Happy Birthday to America’s First Great Freestyler of the NY Women’s Swimming Association – Charlotte Boyle !
CHARLOTTE BOYLE (USA)
1988 Honor Pioneer Swimmer
FOR THE RECORD: WORLD RECORDS: 2 (200m, 220 yd freestyle); U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: 8 (50yd to 5 mile long distance). Competed in 1910’s and 1920’s. First great freestyle swimmer of the dominant New York Women’s Swimming Association.
Charlotte Boyle set two world records and won eight U.S. National Championships on both sides of the 1920 Olympics. Charlotte Boyle was the first great freestyler of the dominant New York Women’s Swimming Association and coach L. de B. Handley, the first U.S. scientific swimming coach. Her style and glamour added to a large dose of talent, helped to popularize competitive women’s swimming. She concluded her career with a story book marriage and a long life of service, teaching thousands to swim. Her own competitive career included winning nationals from 50 yards to the five mile national long distance. Her world records were in the 200 meter and 220 yard middle distance events.
Happy Birthday ISTVAN SZIVOS, SR. !!!
ISTVAN SZIVOS, SR. (HUN)
1997 Honor Water Polo Player
FOR THE RECORD: 1948 OLYMPIC GAMES: silver; 1952 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold; 1956 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold; 1947 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: 4th; 1954 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold.
Istvan Szivos, Sr. was one of the great water polo players of the post World War II era in Hungary. He participated on three Olympic teams, winning gold medals at Helsinki (1952) and Melbourne (1956) and a silver at London (1948). He also won the gold at the 1954 European Championships in Torino.
Born in 1920, Szivos, Sr. took a liking to swimming during his early childhood when he spent most of his afternoons by the Tisza River. His first international competition came in 1947 at the Monte-Carlo European Championships where his team took 4th place.
Szivos competed on the M.A.C. and Vasas Clubs. As a member of three Olympic teams for Hungary, he competed with Hall of Famers Dezso Gyarmati, Gyorgy Karpati and Kalman Markovits.
His son, Istvan, Jr., played on four Olympic water polo teams beginning in 1968, winning a gold, silver and two bronze medals. Istvan, Jr. preceded his father by one year as an Honoree in the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
Happy Birthday GEORGE BREEN !!!
GEORGE BREEN (USA)
1975 Honor Swimmer
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1956 bronze (1500m freestyle); 1960 bronze (1500m freestyle); WORLD RECORDS: 6; U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: 22.
George Breen trained for his long course 1500 meter World Records in a 20 yard pool. He began swimming at 17. In his first time trial as a freshman at Cortland State, he swam six minutes and 30 seconds for 440 yds. “I was so bad,” says Breen, “that a coach without Doc Counsilman’s patience would have thrown me out of the pool for cluttering-up his workouts.” Breen’s reign as America’s (and sometimes the World’s) greatest distance swimmer is the classic Horatio Alger story of a kid who couldn’t make the football team so he went out for swimming. He started late, came on fast, and became the best. George started swimming at least ten years later than most of today’s champions – about the time most of our current hotshots are dreaming of retirement. Yet he was still swimming, or swimming again, 20 years later as a Masters national Champion. Breen shaved-down for the first time when he was 40. “I quit for a few years,” says Breen, now the University of Pennsylvania Head Swim Coach, “but I feel better when I’m working out.”
Breen’s most impressive effort was his 1500 meter World Record (long course) at the 1956 U.S. AAU Indoor Championship at Yale, a swim which Ohio State Coach Mike Peppe called “the single most brilliant effort in swimming since I’ve been coaching.” Breen not only lowered the World Record by 13.1 seconds, but finished one minute and 18 seconds ahead of Frank Brunell, himself a many-time U.S. National Champion. No one has ever finished so far ahead of the second man in the 75-year history of the U.S. Nationals.
There is irony in Breen’s next greatest swim. It was during the 1956 Olympics and George lowered his New Haven 1500 meter World Record another 13 seconds to a then incredible 17:52.9. The only problem is it was during the preliminaries, and while George Breen had continued to hold the Olympic record, he had also swum his gold medal race too soon. In the finals he finished third behind Olympic Champion Murray Rose of Australia and runner-up Yamonaka of Japan. The winner was six seconds slower than Breen’s record. Breen calls that race which he has re-swum a few thousand times, “my biggest lesson in character building.” Before and after his “character building” experience George Breen helped build character in other swimmers. In 5 years, from 1956 to 1960, he won 22 U.S. National Championships, set 6 World Records and made 2 Olympic Teams, captaining the 1960 U.S. Team which won the title back from the Australians who had won it all in 1956.
Breen’s thrashing-rolling-shoulder-roll and two-beat kick was an important step in the evolution of modern freestyle swimming although so unorthodox that many top coaches of the time remarked after each of his World Records, “wow, if that man could only swim – think, how good he would be!”
There is one more touch of irony to the George Breen era. The other American male swimmer who did well at the Melbourne Olympics was Bill Yorzyk. As with Breen, Yorzyk was a very bad football player who had never been a swimmer before college. Yorzyk went to Springfield just a few miles from Cortland. Both had outstanding and patient young coaches, Doc Counsilman and “Red” Silvia, both were developing new strokes, and both worked harder in their 20 yd. pools than their U.S. competition had ever worked at 25 yds. or 50 meters.
George Breen was put on this earth to keep us all honest. We honor this incredible man as a 1975 Honoree in the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
George passed away on November 9, 2019.
Happy Birthday to our 2020 Honoree BRENDAN HANSEN !!!
Brendan HANSEN (USA)
2020 Honor Swimmer
FOR THE RECORD: 2004 OLYMPIC
GAMES: gold (4×100m medley relay), silver (100m breaststroke), bronze (200m
breaststroke); 2008 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (4×100m medley relay ), 2012 OLYMPIC
GAMES: gold (4×100m medley relay), bronze (100m breaststroke); 2001 WORLD
CHAMPIONSHIPS (LC): gold (200m breaststroke), silver (100m breaststroke); 2003
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (LC): gold (4×100m medley relay), bronze (200m
breaststroke); 2005 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (LC): gold (100m breaststroke, 200m
breaststroke, 4×100 m medley); 2007 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (LC): gold (100m
breaststroke), silver (50m breaststroke); 2004 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (SC): 4 gold
(50m breaststroke, 100m breaststroke, 200m breaststroke, 4×100m medley relay);
2002 PAN PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (200m breaststroke, 4×100m medley relay),
silver (100m breaststroke); 2006 PAN PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (100m
breaststroke, 200m breaststroke, 4×100m medley relay)
Brendan Joseph Hansen (born
August 15, 1981) is an American former competitive swimmer who specialized in
breaststroke events. Hansen is a six-time Olympic medalist, and is also a
former world record-holder in both the 100m and 200m breaststroke events (long
course).
He won a total of 25 medals in
major international competition – 18 gold, 4 silver, and 3 bronze – spanning
the Olympics, the Worlds, and the Pan Pacific Championships. At the conclusion
of the 2012 Olympic Games, Hansen decided that it would be his final meet,
retiring from the sport of swimming.
Hansen continues to reside in
Austin and is currently the Director of Team Services for USA Swimming.
Happy Birthday ANDY BURKE !!!
Andy Burke (USA)
2018 Honor Contributor
FOR THE RECORD: MANAGER OF THE 1964 US OLYMPIC WATER POLO TEAM; WATER POLO OFFICIAL FOR THE HOST ORGANIZING COMMITTEES AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES IN 1968, 1972, 1976, 1984, 1988, 1996, 2000; DELEGATE TO FINA CONGRESS FOR USA IN SEOUL, KOREA, 1988; MANAGER, USA WATER POLO TEAM, WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS, 1973; WORKED FOR FINA SECRETARIAT; WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS, 1978; MEMBER USA WATER POLO DELEGATION, 1982 AND 1986 FINA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS; CHEF-DE-MISSION, USA AQUATIC TEAMS, 1991 FINA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS; MEMBER ORGANIZING COMMITTEE, WATER POLO OFFICIAL, 1998 FINA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS; FINA CUP, 1999; MEET DIRECTOR, WATER POLO 2006 AND 2010 FINA MASTERS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS; SECRETARY USAS: 1978-1988; MEMBER UANA: WATER POLO COMMITTEE 1963-1975 (CHAIR 1973-1975); MEMBER UANA EXECUTIVE BOARD: 1975-1995 (SECRETARY-TREASURER 1979-1983); TEAM LEADER OF THE OLYMPIC CLUB WITH 20 FINA MASTERS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MEDALS
For over 50 years, the International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) has recognized a category of honorees known as “contributors.” They are the unsung heroes who have used their talents and work behind the scenes to positively impact the aquatic sports and help create platforms for others to achieve fame and glory.
Andy Burke grew up in San Francisco and in 1945, while still in high school, he started playing water polo for the Olympic Club of San Francisco. After nearly a decade as the team’s center back, he traded in his suit and cap for a referee flag and whistle and took on administrative duties that quickly earned him the respect and admiration of his peers. In 1960, he was elected Chairman of the National AAU water polo committee and from 1961 through 1964 he also served as Chairman of water polo for the U.S. Olympic Committee. Burke oversaw the Olympic team selection process and served as manager for the USA Water Polo team at the 1964 Tokyo Games. From 1966 through 1976, he served as Chairman of the AAU Water Polo Rules Committee and internationally, he served on the Technical Water Polo Committee UANA, the Swimming Union of the Americas, from 1963 through 1975, and on the UANA Executive Board from 1975 to 1995.
While Andy served in many leadership positions during his career, he always put the athletes and swimming sports first, even if it meant stepping aside and helping others who he thought could be more effective as leaders. Among those Andy assisted to rise above him was a tall, debonair young midwestern lawyer and water polo player by the name of Bob Helmick. From their first meeting in the early 1960s, Andy recognized his talents as a future leader. “The smartest man I ever met,” Burke says. And for the next two decades, Andy served as Helmick’s advisor, promoter and unofficial “campaign manager” as he rose to positions of power from within the AAU and Olympic water polo committees to the presidency of FINA in 1984 and finally as President of the U.S. Olympic Committee in 1988. Among the many ways Bob Helmick repaid Andy for his support was by designating him Chef d’Mission to lead the U.S. Delegation at the 1991 FINA World Championships in Perth, Australia.
Andy played a similar role in the early career of Dr. Julio Maglione. He had been involved with the UANA organization since 1963 and on the Executive Board for four years, when Maglione was elected President of UANA in 1979. The organization didn’t do much between Pan American Games, but the new president wanted that to change. Andy helped the new president turn his ideas into actions and their efforts caught the attention of FINA, especially Bob Helmick. In 1984, Dr. Maglione moved from UANA president to the FINA Bureau and serves as President of FINA today.
Andy continues today to serve as an example of the spirit of volunteerism. At the age of 88 years young, when most folks his age are content to sit at home and watch sports on TV, Andy Burke continues to referee high school water polo games, oversee the Masters water polo program of the Olympic Club and provide sage advice to the many leaders of today who seek him out.
Happy Birthday KIEREN PERKINS !!!
Kieren Perkins
2006 Honor Swimmer
FOR THE RECORD: 1992 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (1500m freestyle), silver (400m freestyle); 1996 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (1500m freestyle); 200 OLYMPIC GAMES: silver (1500m freestyle): 11 WORLD RECORDS: three-800m, three-1500m, one-400m freestyle long course and one-800m, three-1500m freestyle short course; 1991 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: silver (1500m freestyle); 1994 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (400m, 1500m freestyle); 1990 COMMONWEALTH GAMES: silver (1500m freestyle); 1994 COMMONWEALTH GAMES: gold (200m, 400m, 1500m freestyle, 4x200m freestyle); 1998 COMMONWEALTH GAMES: bronze (1500m freestyle); 1991 PAN PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (400m, 800m, 1500m freestyle); 1993 PAN PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (400m, 800m, 1500m freestyle), silver (4x200m freestyle); 1995 PAN PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (1500m freestyle), silver (800m freestyle)
Only three other swimmers had won Olympic medals in two Olympic Games in the 1500m freestyle – Murray Rose (AUS) 1956 & 1960; Michael Burton (USA) 1968 & 1972 and Vladimir Salnikov (URS) 1980 & 1988 – until Kieren Perkins won a third 1500m Olympic medal (1992, 1996 & 2000). All totaled in Olympic competition, he captured two gold and a silver in the 1500m freestyle and a silver in the 400m freestyle. He set 11 world records, holding the 1500m freestyle record for nine years, the 800m for ten years and the 400m freestyle for five years. When swimming a 1500m freestyle race at the 1991 Pan Pacific Championships, he stopped at the 800m mark to be sure the 800m world record was his and then continued to win the race. In the 1996 Olympic 1500m race, he won the hearts of his countrymen when he barely made the Olympic Team, qualified last for the final, but came back to win the gold medal. He already held the world record.
Coach John Carew trained Kieren to swim the longer freestyle events. He could start each race swimming fast, take the lead and go the whole race about the same speed. That is what made him so hard to catch.
Happy Birthday DEBBIE MEYER !!!
DEBBIE MEYER (USA)
1977 Honor Swimmer
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1968 gold (200m, 400m, 800m freestyle); WORLD RECORDS: 15; PAN AMERICAN GAMES: 1967 (2 gold); NATIONAL AAU CHAMPIONSHIPS: 19; AMERICAN RECORDS: 27; “World Swimmer of the Year”: 1967, 1968, 1969; 1968 Sullivan Award winner.
Debbie was the first to win three individual gold medals at one Olympics (1968 Mexico). She won two Pan-American golds in 1967. She was the first woman to swim the 1500m under 18 minutes and the first to take the 400m under 4:30, the 500 yd under 5 minutes and the 1650 yd under 17 minutes. Meyer held 24 American Records.
In 1967 she was chosen Tass News Agency’s “Woman Athlete of the Year”. Between the ages of 14 and 18, Debbie was the world’s greatest female swimmer. In the seven years prior to the 1968 Olympics (she began at the Camden Y and finished as belle cow of the Arden Hills Swim Club) she swam 30,000 miles in seven years to set training standards no girl before her had achieved; and yet she remained a happy all-American girl in appearance as in performance setting standards. Just for comparison and a little argument in the battle of the sexes, Debbie’s 4:24.5 in the 400m would have beaten Murray Rose in the 1956 Olympics and her 17:19.9 in the 1500m would have been 39 seconds faster than his 1500m time.
Happy Birthday GARY TOBIAN !!!
GARY TOBIAN (USA)
1978 Honor Diver
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1956 silver (platform); 1960 gold (springboard), silver (platform); PAN AMERICAN GAMES: 1959 gold (3m springboard); NATIONAL AAU Diving Titles: 8.
Gary Tobian, a successful Los Angeles business man, owned the tower as U.S. National Champion for six years, but won his international gold medals in both the Olympics and Pan American Games off the springboard. He was the last in a long line of U.S.C. National Collegiate and AAU diving champions medaling in two Olympics, 1956 Melbourne and 1960 Rome.
Three WORLD RECORDS fall at ISHOF Aquatic Complex on this day in history…
Martin Zubero
In 1991, the International Swimming Hall of Fame Aquatic Complex played host to the Phillips 66 U.S. Summer Nationals in Fort Lauderdale.
On this day, August 13, 1991, two World Records were broken at ISHOF. The first was broken by ISHOF Honoree Martin Zubero in the 200m backstroke in a new world record time of 1:57.30, breaking, the record of ISHOF Honor Swimmer, Igor Polyansky, of the Soviet Union in a time of 1:58.14.
The second World Record to fall that day was the 200 breaststroke, and another ISHOF Honor Swimmer would be the lucky guy! Mike Barrowman broke the 200m breaststroke in a time of 2:10.60, breaking his own record of 2:11.23, he has set earlier that year in Perth, Australia.
Mike Barrowman
At the same event, only years later, in 2002, at the Phillips 66 U.S. Summer Nationals, Natalie Coughlin broke the World Record in the 100m backstroke in a time of 59.58. Coughlin broke the record held by China’s He Cihong that was set at the 1994 Roma World Championships, with her time of 100.16
Natalie Coughlin
A Special Happy Birthday to our 2020 ISHOF Honor Swimmer MICHAEL KLIM !!!
Michael
Klim (AUS)
2020 ISHOF Honor Swimmer
He was born in Poland, taught to swim in India, lived in Canada
and Germany as a youth and ended up swimming for Australia, where his family settled
and finally considered home. As much as he moved during his youth, there was a
constant in his life: Swimming. No
matter where he was, no matter what country, Klim could always join the swim
team and feel like he fit right in.
Klim first represented Australia in 1994, at the Commonwealth
Games in Victoria, British Columbia. But didn’t really begin to shine until
1995 when he was named Australian Swimming Rookie of the Year.
Klim specialized in the freestyle and butterfly events and became
one of the most notable athletes in Australian history. At his first Olympic
appearance in Atlanta in 1996, he entered competition ranked first in the world
in the 200m freestyle, but did not make finals. However, he and his Aussie teammates
brought home the bronze medal in the 4 x 100m medley relay, Klim’s contribution
a precursor to his status as an all-time great in relay duty.
It was at the 1998 FINA World Championships in Perth, in
front of a home crowd, in which Klim produced his best performance. On home
soil, Klim claimed seven medals in seven events, four of which were gold. The
effort is considered one of the most outstanding performances by an Australian
at an international swimming event.
Eight months later, at the Commonwealth Games, Klim again won
seven medals, of which four were gold.
Yet, as Klim says, “The Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, was
Australia’s coming out party,” or at least its return to the greatness that was
once common. In 1996, Australia ranked fifth
at the Olympics, with just two gold medals won in the pool. After Sydney, Australia was a solid No. 2
behind the United States, with 18 total medals – five gold, nine silver and
four bronze. Klim had a role in two of
those gold medals and two of the silver medals, his biggest feat what he
managed leading off Australia’s triumphant 4 x 100m freestyle relay.
Prior to Sydney, the United States owned that relay, having
never lost the event in Olympic history. As the Games prepared to open, the American
swimmers thought the title theirs to keep, with veteran Gary Hall Jr. stating
the U.S. would “smash the Australians like guitars.” When the beep went off for the
much-anticipated duel, Klim propelled the Aussies into the lead, his leadoff
split of 48.18 setting a world record for the 100 freestyle.
The relay came down to the anchors: Ian Thorpe vs. Hall. Although Hall led most of the way, Thorpe
pulled ahead in the last 15 meters and enabled Australia to break the United
States’ unbeaten Olympic streak in the event.
The Aussie team, in response to Hall’s comments, celebrated their win by
playing air guitars for the hometown crowd.
Klim walked away from Sydney with four medals, two gold and two
silver, and three world records.
Klim retired in 2007 but announced a comeback in 2011, toying
with the idea of trying to make the 2012 Olympic Team. Although impressively reaching the semifinals
of both the 100 freestyle and 100 butterfly, Klim again announced his
retirement after the Australian Trials.