
In context of interscholastic sports history, the DuSable story was a part of a dramatic shift during the late 1920s and early 1930s. The private clubs and universities that had sponsored such sports as basketball, track and field, and swimming were being forced out by state high school associations. One way that this affected swimming was that prior to the early 1930s most of the high school swimming talent had been developed in private clubs, such as the Illinois Athletic Club and the Lake Shore Athletic Club, but now the high schools were developing the swim talent through coaches on their athletic department staffs. The two schools most involved in our story, perennial champion Lane Tech and frequent challenger DuSable High, both emerged with strong swim programs through the hiring of top-notch coaches.13
DuSable High opened its doors in the fall of 1935, at 4934 S. Wabash, in the heart of the black South Side. The school was named after the first settler of Chicago, Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, a French fur trader whose mother was a Haitian slave. Nearby Phillips High, from which most of the students of DuSable were drawn, did not have a swimming pool, which was also true of many other Chicago high schools. DuSable High was built with a swimming pool, and its athletic department immediately instituted an ambitious swimming program under Coach William Mackie. He had swum competitively for Hyde Park High during the 1920s. He introduced in his initial year at the school a 10-mile swimming marathon for its male students. Competitors were required to swim 880 lengths of the 60-foot pool. The boys raced the last quarter-mile to determine the order of finish. A medal was awarded to each boy that finished. The Chicago Defender explained the purpose of the marathon thusly: “Coach Mackie uses this marathon to get his swimmers and life guards in condition and to encourage boys to swim more distance.” By 1941, the marathon competition was attracting 70 competitors. The Defender reported that more than half would finish the marathon requirement.14
The 10-mile marathon program helped immensely to build a competitive swim team at the school, no doubt what Mackie intended. The school fielded a swimming team for the school’s inaugural 1935-36 school year. Today all athletic teams at DuSable are called the Panthers, but the swim team in the 1930s adopted the appropriately named Sea Horses. The school’s competition in its first year was with non-school teams, namely the Wabash YMCA and the Boys Club, both local black institutions. No doubt a racial issue was involved, as many white high school swim teams shunned competition with a black school.15
Meanwhile, Lane Tech emerged as a swimming power around the same time, when in the fall of 1934 it moved from its old location at Sedgwick and Division to a large new facility at Addison and Belmont. The old building had no swimming pool, but the new one featured the finest 75-foot pool in the Chicago high schools. With the new swim facilities, there was also a change in the coaching. The old swim coach was replaced by his assistant, John Newman. Prior to joining Lane Tech, Newman began his career in 1918 at St. Viator College, and from 1921 to 1929 coached at the Jewish Peoples Institute (JPI). There he developed the great swimmer Al Schwartz, who won many titles for Marshall High, but his training took place at the JPI. Newman’s move from the Jewish Peoples Institute to Lane Tech in 1929 epitomized the migration of swim coaching from the private clubs to the high schools.16
Lane was the technical school for the entire North Side, and that was the school’s boundaries, and in the mid-1930s the school was attracting around 8,500 students, all male. By the early 1940s, about 7,000 to 7,500 male students attended the school. Newman had a lot of numbers to work with. Each year Newman had the pick of from 2,000-2,500 freshman boys enrolled in the swimming classes. DuSable, in contrast had traditional enrollment boundaries for both boys and girls, with total enrollment of around 3,500 to 4,000 students, so there were hardly 2,000 boys in the entire school.17
DuSable’s success in swimming began with an undefeated dual meet season, beginning a streak of 53 dual-meet victories that lasted until 1943. The Chicago Defender started giving DuSable High headlines in March of 1940 when the school’s dual-meet string reached 26 straight. The string then became a recurring story in the paper. While obviously a laudable achievement, the string was less than the readers of the Defender were led to believe. During the streak, DuSable never had dual meet competition with any of the top teams in Chicago or suburbs, namely Lane Tech and Crane Tech in Chicago, and Maine and New Trier in the suburbs. The lack of this top-notch competition could have been due to both this racism and to other factors, such as the isolation of DuSable High from the suburban competition.18
Racism was no doubt the strongest factor. DuSable was generally the only black school in Chicago with a swimming team. Phillips did not always field a team, and the only two black schools DuSable faced were Phillips and Roosevelt High in Gary. All the other schools that competed against DuSable were essentially white high schools in the city that to their credit overcame prevailing racist views of the day. These included Amundsen, Farragut, Harrison, and Wells. On the other hand, there were schools that shunned competition with DuSable, notoriously Englewood.19
Lane Tech during these years emerged as the top team in the state under Coach Newman, winning the state championship nine out of ten years from 1938 through 1947. The school by the late 1930s utterly dominated the Chicago Public League twice-yearly league meets, held respectively in December and April of each school year. The 20-yard pool competition was held in December and the 25-yard pool competition was held in April. Coach Newman failed to win the first three Public League meets he entered. Englewood High and Roosevelt High (with the great Adolph Kiefer) kept Lane Tech from taking its first title until the spring of 1936. Thereafter, Lane Tech won each Public League meet. Rarely was the school challenged for the title. But one school did, DuSable, but it would take a while. Keep in mind, DuSable had a 20-yard pool and Lane Tech had a 25-yard pool, and thus DuSable tended to do better in the fall meet, while Lane Tech did better in the spring meet.20
During the late 1930s, DuSable was garnering only a few points in any of these meets. However, in the December 1939 meet, the school managed to take second-place next to Lane Tech. The disparity between Lane Tech and the other schools in the league was immense at this time, as shown by Lane Tech’s winning score of 55 points and DuSable’s second place mark of 10 points. But the Chicago Defender could brag that DuSable’s team was “second only to Lane Tech…and national prep champions.” Illinois schools ranked among the best in the country in swimming at this time, and Lane Tech was named the titular national champs based on comparative times across the country. This was before the California age group program of the 1950s would produce the talent to overtake Illinois schools.21
By 1941, the DuSable swim program was making an impact, with its graduates going to colleges. The Wilson Junior College swim team in April of 1941 took the state’s junior college championship, beating out Wright Junior College. The team included three DuSable grads, and one Phillips High grad, described as Phillips one-man swim team.22
Racism in the Chicago Public League schools brought the issue of DuSable’s swim team competing with other schools to a boil in November 1941. The league’s program was based on just the December and April all-schools meets, by which no school was barred. Dual meets among the schools were not conducted in any league schedule—but on an invitational home and away basis. The dual meet competition could be somewhat intermittent. Many of the swimming coaches in the Central Section of the league thus felt the need for more regular competition and decided to form a dual-meet league. These schools included Hyde Park, Englewood, Lindblom, South Shore, Hirsch, and Tilden Tech, as well as the virtually all-black Phillips and DuSable schools.
While some of the coaches of these schools had earlier conducted dual meet competition with DuSable and Phillips, others had not, and were not willing to let Phillips and DuSable into the newly formed league. The Chicago Defender reported, “There have been rumors that although Phillips and DuSable will invite teams to their tanks, few invitations to go to other schools in Chicago will be extended to them…the crux of the whole thing is that these coaches—not the boys—don’t want competition against Negro swimmers.” One of the most virulent coaches against competition with DuSable and Phillips was ironically the Englewood coach, who apparently was leading an all-white team in a high school that was nearly 60 percent black. A few weeks later, the Chicago Board of Education put an end to the “lily-white swim league,” as the Chicago Defender headlined it. This flare-up opened up a window to what DuSable faced each year in fielding its swimming team.23
Regarding Lane Tech, the school served all ethnic and racial groups. In the thirty years of yearbooks I examined, however, only in 1937 did I see a black member on a Lane Tech team. Hal Gold, who swam for Lane Tech from 1940 to 1943, said, “I do not remember ever swimming competitively with a black athlete…either on our team or against other teams.”24
DuSable was highly competitive with the high school teams it did face, however. In February 1942, the Sea Horses bested the Farragut team 45 to 22 in its 42nd straight dual-meet victory. In February 1943, the team beat the Harrison team 42 to 24 for its 53rd straight dual-meet win. A few days after the meet, Coach Mackie was inducted into the Army. There were no more reports of a dual-meet string.25
Postwar Resurgence for DuSable
With Mackie’s absence, DuSable continued to field a team, but without the same rigorous training. The 10-mile marathon program, for instance, was abandoned. In the 1945-46 season, Coach Mackie returned to DuSable. He reinstituted the 10-mile marathon and soon brought the school to even greater prominence in the Chicago swim world. The first two years he lost a few contests, but in the in the 1947-48 season, the school went undefeated in dual meets and won the championship of the Central Section. By this time, the Board of Education had instituted dual-meet leagues to supplement the fall and spring meets. DuSable repeated as Central Section champs the next year. In the city-wide meets, however, Lane Tech was still dominant. In the April 1949 meet, for example, the north side school took first with 51 points, followed by Crane in second place with 18 points, Taft third with 15 points, and DuSable tied with Tilden Tech for fourth place with 14 points.26
In the 20-yard Public League meet in December 1949, DuSable had its best ever opportunity to overtake the Lane Tech team. The North Side school was down that year, and DuSable was loaded. The Chicago Defender, whose sports writer Chuck Davis was following the team, understood that DuSable had a genuine chance of ending Lane Tech’s 14-year string of 20-yard titles. DuSable, which did not have the numbers that Lane Tech did, decided not to compete for the junior title and concentrated all its horses on the senior half of the meet. The day before the finals of the meet the Chicago Defender ballyhooed DuSable’s chances with a sizable story and a large headline, “DuSable Girds To Upset Lane In Tank Meet.” Lane Tech qualified seven individuals and one relay team for the finals, compared to DuSable’s five individuals and two relay teams.27
The two teams were evenly matched for the finals—and clearly DuSable was posed for an incredible upset—but the mainstream papers did not take notice. One should say the unnamed City News Bureau reporter did not take notice, because during this era just about all the small prep stories were written by the City News Bureau and the four dailies merely ran modified versions. The primary narrative of the preliminaries by the News Bureau was the national interscholastic record set by Lane Tech’s Ronald Gora in the 220-yard freestyle, and that Lane Tech was favored to continue its string of titles. Neither the Chicago Daily News nor the Chicago Herald-American bothered to mention the number of DuSable qualifiers, giving the readers the idea that Lane Tech had the title wrapped up. The Herald-American even said that Lane Tech was a “heavy favorite.” The Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune both listed the number of qualifiers of each team, yet the write-ups automatically assumed Lane Tech as the favorite. Nothing was mentioned how DuSable just might have the horses this time to beat Lane Tech. That was not the story.28
Lane won the meet, but it was the closest outcome in a couple decades, with Lane Tech edging DuSable by just five points, 46 to 41. The City News Bureau’s theme of the story, which was repeated in the mainstream dailies, was that DuSable had been a genuine threat to take the title from Lane. Said the Herald-American, “DuSable put a scare in the Lane seniors.” The Chicago Daily News said that the “[Lane Tech] squad was hard pressed by DuSable to win their title.” The Chicago Tribune said that the “seniors were pressed by DuSable to win.”29
There were no other write-ups by the dailies over this near upset. The Chicago Defender followed the next week with a story lamenting the loss, and the bad breaks in the meet, such as DuSable’s defending diving champ, Leon Guice, failing to repeat as champ. The paper also noted that Lane Tech had more than 6,000 male students, compared to DuSable’s roughly 1,500 to 2,000 male students.30
DuSable’s results in the 25-yard meet in the spring of 1950 were not too shabby either, with the school taking second with 33 points to Lane Tech’s 45 points. DuSable’s star swimmer, Eddie Kirk, that year took home the only medal the school ever won in the state meet, winning the individual medley in the annual March meet. The 1949-50 school year, thus, represented the high watermark of DuSable’s achievement in swimming, so to speak.31
Now we’re going to get into the question of race. There was no commentary in the mainstream dailies on the fact that DuSable’s all-black team nearly beat the mighty Lane Tech team, and took second in two league meets. The Chicago Defender only briefly touched on it, when Chuck Davis offered some commentary in his column, “Chuck-a-Luck.” He said:
One of the sports most neglected by Negro high school boys—and collegians too, for that matter, is swimming. Tennessee State, W. Virginia State, and Howard to mention a few, have facilities for a top flight aquatic program, but for some reason the sport has not clicked.
In the event Negro colleges ever go in for swimming full scale they will find a reservoir of talent in Chicago’s DuSable High School. For at least ten years, the school has produced some of the best tank performers in the city…”
Davis continued his commentary by attributing the success of the team to the 10-mile marathon that Coach Mackie had been conducting during his tenure. Davis did not even touch on the topic that deemed black swimmers physiologically handicapped to compete in swimming—the old buoyancy factor. Instead, he attributed the lack of swimming success by black schools to lack of interest and lack of tough training.32
Despite all the success it enjoyed, DuSable faced much resistance by many of its students to swimming. I talked to a former student of Mackie, James Brown, who while not on the swim team took swim class under Mackie in the early 1950s. Brown characterized the coach as very stern, saying “When he said something you had better listen. He was one of those kind. The guys would respect those coaches back in those days, whether they were on the swim team or not.” Brown already knew how to swim, which he had learned at park district pools, but he noted that many of his fellow classmates did not, and thus resisted the swim instruction. Said he:
“Coach Mackie would make them get into the water, but they really didn’t want to. You could tell the ones who didn’t want to swim. They stayed in the shallow water all the time. The ones who didn’t want to swim had to go to ROTC!”
My informant laughed on the ROTC comment. Students at Chicago high schools at the time could participate in ROTC in lieu of their physical education classes.33
DuSable’s success in the city’s high school swimming program should not be attributed solely to the 10-mile marathon. The school was producing top divers at this time as well. Leon Guice was the city’s diving championship in the spring 1949 meet and took second in the fall 1949 meet. In the spring and fall meets of 1950, Lloyd Outten copped second place both times.34
DuSable on the Downward Arc
With 1950-51 school year, DuSable again had a successful season, but it did not reach the heights of the previous year. The school took the Central Section for the fourth consecutive year, and managed to take second in the annual 20-yard meet, but its 14 points hardly challenged Lane Tech’s 42 points. A bit more glory was rendered to DuSable with the publication of the amateur swimming guide in early 1951. A DuSable swimmer, Eddie Kirk, was named to the 1950 All-American interscholastic team, and Bill Mackie was given an award for more than 20 years of service to swimming. At that time, the Chicago Defender noted that the school’s dual meet record was 108 victories to only 11 defeats. The spring 25-yard meet saw DuSable drop behind Lane Tech, Harrison, and Roosevelt. The program was clearly in decline.35
The 1951-52 season marks that last time that DuSable garnered any kind of league-wide achievement in swimming, when it took second to Lane Tech in the annual 20-yard meet, earning 17 points to Lane Tech’s 34 points. The largest chunk of points was earned by DuSable’s diver, Leon Wade, who took first place. By the spring of 1952, DuSable was no longer contending, getting only six points in the league meet, five of them from Wade’s second-place diving finish.36
Thereafter, DuSable High was no longer a factor in the city’s swim meets. In 1954, the school basketball team, the Panthers, took second in the state under Coach Jim Brown. Mackie, by the way, was the assistant basketball coach. This began a tradition where not only outsiders saw DuSable as purely a basketball power, but so did the school.37
DuSable continued with a swimming team, but after the 1956 season Mackie gave up coaching the swim team to move up as the chairman of the boy’s physical education department. Under subsequent coaches, the school continued to field teams in the next decade, and even captured a couple of Central Division titles, but the glory years were clearly gone.38
Mackie left the school after the 1965 season, and unfortunately by this time the school was not managing to field a team every year. The yearbooks kept heralding the return of the Sea Horses. The last team fielded by DuSable was the 1972 Sea Horses. Today, DuSable does not field a swim team, sadly reflecting the stereotype that African Americans are not only not interested in swimming but are not good at it either.39
Side Story
My first awareness of issues surrounding African Americans and swimming first surfaced in 1962, my senior year at high school, Proviso East. It a large comprehensive high school with a vast diversity in ethnic and socio-economic groups. When I was attending the school about six percent of the school’s population was black. My youngest brother came home with a school friend, a black guy who was trying out for the swimming team. He complained to us about the varsity swim coach, and said the guy was a real racist, who did not like blacks. I never had this coach as my gym instructor, but my twin brother did. I said is there anything to this supposed racism of the swim coach? My brother replied, “Oh yeah, it was obvious to everyone in the gym class that this particular instructor just the way he addressed blacks in the class everyone could hear the extra edge in his voice. It appeared to the class that he just didn’t like blacks.”
Well this swim coach, who was highly successful at Proviso East, the very next year went on to another school where he went on to win twelve state championships and become a legend in Illinois. Meanwhile, my brother’s friend a few years later became the first black varsity swimmer at Proviso East.40
One would love to say, that his success led other African-American students to take up swimming. Instead, as the school became less and less white and more minority the swim team went into decline. The last year Proviso East had a swim team was 1987, when the school was probably 95 percent minority in a population of 2,000 students. The program attracted so few numbers that the school formed a combined girls and boys team to compete. By the following year, there were not enough numbers and Proviso East joined the ranks of DuSable and many other “black” schools that no longer fielded swim teams.41
Ironies in the Story
This narrative is filled with ironies. During the years of DuSable’s tremendous success in the Chicago Public School League program, it was only a story in the Chicago Defender. The Defender recognition was typical of the day, in which African American publications were dedicated to telling their readers the achievements and exploits of the race. The Chicago mainstream papers did not seem to notice the story, and presumably took it for granted that DuSable could achieve in swimming as much as any other school. The DuSable close second-place finish in 1949 did not make much an impression on the Lane swimmers either. When I asked Ron Gora about the meet he did not recall a close score, and in fact could not recall which team took second. He said, “As competitors we were really geared in on our events, we were not looking at the score.” In summary, there was not the unstated attitude then that it was remarkable for blacks to swim.42
In part the DuSable swim team story did not emerge in the 1940s because of the nature of sport journalism then, where the writing on high school sports was considerably less reflective. In addition, the City News Bureau supplied many of the stories on high school sports, and the Bureau was strictly fact-oriented—what, when, and where. Today, both the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times each have columnists that discuss issues, problems, and controversies in high school sports. Then the mainstream newspaper prep columns merely recited factoids.
Imagine today, if there was a black school like DuSable, which was beating all the white teams it met, except for a handful of powers in the state, and was so competitive in the big meets that it often took second. The papers would trumpet and marvel at the school’s success, and one wonders if the unstated assumption would be “can you believe that these blacks are that good in swimming?”
Thus, by making the DuSable High achievement a story, am I harboring some sort of racist assumptions by doing the story? By the wording of my title, “Having the Necessities,” and in this talk I appear to be saying isn’t it remarkable that these African-Americans can swim competitively.
This DuSable story appears to falls into a certain narrative in writing about black achievement in swimming. What writers have been doing to counter the widespread notion that African Americans do not want to swim and can’t swim is to show a black swim program that belies those suppositions. In 1972, John W. McClure in his “Two Views of Black and White Swimmers,” devoted a good part of his essay on a California high school, 95 percent black, that developed a swim program that turned a student body from being predominantly non-swimmers to predominantly swimmers. In his 1989 book Necessities, author Phillip M. Hoose firmly stated that the reputed greater difficulty of blacks in water than whites is scientifically unsupported, and then illustrates the arguments in his chapter entitled “Buoyancy,” with the story of the successful all-black Barracudas Swim Club from Cleveland.43
These narratives exist today precisely because of what has happened in the last few decades in the black community, where African Americans show far less interest in competing in swimming than in the past. DuSable and most of the predominantly black schools in the Chicago area no longer field swimming teams. Kevin Dawson took notice of this in his article on early black achievement in swimming and tried to reach for an explanation. He suggested that current attitudes in the black community deem swimming as a “white sport.” There is something to this, and this points to cultural and social factors, and obviously not biological factors.44
This leads to the final irony in this talk. That is, whereas as in earlier decades that lack of African-American involvement in competitive swimming was often due to white exclusion of African Americans from competition and from access to swimming pools, now in current decades the lack of African-American involvement in such competition appears to a considerable degree to be culturally self-imposed. The history of swimming competition at DuSable is just one story of many narratives that show not only black achievement in swimming but also the decline of swimming in the American black community.
Notes
1. Kevin Dawson, “Enslaved Swimmers and Divers in the Atlantic World,” The Journal of American History 92/4 (March 2006): 1327-55.
2. Steve Springer, “The ‘Nightline’ that Rocked Baseball,” Bob Baker’s Newsthinking, 6 April 2006 [http://www.newsthinking.com/print_story.cfm?SID=146], accessed 30 August 2006.
3. Martin Kane, “An Assessment of ‘Black Is Best’,” Sports Illustrated, 18 January 1971, 79-80; R. l. Allen and David L. Nickel, “The Negro and Learning to Swim: The Buoyancy Problem Related to Reported Biological Differences,” The Journal of Negro Education 38/4 (Autumn 1969): 404-411; Michael Cunningham Jr., “Blacks in Competitive Swimming,” Swimming Technique 9 (1973): 107-08.
4. Kane, p. 80; Phillip M. Hoose, “Buoyancy: Why Few Blacks Swim in the Olympics,” Necessities (New York: Random House, 1989): 70-89; John W. McClure, “Two Views of Black and White Swimmers,” Integrated Education: A Report on Race and Schools 57 (May-June 1972): 40-43.
5. Patrick B. Miller, “The Anatomy of Scientific Racism: Racialist Responses to Black Athletic Achievement,” Journal of Sport History 25/1 (Spring 1998): 119-51; Ethan Bronner, “Inventing the Notion of Race,” New York Times, 10 January 1998; Nicholas Wade, Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors (New York: Penguin Press, 2006): 181-201.
6. E. B. Henderson, “Negro Swimmers” [letter to the editor], Washington Post, 5 July 1949. Hoose, pp. 76-79.
7. “NAACP Fights D.C. Bias in Recreation,” Chicago Defender (national edition), 25 May 1946; “Blast St. Louis Mayor for Rescinding Pool Order to Quiet White Rioters,” Chicago Defender (national edition), 2 July 1949; “Police to Enforce Jim Crow Ban at D.C. Pools,” Chicago Defender (national edition), 18 March 1950; “Integration Marches On” [editorial], Chicago Defender (national edition), 8 December 1956; “Report Two Killed, Fifty Hurt, in Race Riots,” Chicago Tribune, 28 July 1919; Allan H. Spear, Black Chicago: The Making of a Negro Ghetto 1890-1920 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1967): 214-19.
8. Greg Sargeant, “GOPer: ‘Blacks…May Not Even Know How to Swim,” Election Central:TPMCafe, 17 August 2006 [http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2006/agu/17/fl_sen_blacks_may_not_even_know_how_to_swim.htm], accessed 17 August 2006.
9. “Water-Related Injuries: Fact Sheet,” National Center for Injury Prevention and Control [http:www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/drown.htm], accessed 17 August 2006.
10. “More on Black Drownings,” Steve Sailer: iSteve.com Blog Archives, 22 April 2006 [http://isteve.blogspot.com/2006/04/more-on-black-drownings.html], accessed 17 August 2006; “More on Blacks and Swimming,” Steve Sailer: iSteve.com Blog Archives, 23 April 2006 [http://isteve.blogspot.com/2006/04/more-on-blacks-and-swimming.html], accessed 17 August 2006.
11. “Fore!” [Season 5, Episode 23], Designing Women, aired 6 May 1991, on CBS. VHS in author’s collection.
12. “Armstrong High Swimmers Win Conference Meet,” The Afro-American, 11 May 1935; “Hampton to Have Its First Swim Team,” Chicago Defender [national edition], 26 February 1944; “Howard Places Third in Swimming Meet,” Washington Post, 29 February 1948; “Tiger Sharks Gain Swimming Title by Beating Three Top Contenders,” Chicago Defender [national edition], 24 March 1951.
13. Charles W. Whitten, “The National Federation,” Interscholastics: A Discussion of Interscholastic Contests (Chicago: Illinois High School Association, 1950): 140-153; “Abandon Prep Meets,” Chicago Tribune, 11 January 1931; “N.U. Gives Up 18 Year Old Prep Meet,” Chicago Tribune, 21 January 1931.
14. Linda Klein, “DuSable School Honors Pioneer, Chicago’s Founder,” Chicago Tribune, 16 December 1963; “Lydia Cops 10-Mile DuSable Swim Race,” Chicago Defender [national edition], 6 December 1941.
15. “Swimming,” Red & Black 1936 (Chicago: DuSable High, 1936): 60.
16. Edward Jensen, “Lane Tech’s Bad Habit is Winning at Swimming,” Chicago Tribune, 5 May 1949; Ralph Leo, “Former Lane Tech Swimmers Plan Coach Newman Memorial, Chicago Tribune, 2 April 1964.
17. Directory of Public Schools of Chicago 1935-1936 (Chicago: Board of Education City of Chicago, 1935): 51 and 57; Directory of Public Schools of Chicago 1937-1938 (Chicago: Board of Education City of Chicago, 1938): 45 and 53; Directory of Public Schools of Chicago 1940-41 (Chicago: Board of Education City of Chicago, 1941): 34 and 43.
18. “26th Straight Victory for DuSable’s Tankmen,” Defender [national edition], 23 March 1940; “DuSable Swimmers in Easy Win Over Phillips,” Chicago Defender [national edition], 4 April 1942; “Sea Horses,” Red & Black (Chicago: DuSable High, 1940), p. 72.
19. “Splash!” Red & Black (Chicago: DuSable High, 1939), p. 64.
20. “Englewood, Roosevelt Win Swim Titles,” Chicago Tribune, 23 December 1934; “Englewood Swimmers Win Senior Title,” Chicago Tribune, 21 April 1935; “Kiefer Leads Roosevelt to Swim Honors,” Chicago Tribune, 22 December 1935; “Lane Captures Junior, Senior Swim Titles,” Chicago Tribune, 12 April 1936.
21. “Lane Swims to Third City Title in Row,” Chicago Tribune, 16 December 1939; “Undefeated in Four Years in Dual Swim Meets,” Chicago Defender [national edition], 24 February 1940.
22. “Wilson Junior College Swimmers Cop State Title,” Chicago Defender [national edition], 5 April 1941.
23. “Bar Du Sable and Phillips Swim Teams,” Chicago Defender [national edition], 15 November 1941; “Board of Education Bans Lily-White Swim League,” Chicago Defender [national edition], 22 November 1941.
24. The Lane Tech Prep January 1937 (Chicago: Lane Tech, 1937): 75; Hal Gold, e-mail message to author, 29 December 2006.
25. “Du Sable Sea Horses Beat Out Farragut,” Chicago Defender [national edition], 21 February 1942; “DuSable Tankmen Victors; Coach Joins Army Tuesday,” Chicago Defender, 27 February 1943.
26. “Swimming: DuSable Sea Horses,” Red & Black 1946 (Chicago: DuSable High, 1946): np; “DuSable Sea Horses,” Red & Black 1947 (Chicago: DuSable High, 1947): np; “Lane Retains Junior, Senior Swim Crowns,” Chicago Tribune, 22 April 1949.
27. Chuck Davis, “DuSable Girds to Upset Lane in Tank Meet,” Chicago Defender, 17 December 1949.
28. “Lane Ace Betters U.S. Mark,” Chicago Daily News, 14 December 1949; “Lane Swimmers Seek Two More Crowns Today,” Chicago Herald-American, 15 December 1949; “Lane Seniors Set Pace in Swim Trials,” Chicago Sun-Times, 14 December 1949; “Gora Sets New 220 Freestyle Swim Record,” Chicago Tribune, 14 December 1949.
29. “Lane Wins Splash Title,” Chicago Herald-American, 17 December 1949; “Gora Cracks Mark as Lane Wins Twice,” Chicago Daily News, 17 December 1949; “Lane Swimmers Retain Crowns; Gora Sets Mark,” Chicago Tribune, 17 December 1949.
30. “Lane Numbers Beat DuSable in Swim Meet,” Chicago Defender, 24 December 1949.
31. “Lane Keeps City League Swim Crowns,” Chicago Tribune, 21 April 1950; Robert Cromie, “New Trier Wins 3d Consecutive Prep Swim Title,” Chicago Tribune, 26 February 1950.
32. Chuck Davis, “Chuck-a-luck,” Chicago Defender [national edition], 4 November 1950.
33. James Brown interview with author, 17 September 2006, Chicago, Illinois, notes in possession of author.
34. Chuck Davis, “Prep Sports,” Chicago Defender, 30 April 1949; “Lane Swimmers Win City League Championships,” Chicago Tribune, 9 December 1950; “Lane Keeps City League Swim Crowns,” Chicago Tribune, 21 April 1950.
35. “Swimming Team,” Red & Black 1951 (Chicago: DuSable High, 1951): np; “DuSable Swimmer Named to All-American Squad,” Chicago Defender [national edition], 22 February 1951; “Lane Wins Both Prep Swim Titles,” Chicago Tribune, 7 April 1951.
36. “Lane Retains City League Swim Titles,” Chicago Tribune, 8 December 1951; “Lane Juniors, Seniors Keep Swim Titles,” Chicago Tribune, 11 April 1952.
37. Roi Ottley, “Good Example of Coach Helps DuSable Team,” Chicago Tribune, 4 April 1954.
38. “Aquatic Artistry on Display,” Red & Black 1956 (Chicago: DuSable High, 1956): 117: “Champions of the Central Section,” Red & Black 1957 (Chicago: DuSable High, 1957): 103. “Sea Horses Sparkle, Romp, and Race!,” Red & Black 1962 (Chicago: DuSable High, 1962): 132.
39. “Our Sea Horses Splash Again!,” Red & Black 1966 (Chicago: DuSable High, 1966): np; “Sea Horses Return,” Red & Black 1972 (Chicago: DuSable High, 1972): np.
40. “Merman Break Four Varsity Pool Records,” Provi (Maywood, IL: Proviso East High, 1965): np.
41. “Joined Forces: Inside Story,” Provi (Maywood, IL: Proviso East High, 1987): 119.
42. Ron Gora telephone interview with author, 16 December 2006, Elmhurst, Illinois; notes in possession of the author.
43. Hoose; McClure.
44. Dawson, p. 1355.
On this day in 1913, the great Japanese Swimmer, Kiyokawa was born……
MASAJI KIYOKAWA (JPN) 1978 Honor Swimmer
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1932 gold (100m backstroke); 1936 bronze (100m backstroke); WORLD RECORD: 1 (400m backstroke); Honorary Secretary of FINA, 1964-1968; Honorary Member of FINA beginning 1968; Honorary Secretary of the FINA International Technical Swimming Committee, 1956-1964.
“Kiyo”, as he is affectionately known to the world of swimming, has repeatedly paid his dues to swimming by his work with FINA and the Japanese Swimming Federation. A successful industrialist, Kiyokawa is President of Kanematsu Gosho. He wears his Olympic gold and bronze medals with a modesty that belies the fierce competitive nature he once showed in the water as the man who beat the great George Kojac in the 1932 Olympics.
Happy Birthday to Zoe Ann Olsen, who would have been 90 years old today….
ZOE ANN OLSEN (USA) 1989 Honor Diver
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1948 silver (springboard); 1952 bronze (springboard); AAU NATIONALS: 13 (1M, 3M); Helms Hall of Fame: 1956; Iowa Sports Hall of Fame: 1978; Northern California Athlete of the Year: 1947.
Zoe Ann Olsen of the USA won a record 13 National diving titles, all of them on the springboard. Her Hollywood stage mother, Norma, had been a great synchronized swimmer. Her father was her teacher-coach. Her high school sweetheart and her first husband was an All-American football player and baseball’s Most Valuable Player with the Boston Red Sox. Her blonde good looks would have made it easier for her to be a cheerleader, yet Zoe Ann persisted over a long diving career that brought her an Olympic silver medal in 1948 and a bronze in 1952.
She began diving at the age of six in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and by the age of 11 had won all of Iowa’s women’s state championships. Only three years later at age 14, she became the 3 meter springboard champion of the U.S., the youngest at that time. She had no practice pool in her hometown so war gas rationing stamps were stretched and three times a week trips were made to Waterloo, IA about 15 miles away at the Y.M.C.A. where she sandwiched in dives during plunge period for the youngsters. The Olsens moved to California where training facilities were better and where she could train under famed diving Coach Lyle Draves.
Her finest moment came when she was defending her National Championship in 1947, diving with a broken right hand in a cast with only 3 days back in the water. She pulled out a dramatic narrow victory to win the springboard diving. This performance helped her win Northern California Athlete of the Year in 1947, one of her 150 awards from a diving career which became serious when she was only 12 years old.
