The Counsilman Family
Just recently, ISHOF had a very special visit from the daughter of one of our most noteable Honorees, Jill Counsilman Morris and her husband, Mike. They came to the museum to see dad, Dr. James E. “Doc” Counsilman’s display, artifacts and files. Doc Counsilman is one of the most prestigious coaches in swimming history, coaching at Indiana University, for over 30 years, 1957-1990, coaching some of the greatest of all time, including Mark Spitz, Gary Hall, Sr., Jim Montgomery, John Kinsella, Tom Stock, and many, many others. Jill and Mike really enjoyed looking through Doc’s files, seeing photos, some of which Jill had never seen before. Some even brought tears to her eyes, she said. “It’s days like this that make it all worth it”~ said Laurie Marchwinski, ISHOF COO. Laura Voet, former IU alum swimmer, former ISHOF employee and now Ft. Lauderdale Aquatic Center Manager, also enjoyed spending time with the couple as well.
In addition to being one of the greatest coaches of all-time Doc Counsilman, was also the founding President of the International Swimming Hall of Fame, serving from 1965-1969. Doc was also known for his interest in kinesiology, the science dealing with the study of body mechanics and the prescription of exercises for developing specific muscle groups. Doc contributed to every phase competitive swimming. No phase of the sport escaped his attention and was not significantly improved by his influence. His ground-breaking research covered a wide field. In the area of exercise physiology, and conditioning, he published papers on a wide range of topics: interval training, strength training, isokinetic and bio-kinetic exercises, hypoxic training, altitude training, and so on and on.
We could go on and on about the impact Doc had on the sport of swimming, but instead, we will just let you read it in his bio that was written when he was inducted as an Honor Coach in 1976:
https://www.ishof.org/honoree/honoree-dr-james-e-doc-counsilman/
More December Visitors to ISHOF……..
ISHOF recently got a visit from Swimming World Magazine’s Senior Writer, David Reider. We were glad to welcome our fellow Swimming World employee to ISHOF, show him around and introduce him to our new CEO, Anne Schmidt!
New Jersey High School Swim Team makes special trip to ISHOF
The week before Christmas, a High School Swim Team from New Jersey was in South Florida on a winter training trip and made a special trip to Fort Lauderdale Beach just to visit the ISHOF museum. Even though most of our memorabilia is in storage, we still have things to see and all the Honoree panels to view. The team was very excited they came to visit! Thanks for coming by!!!!
We expect more teams to be training at at the Hall of Fame, as well other pools around town, and in South Florida, so we invite all of you to come visitus at ISHOF!