Farewell to a Legend: For One Final Time, ISHOF Honoree Eddie Reese Leads Texas Into NCAA Champs
by JOHN LOHN – EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
24 March 2024, 12:03pm
Farewell to a Legend: For One Final Time, Eddie Reese Leads Texas Into NCAA Champs
As Eddie Reese plans to retire from coaching after the U.S. Olympic Trials in June, he’ll be leaving the swimming world with a plethora of accomplishments, but he and those who know him will immediately tell you that the most important part of his legacy has been—and will always be—about the people and the lives he’s touched.
A few things transpired when Eddie Reese was called to the stage to accept the Impact Award at last fall’s USA Swimming Golden Goggle Awards. For one, the legendary coach was greeted by a standing ovation, deep appreciation for his years of contributions to the sport. Additionally, his speech was a clinic in humility, as it focused on the individuals Reese encountered during his career, not himself.
Reese’s address to a who’s-who gathering of past and present American swim stars also featured—as expected—an entertaining degree of comedy. Reese has long been known for his deck-side jokes and ability to bring humor to the sport. So, when he commented on the velvety nature of the dining room’s napkins, the 82-year-old had the room laughing.
For years ahead, stories will be shared about Reese’s influence, and his jokes will endure. But Reese is departing his position as the head coach of the men’s program at the University of Texas following the United States Olympic Trials in Indianapolis, and that decision means fewer opportunities to celebrate, learn from and laugh with a man who has given swimming so much over five decades.
This week’s NCAA Championships will be the last for Reese, who initially announced his retirement after the 2021 season, only to reverse that decision a few months later. This time around, Reese is confident it is time to move on, with time with his wife, Elinor, and their grandchildren high on the agenda.
Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
Where Reese’s Longhorns will finish at his final NCAAs is uncertain. This squad is not expected to challenge for a national title, although a top-five finish is within reach. Then again, there’s always been much more to his role than putting banners in the rafters of the Jamail Swim Center.
“The thing I got most out of coaching swimming has nothing to do with winning or trophies or anything like that,” Reese said. “It all has to do with interpersonal relationships. Coaches are in a great position that I love because I’m a firm believer that if the purpose of our life is to help, it puts us in a position to do just that. In one of the books (I read), we all know the saying, ‘You can’t take it with you when you die.’ And then, underneath that, it said, ‘The only thing you take with you is that which you’ve given others.’ We’re here to help, and I’ve been able to do that.”
SIGNIFICANT SUCCESS
Eddie Reese has maintained a consistent mantra during his tenure at Texas and at Auburn University prior to arriving in Austin. Reese has always focused on developing quality people and helping them get faster from the start of the season through its conclusion, and from year to year. Because of that approach, Texas enjoyed significant success.
Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
And as much as Reese does not toot his vast accomplishments, it is necessary to provide a snapshot of his achievements. Consider:
He has led Texas to 15 NCAA titles, the most in history, with those crowns spread over five decades.
His teams have finished runner-up at the NCAA Championships on 13 occasions, and boast 36 top-three finishes.
Under Reese’s guidance, Texas has won 45 consecutive conference championships, 27 in the Southwest Conference and 18 in the Big 12 Conference.
Entering this season, Reese-led athletes had won 75 individual NCAA titles and 55 relay crowns.
He is a three-time United States Olympic head coach and multi-time assistant.
Reese has guided 29 Longhorns to Olympian status, with those athletes combining for 63 Olympic medals (39 gold, 16 silver, eight bronze).
He is an inductee of the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
There is plenty more that could have been included in that list of achievements, but those selected items clearly reflect a man who has established himself as a measuring stick of success. How has he excelled? In part, it hinges on his longstanding approach.
“To coach swimming well, it cannot be a job. It’s got to be a lifestyle,” Reese said. “In reality, I haven’t had a job for the 58 years that I’ve coached. It has been an incredible part of my life. And the incredible part has had nothing to do with winning and losing. It has to do with the people that I’ve been lucky enough to be around.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Beyond coaching some of the greatest athletes in swimming’s history, including Hall of Famers Aaron Peirsol, Brendan Hansen and Ian Crocker, Reese has always focused heavily on relationships and the bigger picture. He and former longtime assistant Kris Kubik shared an enduring trust. Of late, Reese has mentored assistant Wyatt Collins.
Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
As for his athletes, it was critical they felt appreciated and were given an opportunity to succeed in and out of the pool. If a swimmer needed a boost, Reese was there to motivate. If an athlete was hurting, Reese knew how to console. If a situation required some levity, Reese was more than happy to infuse humor.
Simply, he was the complete package.
“He can impart wisdom to you in any situation, whether it’s sitting on the bleachers, in a pool, on a plane, whether it’s in an airport, in the weight room, out to dinner, in a car ride, and it can seemingly come out of nowhere, sometimes,” Collins said. “You might be talking hamburgers, and he drops a nugget on you where it’s like, ‘Wow, that just shook my world.’ Usually, you walk away with a little more experience than when you sat down with him. That’s why he’s Eddie Reese. That’s why there’s never going to be anyone like him. We’re all better for having him in our lives.”
HIS LEGACY WILL ENDURE
Eddie Reese will walk away from the day-to-day demands of coaching in the coming months. Before that day, a few of his athletes will challenge for NCAA success and berths to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Whatever unfolds will be.
What is guaranteed to endure into the future is the legacy Reese has established since stepping foot on the University of Texas campus in the late 1970s. In the days since, he has etched himself not only as a coaching great, but as a man who has emphasized the importance of developing high-character human beings and giving them what they needed.
“Eddie has always cared about us,” Hansen once said. “It wasn’t just about making us faster swimmers, even though he’s a master at doing that. It was about making us better people. He’s the greatest coach this sport has ever seen. I don’t think anyone can argue that. But he’s also one of the most special people I’ve ever met.”
The International Swimming Hall of Fame Launches the Every Child a Swimmer (ECAS) on-land water safety education program supported by Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation.
News provided by Every Child A Swimmer Staff
By: Casey McGovern
March 21, 2021
The International Swimming Hall of Fame, in collaboration with the Princess Charlene ofMonaco Foundation, is proud to announce the launch of the Every Child a Swimmer (ECAS)program. Spearheaded by Dr. Bill Kent, Chair of the Board, and Casey McGovern, programmanager. ECAS embodies our spiritual mission at the International Swimming Hall of Fame toensure every child has the opportunity to become a proficient swimmer.
ECAS aims to provide essential swimming lessons to children from financially disadvantagedfamilies, equipping them with life-saving skills and reducing their risk of drowning by astaggering 88%. Through meticulous evaluation of professional swim schools and aquatics-active organizations, we identify partners capable of effectively teaching children to swim.Subsequently, we provide scholarships to these organizations, empowering them to transformchildren into confident swimmers.
The support of the Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation is instrumental in our mission.Their generous funding enables us to expand the ECAS program into the schools by providingon-land water safety presentations, reaching more children in need. Dr. Stathis Avramidis,President of the Greek Lifesaving Sports Association and esteemed Board Member of theSwimming Hall of Fame, has been pivotal in the development of this initiative, and we extendour heartfelt appreciation for his unwavering support.
As we embark on this journey, both the International Swimming Hall of Fame and the PrincessCharlene of Monaco Foundation are committed to creating a new standard of success in watersafety education.
Together, we look forward to the profound impact that the Every Child a Swimmer programwill have on the lives of children and families nationwide, and we are optimistic about theprogram’s future expansion.
For more information on how to support or participate in the Every Child a Swimmer program,please visit www.everychildaswimmer.org or by contacting Casey McGovern at (954) 275-9035or via email at Casey@everychildaswimmer.org.
Happy Birthday Lynne Burke!!
Lynne Burke (USA)
Honor Swimmer (1978)
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1960 gold (100m backstroke; 400m medley relay); WORLD RECORDS: 6; NATIONAL AAU titles: 6 (100m backstroke, 2 relays); AMERICAN RECORDS: 7; Lowered the 100m backstroke World Record four times within three months.
The significant point about Lynn Burke’s backstroke World and Olympic Records, according to her coach, George Haines, “is a big chunk she took out of the current world class backstrokers’ time, dropping two seconds in the 100m backstroke.” She was the first American woman to win the Olympic 100m backstroke in 28 years. Lynn burst across the horizon like a flying fish going from virtual obscurity to the best in the world in less than two years, not only defeating all contemporaries, but finally wiping out the oldest record in the books, Hall of Famer Cor Kint’s 1939 record that had lasted 21 years. A New York model, author, business woman, and working mother of three children, Lynn Burke is glamorous proof that a swimmer can set records in more than the water.
INAUGURAL “HIGH DIVE LIVE!” SHOW; WHO WILL BE CROWNED THE FIRST CHAMPION?
For the first time in Fort Lauderdale, FL, High Dive Global and the InternationalSwimming Hall of Fame are hosting a one of a kind diving show, HIGH DIVE LIVE!Prepare to witness jaw-dropping dives, incredible athleticism, and fierce competition asthese elite high divers push the limits of what is possible in the world of high diving to becrowned the first “High Dive Live!” champion!
Date: Saturday April 6th and Sunday 7th, 2024Time: Show 1:00-1:30 PM
● General Admission: Doors open at 12:30 PM
● VIP All Access: Doors open at 12:00 for VIP Experience
Place: Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center
Tickets: https://highdiveglobal.ticketspice.com/highdive-live
Media Assets: Click Here
HIGH DIVING IN FORT LAUDERDALEFort Lauderdale has become the premier destination for high divers around the world afterbuilding the only permanent high diving facility in the Western Hemisphere. The platform has 9take off points ranging from 1 meter (3 feet) all the way up to 27 meters (90 feet). High diving isa rapidly growing, adrenaline pumping, awe-inspiring sport in which the top athletes compete upto five flips and twists in less than 3 seconds from heights up to 88 feet. Technical high divinggained popularity in 2009, with the debut of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series. Since then,World Aquatics adopted the sport in 2013 as an official discipline of diving. Men compete from27 meters and women compete from 20 meters. In fact, high diving was the first sold out eventat the 2019 World Championships and is being considered for inclusion in the 2028 OlympicGames.
For accreditation, press inquiries, and more information send an email toellie@highdiveglobal.com
Ellie Smart (CEO of High Dive Global)
Happy Birthday Penny Dean!!
Penny Dean (USA)
Honor Open Water Swimmer (1996)
FOR THE RECORD: 1978 Established English Channel crossing record (England to France, 7 hrs. 40 min.); 1979 Professional Marathon Swimming Circuit (Women’s World Champion); four Catalina Channel crossings (1976-1977); 12 WORLD RECORDS; Head Coach: U.S. National Long Distance team (1984-1988); Head Women’s Swimming and Water Polo Coach: Pomona College since 1979.
When she was ten years old, she came within 400 meters of swimming the length of the Golden Gate Bridge. But tired and with the water a frigid 52 degrees Fahrenheit and the escort boat an arms reach away, Penny Dean made a decision that would determine the course of her life for the next thirteen years and make Marathon swimming history – she got out. It was an understandable decision for a ten year old, but once on shore she mistook her mother’s look of guilt that she had pushed her daughter too hard and into failure, as a look of disappointment. She had let pain and fatigue distract her from her goal, and she vowed never to let that happen again. From that summer day in 1965, Penny Dean embarked on a challenging course that thirteen years later would lead to one of the greatest marathon swims in history.
She had a head start – she had been swimming since the age of 20 months in both San Francisco and Santa Clara – hot beds for swimming in California. She competed in AAU swimming for seventeen years in both pool Nationals and Long Distance Open Water Nationals, winning the Three Mile National Championship in 1971. As a swimmer for Pomona College, she was a six-time All-American. By 1976, she swam from the mainland of California to Catalina Island in the overall world record of 7 hours, 15 minutes 55 seconds – 1 and 1/2 hours under the former record. The next year she set the world record from the island to the mainland on her way to a 50 mile double crossing of the Catalina Channel in 20 hours and 3 minutes. These swims set the stage for her greatest challenge.
Tennis players have Wimbledon; runners have the Boston Marathon; swimmers have the English Channel. Penny not only wanted to be amongst the successful eighteen percent of swimmers who actually complete the English Channel, she wanted to break all the records. The water was 55 degrees, the tides were challenging and the channel is vast to the lone swimmer. A core of inner toughness kept her swimming, and a remarkable 7 hours, 40 minutes after she left England, her toes scraped against the sand of the French coast with a greeting committee of a few shocked shell hunters. Her time broke the world record by 1 hour and 5 minutes and was so impressive that it took another sixteen years before Chad Hundeby broke her record in September of 1995. Penny proved once again that women can swim faster and longer than men in Marathon Swimming.
She continued her long distance swimming career for another three years, winning at Lake St. John, LaTugue, Lakes Memphremagog and Paspebiac in Quebec, and Atlantic City in New Jersey, setting women’s world records in most of them. She was Women’s World Professional Champion in 1979 accumulating 1,000 points over her next rival.
Penny became a Professor of Education and Head Swimming Coach at Pomona College, but not before serving as the U.S. National Team Coach of Open Water Swimming from 1988 through 1991, Head Coach of U.S. teams to the 1991 Pan Pacific Championships, 1991 World Championships, 1982 and 1990 Windermere Championships, 1990 English Channel Race, 1984 and 1989 Catalina Channel Race and coach of nine solo Catalina Channel crossers. She was president of the College Swimming Coaches Association of America from 1985 to 1987 and served on the NCAA Swimming Committee. She has presented numerous international clinics on marathon and open water swimming, written articles for swimming publications and authored “How to Swim a Marathon,” with printings in 1985, 1988 and 1992, and “History of the Catalina Swims,” revised four times since 1985.
Penny has been a pathfinder in her swimming career. Studying law, she receives her Ph.D. in 1996. She stands as the tallest and proudest five-foot-two inch, 125 pound marathon swimmer the world has known. What the world did not know was that she swam her way to victory with no anterior artery blood supply to her left arm. She used the other part of her body for that – her guts.
Salute to National Women’s Month: Honoree Ethelda Bliebtrey
There are so many strong women in sports, particularly aquatic sports, but in the month of March, we specifically try to really pay tribute to them. So for our first woman, we’ve decided to tell the story of one of the greatest women swimmers in the sport with a life as fun and exciting as her name: Ms. Ethelda Bliebtrey.
Ethelda Bleibtrey was the USA’s first female Olympic swimming champion and the only person ever to win all the women’s swimming events at any Olympic Games. She took up competitive swimming for the first time in 1918, won the nationals within a year, and was the best in the world by the end of the second year (1920 Olympics).
Miss Bleibtrey won three gold medals in the Games at Antwerp and says only fate kept her from being swimming’s first four gold medal winner in one Olympic Game, an honor Hall of Famer Don Schollander accomplished 44 years later in Tokyo. “At that time,” she says, “I was the world record holder in backstroke but they didn’t have women’s backstroke, only freestyle in those Olympics.”
U.S. Girls 400 Freestyle Relay: Frances Schroth, Margaret Woodbridge, Ethelda Bliebtrey, Irene Guest
For her world and Olympic records in the 100 and 300 meter freestyle and anchor leg of the winning U.S. 400 freestyle relay, Ethelda was congratulated by King Albert of Belgium. She later surfed with the Prince of Wales in Hawaii, dated oarsman Jack Kelly in Atlantic City, and triumphantly toured the Panama Canal, Australia and New Zealand. The invitation down under came when she was the first girl ever to beat Hall of Famer Fanny Durack, the long-time Australian multi-world record holder on Fanny’s U.S. tour in 1919.
Miss Bleibtrey had several other firsts for which she got citations but no medals. Her first citation was for “nude swimming” at Manhattan Beach. She removed her stockings before going in to swim. This was considered nudity in 1919. Resulting publicity and public opinion swinging in her favor not only emancipated Ethelda from jail, but women’s swimming from stockings. On her trip to Australia with Charlotte Boyle the misses Bleibtrey and Boyle were the second and third famous women to bob their hair — something Irene Castle had just introduced. Charlotte’s parents told them not to come home until it grew out (citation #2), for which they were reprieved when the ship landed and the Boyle’s decided it didn’t look as bad as they had feared. Citation #3 got Ethelda arrested in Central Park and paddy-wagonned down to the New York police station for a night in jail but it also got New York its first big swimming pool in Central Park after Mayor Jimmy Walker intervened.
It happened like this: “The New York Daily News” wanted the City to open up its Central Park reservoir for swimming and arranged to have Ethelda arrested while diving in. For this they paid her $1,000.00, money she sorely needed after an abortive attempt to turn pro with a tank tour of the Keith Circuit. Her tank leaked — all over the theater — and Keith’s sued her instead of continuing her promised 14 week tour.
Ethelda and Charlotte Boyle with their Famed “bobbed” haircuts
Ethelda Bleibtrey, who started swimming because of polio, and took it up seriously to keep her friend Charlotte Boyle company, turned pro in 1922 after winning every national AAU championship from 50 yards to long distance (1920-1922) in an undefeated amateur career. She also started the U.S. Olympians Association with Jack Kelly, Sr., and later became a successful coach and swimming teacher in New York and Atlantic City. She is currently a practicing nurse in North Palm Beach, Florida — not as young but just as interesting. The sparkle remains in her eyes as she tells how they swam their 1920 Olympic races “in mud and not water,” in a tidal estuary; and how she participated in the first athletic sit-in when Hall of Famer Norman Ross organized the Olympic team to sit it out on the beach in Europe until the U.S. Olympic Committee sent better accommodations for the voyage home. “I have my memories,” says Ethelda, “and I guess some of those other people remember too. I owe a great deal to swimming and to Charlotte Boyle, who got me in swimming and L. deB. Handley, who coached me to the top.”
ISHOF Announces it’s (MISHOF) Masters International Swimming Hall of Fame Class for 2023….
MISHOF 2019 Induction Ceremony, St. Louis, MO, USAS convention (photo above)
The Masters International Swimming Hall of Fame (MISHOF) is proud to announce its prestigious Masters Class of 2023. This year ISHOF will be inducting the class of seven (7) honorees from five countries that were selected last year: three swimmers, one diver, one water polo player, one synchronized/artistic swimmer, and one contributor. The Masters (MISHOF) induction event will be held in conjunction with the ISHOF Honoree weekend, Saturday, October 4-5, 2024 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
This year’s Masters International Swimming Hall of Fame (MISHOF) honorees include:
HONOR SWIMMERS: Clary Munns (AUS), Glen Christiansen (SWE), and Tom Wolf (USA); HONOR DIVER: Tarja Liljestrom (FIN); HONOR SYNCHRONIZED (ARTISTIC) SWIMMER: Lizzi Jakobsen* (USA); HONOR WATER POLO: Jose Luis Martin Gomez (ESP); and HONOR CONTRIBUTOR: Nadine Day (USA)
*deceased
SWIMMERS:
CLARY MUNNS (AUS)
78-year-old grandmother Clary Munns swims for the Blacktown City Masters Swimming Club.
As of her selection in early 2023, she had set eight long course and 25 short course FINA Masters world records in the backstroke, butterfly and I.M events, since 1988 with 13 world records in 2019 alone. Munns has not competed in any FINA Masters World Championships, accumulating all her 1297 world points by breaking world records, and setting world rankings. Since 1986, Clary has been in the Top Ten, 25 times.
Clary is a great ambassador for Blacktown City at the state, national and world levels, and is proof that age is no barrier to sporting success. In 2016 she was New South Wales Masters Athlete of the Year.
TOM WOLF (USA)
Tom Wolf began swimming Masters in the 25-29 age group. He is currently swimming in the 65-69, meaning he has competed in eight different age groups. He has set 28 FINA Masters World Records competing in the backstroke and the I.M. events and has been in the world rankings since 1983.
Wolf has been in the Top Ten 16 times in his career. He previously swam for North Texas Masters and is currently swimming for Lone Star Masters in the USA.
Like Clary Munns, Wolf has not competed in any FINA Masters World Championships, accumulating all his 949 world points by breaking world records and setting world rankings.
GLEN CHRISTIANSEN (SWE)
Glen Christiansen is a former Swedish Olympic swimmer who competed in the 1980 Summer Olympics, where he finished 11th in the 200-meter breaststroke.
Since then, he has had continued success as a Masters swimmer and has pursued an international career as a swimming coach. He broke 24 world records between 1986 and 2009 and has competed in eight Masters World Championships (1986, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2010 and 2014), winning a total of 26 medals. He has been in the Top Ten a total of 32 times and has acquired a total of 908 world points.
He has been in the World Rankings in both the long and short course, with a total of 33, almost exclusively in the breaststroke events.
DIVER:
TARJA LILJESTROM (FIN)
Prior to her Masters career, Tarja Liljestrom was a competitor in the 1968 Olympic Games for Finland on both the 3M Springboard and 10M Platform.
Tarja has competed in nine FINA World Championships, and has won 24 medals: 10 Gold, 13 Silver, 1 Bronze. In addition, she has set three World Records, has competed in numerous European Masters competitions, and serves as a judge in the same competitions. She is currently competing in the 65-69 age group.
Tarja is a researcher for the University of Helsinki in Helsinki, Finland.
WATER POLO PLAYER:
JOSE LUIS MARTIN GOMEZ (ESP)
In 1998 Jose started playing for Real Canoe Masters of Madrid; a few years prior to that, he was playing in the regional league, as there was no Masters league. Jose imported the traveling spirit of his former club that he played in as a child, to Real Canoe and now the club makes two to three trips a year to any part of the world to play in Masters tournaments. He also organizes the Spanish Cup of Masters water polo every two years.
Jose has competed in eight FINA Masters World Championships between 2004 and 2017, earning one silver and two bronze in tournament play. In 2017 he won gold at the World Master Games; He has competed in six European Masters Championships, coming away with one gold, one silver and two bronze.
He has also competed in numerous international tournaments throughout Europe and Spain, as a member of the Real Canoe Team, between 2002-2017, earning ten gold medals, five silver medals and four bronze medals.
ARTISTIC SWIMMER:
LIZZI JAKOBSEN (USA)*
*deceased
Lizzi Jakobsen was one of the five original members of the team that became the Southern California Unsyncables. Inspired by the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, they decided to enter the Masters National Championships that year. Lizzie and her team competed in nationals again in 1986, ‘88, ‘90, and ‘91. With the FINA World Masters being held in Indianapolis in 1992, they planned to enter their first ever FINA World Masters Championships. With the help of Dawn Bean as coach, they were elated to come home with medals in four events including gold medals in the 50-59 age group team.
After their success in Indianapolis, the Unsyncables began competing in the FINA Masters World Championships. Lizzi attended a total of seven FINA Masters Championships winning a total of 15 medals: 12 gold, two silver and one bronze. Indianapolis (1992), Montreal (1994), Sheffield, England (1996), Munich (2000), Christchurch, New Zealand (2002), Riccione, Italy (2004), Stanford, California (2006), and Goteborg, Sweden (2010).
Unfortunately, Lizzi passed away last year before she learned of her induction.
CONTRIBUTOR:
NADINE DAY (USA) – Masters Swimming Contributor
Nadine Day has devoted the last 25 years of her life to Masters swimming. Her volunteer work began in 2001 when she became the Illinois Local Masters Swimming Committee (LMSC) Sanctions Chair. Attending her first USMS convention a year later, she soon joined several USMS committees, all the while continuing to take on more responsibility within her local MSC. Nadine served as her LMSC’s Vice Chair and subsequently its Chair in addition to balancing the demands of multiple USMS Committee assignments.
In 2005, Nadine was elected to the USMS Board of Directors for the first time. After serving two terms as the Great Lakes Director, she was elected Vice President of Community Services, and served another four years on the board. During her 16 years as a leader on the USMS Board, Nadine was involved in numerous task forces and committees. In the late twenty-teens, Nadine was named the United States Aquatic Sports Convention Chairperson, which is no small undertaking. Day and her committee took it over flawlessly from a crew that had been running it for years and years.
Nadine continued serving in leadership positions on committees and international organizations, once off the USMS board. In Nadine’s own words: “To me it’s about giving back to a sport I love and encouraging other adults to love swimming—it’s about providing opportunities for others. Making sacrifices for others is easy when you want our sport to be successful”. Nadine’s contributions to USMS have touched countless lives and helped USMS to grow and evolve.
Nadine has received numerous awards through the years, showing her continued dedication to Masters swimming. She won the USMS Dorothy Donnelly Service Award; in 2015, USMS, gave her the Ted Haartz Staff Appreciation Award and in 2016, she received USMS’s highest honor, the Capt. Ransom J. Arthur M.D. Award. In 2018 Swimming World Magazine named her “One of the 10 Most Impactful People” in Swimming. And lastly, in 2020 United States Aquatic Sports presented Nadine with the Women in Swimming Award.
About MISHOF
The purpose of the MISHOF is to promote a healthy lifestyle, lifelong fitness, and participation in adult aquatic programs. MISHOF recognizes the achievements of individuals who have participated in Masters programs through at least four different Masters age groups. Most must pre-qualify by an objective point system based on world records performances, world Top Ten rankings and World Championship performances. The MISHOF is a division of the International Swimming Hall of Fame, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. For more information, please visit: www.ishof.org
About ISHOF
The International Swimming Hall of Fame, Inc. (ISHOF), established in 1965, is a not-for-profit educational organization located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA. It was first recognized by FINA, the International Olympic Committee’s recognized governing body for the aquatic sports, in 1968. ISHOF’s mission is to collaborate with aquatic organizations worldwide to preserve, educate and celebrate history, showcase events, share cultures, increase participation in aquatic sports, while working toward making “Every child A Swimmer”.
For more information, call Meg-Keller-Marvin at 570 594-4367 or e-mail: meg@ishof.org or visit www.ishof.org
Happy Birthday Jane Asher!!
Jane Asher (GBR)
Honor Masters Swimmer (2004)
INTERNATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS: World Points – 1370, Pre-1986 Points – 0, Total Points – 1370; Since 1983, she has competed in 4 age groups (55-59 thru 70-74); 52 FINA MASTERS WORLD RECORDS;
Jane Asherwas born in ‘Nkana, Northern Rhodesia in 1931, but grew up in South Africa, loving the water and having swimming access anytime, anywhere. At the age of 22, she moved to Britain to take a post-graduate diploma in personnel management at Manchester University in 1953. She swam on the university swim team and was selected to compete at the World University Games but was unable to attend the meet. Swimming was becoming her life’s passion and although there were no more competitions for her personally in the mid-1950s, she began coaching the school children of her new home town area in Norwich.
Jane realized the swimming advantage she had had as a child living in South Africa. The children of Britain did not have the same access to water privileges Jane had. During World War II and shortly before her arrival, Britain’s beaches were covered with barbed wire, and with what few pools there were, pool swimming time was at a premium. So, Jane started to work as a teacher and coach of school children in her area, beginning with the very basics of the sport.
In her early coaching days, her family lived in a small country village where Robbie, her husband, was the veterinarian and the local high school had a small pool eight yards by sixteen yards. She started a small club for the children and was also working as the coach of the county team three evenings a week. Children from outlying villages came into Norwich for training sessions at the Long Stratton School and Swimming Club. During the next ten years, she coached at the Norwich Penguins and then in 1980 at her own private, non-profit making training sessions at the Norwich High School. She called it the JETS (Jane’s Extra Training School) and children came from miles around.While parents waited for their children during training sessions, Jane thought they could spend their time better in the water than on poolside. Thus began the nucleus of the first Masters swim club of the Amateur Swimming Association (A.S.A.) of Great Britain.
Jane became the catalyst and organized the setting up of the East Anglian Swallow Tail (E.A.S.T.) Club, named for a butterfly which only breeds in Norwich. Many of the swimmers not only were coached by Jane in this new club, they had been coached by her years before in high school.
In 1992, Jane and a few E.A.S.T. members successfully ran a seminar specifically for Masters and since then, Jane has been asked to do seminars all over the country. She started a training camp in the French Alps, maybe the first for Masters at high altitude. As she says, “My specialty is technique. The fitness comes from climbing up and down the steps to the pool!” Nearly everything she does for Masters swimming is on a voluntary basis. Swimmers pay for the pool hire and arrange their own transport and accommodation. She feels the camaraderie gained is full compensation for any effort on her behalf.
But while Jane is doing all this for others, she is also, unselfishly, doing for herself what her swimmers are reaching to get – world success in swimming. Since 1986, she has set 49 FINA Masters World Records in the freestyle, I.M. backstroke and sprint butterfly events in the 55-59 through 70-74 age groups. She has won gold medals 26 times at FINA Masters World Championships, 36 at Masters European Championships, 6 at Masters Pan Pacifics, and 95 at British Masters National Championships. She has set 76 Masters European Championship records and 117 BritishMasters national records. She has goldmedals at the National Championships of Britain, Scotland, Wales, France, and Holland. When she turned 70 in 2001, she traveled Britain and Europe to try to swim every long and short course event available. The results – she broke all the British records and awhole lot ofWorld and European records too. Even after total hip replacement in 2002, her times continue to drop. There is life after surgery. Jane has received the Cherriman Trophy for service to Masters Swimming. She has provided great strides in promoting Masters Swimming as a swimmer, coach, clinician, organizer and enthusiast in Britain, European and World swimming.
Happy Birthday Sandy Neilson-Bell!!
Sandy Neilson-Bell (USA)
Honor Masters Swimmer (2005)
INTERNATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS: World Points – 982, Pre-1986 Points – 56, Total Points – 984; Since 1981, she has competed in five age groups (25-29 thru 45-49); 43 FINA MASTERS WORLD RECORDS;
Sandy Neilson was raised in the small Southern California town of El Monte. At the age of 10, she began swimming for the El Monte Aquatics Club coached by Don LaMont. Only five years later at age 15 in 1971, she set the American Record in the 100 yard freestyle and won gold medals in the 100 meter freestyle and 400 meter freestyle relay, at the Pan American Games in Cali, Columbia. She also won the silver medal in the 400 meter medley relay.
The next year, truly as a dark horse at age 16 in preparing for the 1972 Olympic Games, Sandy qualified third on the U.S. team in the 100 meter freestyle swimming at the U.S. Olympic Trials. In Munich, she surprised everyone when she went on to win three Olympic gold medals in the 100 meter freestyle and both relays. In order to win the 100 meter freestyle, Sandy had to beat the favorites: the world’s top woman swimmer Shane Gould (Australia) and the top American woman swimmer Shirley Babashoff. But by winning the 100 freestyle, Neilson earned her place on the relay teams and led off the freestyle relay and anchored the medley relay to world records.
Sandy retired shortly after her 1972 Olympic triumph, but decided to try Masters swimming nine years later, after she took a job coaching the Industry Hills Masters and seeing how much fun her swimmers were having. She won “all” in the 25-29 age group setting records in the freestyle and individual medley. Soon after, at a U.S. Masters Nationals, she met her future husband, sports psychologist and highly accomplished Masters swimmer, Dr. Keith Bell.
Keith began coaching Sandy and encouraged her to swim both Masters and U.S. Senior swimming, suggesting that a good goal would be to break the world record. She set her sights on making the 1988 Olympic Team. From ages 28 to 32, she swam on both Masters and USS Senior Elite levels, setting records in Masters while making progress for “the old folks” in U.S. and international swimming, too. At age 32, Sandy, ranked internationally while swimming in the U.S.S. Senior Elite Program, changing the swimming world’s thinking of what is old… move over Phil Niekro, Pete Rose, Walter Spence, Arne Borg!
Sandy was the first ever 30, 35 and 39 year old qualifying to swim at the U.S. National Championships. She was the first woman Masters swimmer to compete in the U.S. Olympic Trials at ages 32 and 36. In the 1988 trials, she just missed the team with a time that would have finaled at the Seoul Olympics. Sandy was the first woman over age 30 and again at age 35 to break a minute in the 100 meter freestyle. While accruing over 75 Masters National Championships, 72 Masters National Records and 43 Fina Masters World Records, Sandy was at the same time the first woman to compete on the National elite level in three different decades, usually competing against girls half her age. In Masters ranks, she has scored 75 number one, 26 number two and 16 number three world rankings.
Inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1986 for her Olympic and international achievements pre-Masters, Sandy is also a member of the Helms Hall of Fame, El Monte School Hall of Fame, and the UC Santa Barbara Gaucho Hall of Fame.
As a mother of four, and grandmother of two, she runs the company that publishes and markets her husband’s sports psychology and swimming books. She coaches a summer club of 200 kids and along with her husband, Keith, she has been devoted to teaching & coaching adults over the last couple of decades. They have started six different adult teams together and won numerous USMS National Team Championships.
Happy Birthday Igor Poliansky!!
Igor Poliansky (URS)
Honor Swimmer (2002)
FOR THE RECORD: 1988 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (200m backstroke), bronze (100m backstroke, 4×100 medley relay); FIVE WORLD RECORDS: 3-100m backstroke, 1- 200m backstroke, 1-200m backstroke (S.C.); 1985 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (100m backstroke, 200m backstroke); 1986 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (100m backstroke, 200m backstroke), bronze (4x100m medley relay); 1986 GOODWILL GAMES: gold (100m backstroke, 200m backstroke); 1987 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: silver (200m backstroke).
Igor Poliansky was the premier backstroke swimmer following the Olympic Games of 1984 when USA’s Rick Carey won both the 100m and 200m backstrokes in Los Angeles. Between 1984 and 1989 Poliansky won every 100m and 200m backstroke event in international competition in which he competed, except one – the 100m at the 1987 European Championships in Strasburg, Austria, where he placed second to teammate Sergei Zabolotnov.
Poliansky emerged as the world backstroke leader at the 1985 European Championships in Sofia, beating Dirk Richter (GDR) and Zabolotnov (URS), respectively, to win gold medals in both the 100m and 200m events. Poliansky broke the 200m backstroke world record in 1985 at Erfurt, with a time of 1:58.14, a record that stood for over six years until Spain’s Martin Zubero broke it using the no-touch backstroke turn adopted in competition that year.
In 1986, Igor won both backstroke events at the Goodwill Games and the World Championships at Madrid, edging out his German Democratic Republic opponents. In 1988 at Tallinn, he broke Rick Carey’s 4 1/2-year-old 100m backstroke world record and repeated it again two more times. That same year in Bonn, he set the 200m backstroke short course world record for a total of five world records in his career.
Of the 200m race, Igor said, “It’s a very long distance and you have to concentrate very hard in order to pace yourself correctly. This gold medal is the best prize for me, but the 100 is my favorite race.”
At the 1988 Seoul Olympics, Poliansky surprised everyone by winning the 200m backstroke ahead of Frank Baltrusch (GDR) and Paul Kingsman (NZL), his arch rivals from the previous four years. He won the bronze medal in the 100m backstroke behind Daichi Suzuki (JPN) and David Berkoff (USA) by less than .2 seconds.