EVERY CHILD A SWIMMER
Drowning is Preventable, yet it continues to claim the lives of so many.
The Every Child a Swimmer program is working proactively to prevent this type of tragedy.
Please join our efforts!
#watersafety#awareness#advocacy#savinglives#drowningprevention#childsafety#parenting#child#beach#la
HAPPY BIRTHDAY KRISTEN BABB SPRAGUE ~ April 16
Read Kristen’s Honoree Bio below and after that, read an article from the SI Vault that you can click on at the bottom that tells the story of Kristen and her baseball player husband, Ed Sprague of the Toronto Blue Jays and what they did for their careers. It’s a GREAT story!!!!
KRISTEN BABB-SPRAGUE (USA) 1999 Honor Synchronized Swimmer
The information on this page was written the year of their induction.
FOR THE RECORD: 1992 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (solo); 1986 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: silver (team): 1991 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (team), silver (solo): 1991 PAN PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (solo, team); 1987 PAN AMERICAN GAMES: gold (team); II FINA WORLD CUP: silver (team); III FINA WORLD CUP: gold (team); V FINA WORLD CUP: gold (team), silver (solo); U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: 4 (solo), 1 (duet), 8 (team); 1982 Japan International Age Group: gold (solo, 13-14 category).
Kristen Babb-Sprague is the original “Comeback Kid”. Following a career threatening back injury in 1989, she returned from a year-long layoff from the sport to win three consecutive national solo titles and two national team titles. At the 1992 Barcelona Olympics she came from behind to win the gold medal in the solo event after having placed second to Canada’s Sylvie Frechette at almost every meet since her 1989 injury. She was the first athlete ever to earn perfect scores in artistic impression at the Olympics for her modern innovative routines. Kristen was featured in print advertising campaigns by Speedo and Max Factor in such magazines as Rolling Stone, New Women and McCalls.
It all started at age three when her older sister Lisa and mom were part of the Walnut Creek Aquanuts (CA) Team. She performed in water shows and by age six joined the team. She became a product of U.S. synchro’s development program rising through the ranks of age group and Junior Olympic programs first under club founder Sue Ahlet and then Gail Emery, who guided her to the Olympic gold.
On the way to the Olympics, Kristen became the only athlete in USSS history to have competed for eight team national championship squads. She was four time solo national champion, eight time team champion and 1 time duet champion. She won two golds and two silvers in FINA World Cup competition and was the first USSS athlete to qualify for four World Cup squads. She competed in 14 World Regional Championships or Invitationals winning 16 gold and seven silver medals.
At the 1992 Olympic Games, Kristen Babb, which the year before had married 1988 Olympic baseball player and Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Ed Sprague, had deviated from the traditional, operatic approach to the sport. She introduced a more up-beat style of performance, popularizing the sport worldwide. The “western” performance at the Olympics included the music of Leonard Bernstein’s “Rodeo”, John Williams’ “Cowboy” and a moving interlude from “Amazing Grace”. The overwhelming response to her new routine style earned Babb-Sprague perfect 10’s in artistic impression and three 10’s for technical merit. She performed 33 – 360 degree vertical spins including her patented drag spin. When the scores were added together, Kristen had a combined figures and routine score of 191.848 to Sylvie Frechettes’ 191.717.
Kristen has been a national spokesperson for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. She is a 1992 AAU Sullivan Award finalist and USSS Athlete of the Year, a 1997 USSS Hall of Fame Inductee and three-time “Womens Sports and Fitness” Magazine Up-and-Coming Athlete of the Year.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DARA TORRES!!!!!
One of ISHOF’s favorite Honorees and Board Members, Dara is always there for us to lend a helping hand. Anytime we ask her to do anything, it is always with a yes and a smile. Thank you Dara for being you and so great to ISHOF. We want to wish you a very special birthday, filled with lots of love, family, friends and fun!
Dara has had one amazing career, if you don’t already know it, read about it here now:
Dara
Dara Torres (USA)
Honor Swimmer (2016)
The information on this page was written the year of their induction.
FOR THE RECORD: 1984 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (4×100 m freestyle); 1988 OLYMPIC GAMES: silver (4×100 m medley), bronze (4×100 m freestyle); 1992 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (4×100 m freestyle); 2000 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (4×100 m freestyle, 4×100 m medley), bronze (50 m freestyle, 100 m freestyle, 100 m butterfly); 2008 OLYMPIC GAMES: silver (50 m freestyle, 4×100 m freestyle, 4×100 m medley); 1986WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (LC): silver (4×100 m freestyle); 1987 PAN PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (100 m freestyle, 4×100 m freestyle, 4×100 m medley); 1983 PAN AMERICAN GAMES: gold (4×100 m freestyle); SIX WORLD RECORDS: three individual (50m free), three relays (4x100m free, 4x100m medley)
Dara’s Induction Video
Dara Grace Torres grew up in Beverly Hills, California, where she learned to swim in her family’s backyard pool. At the age of seven, she followed her brothers to swim practice at the local YMCA. During her junior year of high school, Torres moved to Mission Viejo, CA, to train with Hall of Fame Coach Mark Schubert, and in 1983 she broke the world record in the 50-meter freestyle. The next year, while not yet a senior in high school, she won her first Olympic gold medal as a member of the USA’s 4×100 freestyle relay team.
Swimmer for the ages
Swimming for Randy Reece at the University of Florida, Torres earned 28 NCAA All-American swimming awards and at the 1988 Olympic Games, she won two silver medals swimming on relays. She finished her collegiate athletic career playing volleyball and took two years off before returning to win her second Olympic relay gold medal in Barcelona, Spain during the summer of 1992.
After 1992, Torres lived what appeared to be a glamorous life. She moved to New York City, worked in television, and as a Wilhelmina model she became the first athlete model in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. Then in the spring of 1999, despite not having trained in a pool for seven years, she decided to give the Olympics one more try.
Model Torres
Training with coach Richard Quick in Palo Alto and Santa Clara, Dara made the Olympic team for the fourth time, at the age of 33. She returned home with five medals, more than any other member of the team, including three in individual events, and retired.
In 2005, while pregnant with her first child, Dara began swimming three or four times a week at the Coral Springs Aquatic Complex, to keep fit. After giving birth to her daughter, Tessa Grace, in April 2006, she entered two Masters meets and posted times that emboldened her to try another comeback. She asked Coral Springs coach Michael Lohberg if he would coach her, and a little over a year later, she won the 100-meter freestyle at the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis. Three days later, she broke the American record in the 50-meter freestyle for the tenth time – an amazing 24 years after setting it for the very first time. In 2008, Dara qualified for her fifth Olympic team and at the 2008 Beijing Games, she became the oldest swimmer to compete in the Olympics. Dara returned home with three silver medals, including the heartbreaking 50-meter freestyle race where she missed the gold by 1/100th of a second.
Dara and Tessa
In 2009, Dara won the ESPY award for “Best Comeback,” was named one of the “Top Female Athletes of the Decade” by Sports Illustrated magazine and became a best selling author with the release of her inspirational memoir, Age is Just a Number.
Dara 2009 Espy’s
Dara continued swimming after recovering from reconstructive knee surgery and with the encouragement of coach Lohberg, she set her sights on making a record sixth U.S. Olympic swim team. When she just missed making the London Olympics by nine-hundredths of a second in the 50-meter freestyle at the 2012 US Swimming Olympic Trials, she announced her retirement with a smile on her face and her six-year old daughter Tessa in her arms.
Queen Dara
Olympian, television personality, fitness guru, Queen of the Comeback, best-selling author and mother. Dara Torres is many things to many people, but above all, she is an inspiration.
AQUA MAGAZINE’S “The Honorable Dive Tower”
The Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center and it’s beautiful new tower is becoming more famous everyday. We find more stories written about the tower daily. This article from Aqua Magazine appeared last week and just in time for the first ever event held on the tower: https://ishof.org/fort-lauderdale-aquatic-center-celebrates-official-grand-opening-in-style-with-ribbon-cutting-and-dive-challenge/
The Honorable Dive Tower
Written: By: Haley Grace Harris
Apr 6, 2023
An aquatic center Dive Tower in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., was recently renovated and won a 2023 Precast/ Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI) award. Out of three different categories — Buildings, Transportation and Specials — there were a total of 25 winners and eight honorable mentions this year. This specific tower was a part of the Buildings category, and won under the Custom Solution subcategory.
Photo courtesy Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI)
2023 marks the 60th anniversary of the PCI Design Awards, a program that recognizes creative and innovative usages of precast concrete. The panel consists of engineers, architects and precast concrete producers. The Buildings and Transportation categories are judged based on 1) aesthetic, structural and use versatility, 2) site, energy and operational efficiency, 3) risk reduction and 4) resiliency. The Specials award is judged based on the same criteria above, as well as industry advancement, sustainable design, technology and designs using only precast concrete.
Photo Credit: Laura Voet
“We are once again thrilled to recognize the tremendous capabilities of the precast concrete industry, especially on this milestone 60th anniversary of the program,” says Bob Risser, president and CEO of PCI. “Congratulations to all the winners, and thanks to the jurors and PCI staff who make the program a success. Throughout the last 60 years, the precast concrete industry continues to innovate and improve, and these exemplary projects are the latest examples of that.”
The Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center reopened to the public in June of 2022. The dive tower was the focus of this $27 million renovation project. The structure is 27 meters, making it the tallest dive tower in the Western Hemisphere, and the first in the world to incorporate both diving and high-diving competition in one precast concrete solution.
The tower can be seen from a distance, as it looms in the sky with fluid curves that imitate the Atlantic Ocean nearby. The structure includes nine platform levels, four of which are high-diving platforms at 15, 20, 24 and 27 meters, with the other five being regular diving platforms: 1, 3, 5, 7.5 and 10 meters. Lastly, the tower can accommodate up to five springboards.
All renovations made to the center had to meet the requirements for aquatic competition regulated by the International Swim Federation. Using precast concrete was thought to be the fastest and most cost effective way to meet these requirements.
“The design concept involved the creation of platforms extruding from the center core,” says Teen Woon with Justin Architects. “Due to the unique design, the structural support of each platform was engineered specifically for each platform. The organic curvilinear form also posed challenges. The precise tolerance level was achieved through extensive coordination and craftsmanship.”
This article first appeared in the April 2023 issue of AQUA Magazine — the top resource for retailers, builders and service pros in the pool and spa industry. Subscriptions to the print magazine are free to all industry professionals. Click here to subscribe.
Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce Downtown Council’s Board of Directors met at ISHOF, April 12, 2023
The Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce Downtown Council’s Board of Director’s Meeting was held at our very own International Swimming Hall of Fame yesterday. We had a lot of new visitors to ISHOF that had never been before, and certainly the majority had never seen the new facility with the star of the complex, the new 27-meter tower. They were welcomed by ISHOF Chairman of the Board, Bill Kent, ISHOF Board Members Matt McKean and Mike Dooley, and Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center Manager, Laura Voet.
All Photo Credits: Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce
A lot of the participants shared photos and posts on their social media, like Realtor, Jana Tomita, who said:
“The international Swimming Hall of Fame will be hosting some great events as the World Aquatics High Diving World Cup on 26-27 May and many other events. I was shocked to know that only 45% of the American people know how to swim… This is a public facility and everyone is welcome to enjoy the pool and to learn how to swim. Swim is life and there is NO excuses to bring your kids or yourself and learn how to swim “. Thank you Jana for helping spread the word!
#internationalswimminghalloffame#fortlauderdale#weareftl#cityoffortlauderdale#visitfortlauderdale#DreamDestination
We are aware that there are many residents of Fort Lauderdale the have never even been to the Hall of Fame. Whether it is to swim in one of our three beautiful pools, that are owned and operated by the City of Fort Lauderdale Parks and Recreation Department
or take a quick trip to our ISHOF Museum. Unfortunately, the ISHOF museum is getting ready to under go an extremely large renovation project and 90% of our museum and memorabilia is packed away in a climate-controlled storage unit. We do have a few things to see though, so if you come for a swim, stop in and take a peak!!!
#GreaterFortLauderdaleChamberofCommerce #DowntownCouncil #ISHOF #FortLauderdaleAquaticCenter #WorldAquatics #USASwimming #EveryChildASwimmer #SwimmingisLife #Museum #Pool #USADiving#27meterTower MemorialDayWeekend #WorldAquaticsWorldCupHighDiving
ISHOF to induct Trischa Zorn as first Paralympic Swmmer into ISHOF as part of the Class of 2023
Trischa Zorn is the easily the most successful athlete in Paralympic Games history, having won 55 medals, 41 of which are gold, competing in seven Paralympic Games. To put it into perspective, Trischa has won more Paralympic medals than some countries.
She first began competing as a 16-year old, qualifying for her first Paralympic Games in 1980, in Arnham, Netherlands, where she came away with seven gold medals. Trischa was born with a genetic eye condition that left her blind. After her first Games in the Netherlands, it was on to New York in 1984, where she won six more gold medals. From then on, she never looked back for the next five Games.
Photo Credit: International Paralympic Committee
In 1982, Trischa was awarded an NCAA Division I scholarship, becoming the first visually impaired athlete to earn a full ride, which she then used to become a four-time All-American backstroker at the University of Nebraska.
Trischa became a teacher for special needs students in Indianapolis. After several years of teaching, she decided to make a career change and entered Law School. She earned her Juris Doctor degree from the Indiana University Law School in 2005. Zorn now works for the Department of Veterans Affairs in Indianapolis where she works to ensure that veterans obtain the care they are entitled to receive.
USA Swimming created the Trischa L. Zorn Award to honor a swimmer or relay team with a disability for outstanding performance and excellence.
Trischa Zorn-Hudson was inducted into the International Paralympic Hall of Fame in 2012 and was inducted into the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame in 2022.
2023 will mark the first year that ISHOF will induct a paralympic athlete. It was suggested and unanimously voted on by the ISHOF Board of Directors to include Paralympians in the ISHOF family in 2021. With the Covid pandemic, it was agreed that 2023 would be the first year that an athlete would be chosen. A committee was selected and formed with Dave Denniston, as Chairman and his group of experts from around the world, and Trischa was a unanimous selection as the first ISHOF Paralympic Honoree. We are thrilled to welcome the Paralympic family to ISHOF and hope we can broaden the awareness of Paralympics, their sport and dedication.
Come join Zorn and this year’s class of 2023 in Ft. Lauderdale. If you cannot join us, consider making a donation.
To make a donation, click here: https://ishof.org/donate/
This year’s International Swimming Hall of Fame Honorees include:
International Swimming Hall of Fame 2023 Honorees
Bob Bowman (USA)……………..…….………..….……….……….…….…Coach
Chris Carver (USA)………..…………..………..……………..…..…………Coach
Cesar Cielo (BRA)…………..….….………..………………….…………Swimmer
Kirsty Coventry (ZMB)…………….………………..……….…….…….Swimmer
Missy Franklin (USA)…………..……..………….………………………Swimmer
Natalia Ischenko (RUS)…..……..…………………Synchronized Swimmer
Kosuke Kitajima (JPN)………..……………..………………………… Swimmer
Heather Petri (USA)………..….………..…..……..……… Water Polo Player
Michael Phelps (USA)…………………..……..……………..………… Swimmer
Wu Minxia (CHN)…………………..………..…….………………………… Diver
Sam Ramsamy (RSA)…………..…………….…………….……….. Contributor
Stephane LeCat (FRA).…………………………………Open Water Swimmer
Trischa Zorn (USA)………………………………..……. Paralympic Swimmer
ISHOF 58th Annual Honoree Induction weekend Schedule September 29-30, 2023 – Complete schedule will be forthcoming soon
Host Hotel: Fort Lauderdale Marriott Harbor Beach Resort & Spa
To make reservations click here: https://book.passkey.com/e/50527236 file:///Users/megkeller-marvin/Downloads/Fort Lauderdale Marriott Harbor Beach Resort Spa
Upscale retreat with private beach access, two pools, four restaurants, full-service spa and oceanside bar. Location of the Saturday evening induction ceremony. ¼ mile south of the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
3030 Holiday Drive, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33316 (954) 525-4000
Special ISHOF Guest Rate of $229 per night,
($39 Resort fee – Guests can opt out if not interested in resort amenities)
Additional Hotel Option: Courtyard Marriott Fort Lauderdale Beach – Link Coming Soon
440 Seabreeze Blvd., Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33316 (954) 524-8733
Special ISHOF Guest Rate of $169 per night
Honoree Ceremony September 29-30, 2023: Last Day to Book: Friday, August 31, 2023
A look at the 2024 Paris Olympics Schedule for Swimming ~
by DAVID RIEDER, SWIMMING WORLD
A Look At the Schedule For the 2024 Olympics In Paris; Women’s 200 Free, 1500 Free On Different Days
After five consecutive Olympic Games with very similar schedules for swimming competition, there will be a totally new lineup in place for the 2024 Games in Paris. The new competition schedule will include 35 finals in the pool, just like at the Tokyo Olympics last year, but the events will be spread out over nine days of finals instead of eight, with finals at La Defense Arena running from Saturday, July 27 through Sunday, August 4.
The revamped schedule will see the women’s 200 freestyle and 1500 freestyle finals moved to separate days in the schedule. In Tokyo, where the 1500 free was contested in the Olympics for the first time, the two events were both held during the fourth night of finals, and Katie Ledecky competed in both. She finished fifth in the 200 free before winning gold in the 1500 free. Ledecky skipped the 200 free at this year’s World Championships, but with the schedule extended and the two events split, she may choose to return to the event in the future.
Additionally, the men’s and women’s 400 IM finals have been moved off the first night of finals for the first time in recent memory. Instead, the men’s event will be held on day two and the women’s on day three. Both 400 free relays will be on the first night (unlike at previous Olympics when the men’s was on day two). The men’s and women’s 400 medley relays will conclude the Olympic swimming competition on day nine, while the mixed 400 medley relay will be on day eight.
The men’s 200 backstroke and 200 IM have been moved to different days in the competition schedule. Previously, the events were held back-to-back, which discouraged Michael Phelps from ever competing in the 200 back at the Olympics. Phelps won four consecutive gold medals in the 200 IM at the Olympics, making him the only swimmer in any event to ever accomplish a four-peat, but his biggest rival in the event, Ryan Lochte, raced in the 200 back final prior to taking on Phelps in the 200 IM at both the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.
The full schedule of finals for the Paris Olympics is posted below, with three to five finals set to take place each day. Prelims for each event and semifinals for each event 200 meters and below take place the day before the listed finals. For the 400 free, 400 IM and all freestyle relays, prelims take place the same day.
Saturday, July 27 (Day One)
Men’s 400 FreestyleWomen’s 400 FreestyleWomen’s 400 Freestyle RelayMen’s 400 Freestyle Relay
Sunday, July 28 (Day Two)
Men’s 400 IMWomen’s 100 ButterflyMen’s 100 Breaststroke
Monday, July 29 (Day Three)
Women’s 400 IMMen’s 200 FreestyleMen’s 100 BackstrokeWomen’s 100 BreaststrokeWomen’s 200 Freestyle
Tuesday, July 30 (Day Four)
Women’s 100 BackstrokeMen’s 800 FreestyleMen’s 800 Freestyle Relay
Wednesday, July 31 (Day Five)
Women’s 100 FreestyleMen’s 200 ButterflyMen’s 200 BreaststrokeWomen’s 1500 FreestyleMen’s 100 Freestyle
Thursday, August 1 (Day Six)
Women’s 200 ButterflyMen’s 200 BackstrokeWomen’s 200 BreaststrokeWomen’s 800 Freestyle Relay
Friday, August 2 (Day Seven)
Men’s 50 FreestyleWomen’s 200 BackstrokeMen’s 200 IM
Saturday, August 3 (Day Eight)
Men’s 100 ButterflyWomen’s 200 IMWomen’s 800 FreestyleMixed 400 Medley Relay
Sunday, August 4 (Day Nine)
Women’s 50 FreestyleMen’s 1500 FreestyleMen’s 400 Medley RelayWomen’s 400 Medley Relay
PARIS 2024: WHICH SWIMMER WILL BE THE ONE TO WATCH:
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games are a little more than two years away. What swimmers do you think will be the stand out in Paris?
Post your choice/swimmer in the comments
David
Kristof
Leon
Caleb
Male Swimmer?
Leon Marchand
Caleb Dressel
Kristof Milak
David Popovici
Pick someone else
Ariarne
Emma
Katie
Summer
Female Swimmer
Summer McIntosh
Katie Ledecky
Emma McKeon
Ariarne Titmus
Pick someone else
Let’s see who you think it will be! Regardless, it will be exciting in this beautiful new aquatic facility
VenhoevenCS + Ateliers 2/3/4/ Aquatic Centre for the Paris 2024 Olympics
Today in Swimming History ~ April 11, 1896 ~ Swimming begins at the Athens Olympic Games ~Alfred Hajos wins first Olympic gold medal ever awarded in swimming
Today in Swimming History…….127 years ago, on April 11, 1896, ISHOF Honor Swimmer, Alfred Hajós of Hungary beats Otto Herschmann of Austria by 0.6s to win the inaugural Olympic 100m freestyle final in a time of 1:22.2 at the first Olympiad in Athens, Greece; He would also take gold in the 1200m on the same day.
Hajos and his Hungarian teammates were one of only three countries that competed in first Olympic Games in swimming. The other two were Austria and Greece. There was a fourth country that competed in the Games, the U.S.A., but they competed in sports other than swimming.
Hajos was inducted into ISHOF in 1966. Read about the rest of his life after that first Olympiad below.
ALFRED HAJOS (HUN) 1966 HONOR SWIMMER
The information on this page was written the year of their induction.
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1896 gold (100m, 1200m freestyle); first Olympic swim champion. The first modern Olympic swimming champion was Alfred Hajos, a double winner at Athens in 1896. Hajos won the 100 meter freestyle in 1:22.2 beating out the local favorite Chorophas and Herschmann of Austria.
Olympic Swimmers at 1896 Athens Games
The Austrians got back in the swim as Paul Neumann won the 500 meter freestyle over two more Greeks while Hajos was resting up for his second win, the 1200 meter freestyle in 18:22.2. Thus Alfred Hajos took home two of the three gold medals offered in swimming. His teammate, Zoltan Halmay got only a third, but came back in the next four Olympics to be the other Hungarian from the first Olympics to make the International Swimming Hall of Fame. The Austrian Neumann became a prominent U.S. doctor. Hajos stayed in Hungary, survived World War I, and came back to the Olympics 28 years after his first try, this time 1924 Paris, where he won another gold medal. It was in a cultural Olympic art and architectural contest.
Architect Hajos later designed Budapest’s finest competitive swimming pool, club and baths in which Hungary trained its next great Olympic 100 meter champion, Czik Ference in 1936, and its great postwar women swimmers, Szoke, Gyenge, Szekely, Temes and the Novak Sisters.
The Hajós Alfréd National Swimming Pool in 1931… (Photo: Fortepan/No.: 58265)
The National Swimming Pool was opened in 1930. A contemporary newspaper called it the crown of Alfred Hajós’ career.
The National Swimming Pool was commissioned by the Royal Hungarian Ministry for Religion and Education. The minister, Kuno Klebersberg (1875–1932), saw the swimming pool as a vital project.
Adolph Kiefer talks about his friend, Jesse Owens, Adolph Hitler, University of Texas and much more…
Not only was Adolph Kiefer a legend in swimming, but he seemed to be a legend in everything he did. Adolph lived to be 99 years old. He attended numerous swim meets representing his own company, Kiefer and Associates, a lot of them in Fort Lauderdale at the Hall of Fame pool……always wanting to help and give back to the sport that had given so much to him.
Above is a video of Adolph talking about his experience in Berlin, Germany, as a member of the USA Swim Team. He would come home a champion, in the 100m backstroke. He lived quite a life, but hearing him talk about his experiences at the XI Olympiad are not to be missed. I am so glad there is a record of this. Thanks to Kiefer’s alma mater, Texas Sports and Media Department.
Below is Adolph’s bio from 1965 when he was inducted, so it is a bit outdated, but still worth the read. Adolph was always a great story teller each time he came to Fort Lauderdale. I feel honored to have known him and to have heard his stories.
Adolph Kiefer (USA) Honor Swimmer – 1965
The information on this page was written the year of their induction.
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1936 gold (100m backstroke); WORLD RECORDS: every backstroke event; U.S. NATIONAL RECORDS: every backstroke event, 3-stroke individual medley; Officer in charge of swimming for U.S. Navy during WWII; Advisor to President’s Council on Physical Fitness.
Adolph Kiefer was the first man in the world to swim 100 yds. backstroke under 1 minute. His backstroke records stood for 15 years, which is why swimming people universally acclaim him the greatest backstroker ever. It was in 1936, while a 17-year-old schoolboy, he first earned huzzahs from the athletic fraternity by establishing a backstroke swimming record to win an Olympic gold medal in Berlin. If wider acclaim eluded him then, the oversight can be attributed to the presence of Jesse Owens and the absence of “Life” magazine.
Many major headlines blared his name in the decade to follow because Kiefer went on to set world records in every backstroke event in the books and won national championships in the 3 stroke individual medley as well. None of his backstroke records were broken until 1950, four years after his retirement from competitive swimming.
Although World War II pre-empted his chances to further distinguish himself in Olympic competition, the Kiefer name continued to be news. He conducted a global survey of shipwrecks and documented the enormous and unnecessary toll of GI deaths resulting from inadequate swimming instruction. A shocked corps elevated a young Lt. Kiefer to officer in charge of swimming for the entire U.S. Navy. He revamped the entire instruction program, trained or retrained 11,000 Navy swimming instructors.
Today Adolph Kiefer, at 46, is a few pounds heavier than his best swimming weight and the hair has thinned a bit. But the enthusiasm and zeal with which he assaults the developments of daily business seem greater, if this is possible.
“I sometimes believe industry stamps a man physically fit if his handshake is firm, his head steady enough to do battle with a three-martini lunch, and his bottom hard enough to sit long hours behind a desk,” says Adolph Kiefer.
“The key to physical fitness in this country is the woman of the house. It is she who motivates the children to forsake the TV set and empty the garbage, and it is she who convinces her husband to clean out the garage and repaint the living room ceiling. And it is she, through her own trim example, who can effect a family fit for a good life.”
“Americans are generally very conscientious and attentive when it comes to business and religious responsibilities, but is there not such a thing as physical morality?” Kiefer attaches great importance to home exercise, but even more to prospective industrial fitness programs. He has flown more than 60,000 miles in the last ten months to acquaint business leaders with his ideas for industry-sponsored fitness development.
He has been a prominent figure in the swimming industry since World War II and a liaison between the industry and competitive swimming. His activities pursuant to the promotion of physical fitness have earned him the role of advisor to the President’s Council on Physical Fitness.