Description
FEATURES
014 TRAGEDY TO TRIUMPH
by Bruce Wigo
Swimming World looks back at one of history’s most awful tragedies—the General Slocum Disaster—and how it influenced the right to swim for women.
016 LONG SWIM THE QUEEN
by Bruce Wigo
Queen Elizabeth, now 94, used to be quite the swimmer. Those who saw her swim described her as a “very strong and graceful swimmer,” and she inspired many other children in the British Empire to follow her good example.
018 THE GREATEST…
by Bruce Wigo
Milton Gray Campbelll may not have been the greatest high school swimmer of all time, but he was a swimmer who was among the greatest high school athletes of all time.
022 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN AND THE SCIENCE OF SWIMMING
by Bruce Wigo
Over 50 years ago on Dec. 28, 1968, Benjamin Franklin was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame for his “contributions” to the sport. But this article is not about what Franklin did for swimming—it is about what swimming did for Franklin.
028 HISTORIC SWIMMING FIRSTS IN BLACK HISTORY
by Bruce Wigo
Swimming World takes a look at some historic accomplishments in swimming turned in by athletes of African descent.
032 REMEMBERING THE 1st WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS – BELGRADE ’73
by Bruce Wigo
Swimming World takes a look back at the 1st FINA World Aquatics Championships in Belgrade, Yugoslavia in 1973—what was behind the start of a world championship meet and the intrigue behind adding synchronized swimming to the program… and the numerous controversies that led up to the meet as well as the ones that followed.
034 WE’VE COME A LONG WAY!
by Bruce Wigo
Collegiate swimming has come a long way since it all began more than 120 years ago…and we look forward to an even brighter and greater future!
036 THE GREATEST SWIM IN HISTORY
by Bruce Wigo
At the 1965 AAU Short Course Nationals, a capacity crowd of 3,000 thought they had just seen the “greatest swim in history.” They cheered wildly for FIVE MINUTES after Steve Clark had broken the 46-second barrier in the 100 yard freestyle with a 45.6. After watching Caeleb Dressel’s three barrier-breaking swims at the 2018 NCAAs—and believing that Dressel can swim even faster—Clark, now in his 70s, believes “the greatest swim in history has yet to happen.”
040 MYSTERIES OF OUR MUSEUM: A MYSTERIOUS MEDAL
by Bruce Wigo
A beautiful bronze medal commemorating a Japan-USA-Denmark International Swimming Meet led to the story of the best all-around woman swimmer from the early 1950s who also became one of the best Masters swimmers ever: Gail Peters Roper.
042 GREAT SWIMS IN OPEN WATER: SWIMMER RECOGNIZED AS ONE OF BRITISH MILITARY’S GREATEST HEROES
by Bruce Wigo and Phillip Whitten
Bernard Freyberg, a New Zealander who distinguished himself both in swimming and in war, used his expertise in swimming to perform one of the most heroic acts of World War I.
045 WHEN JAPAN RULED THE POOL
by Bruce Wigo
Japan’s men dominated world swimming in the 1930s, a period known as the Golden Age of Japanese Swimming.
048 PIONEERS OF TITLE IX
by Bruce Wigo
Swimming World takes a look back to the years when there were only isolated opportunities for girls to swim while in high school. We also remember two pioneers who helped make swimming a high school sport for women: Donna de Varona and Sandra Bucha.
050 ’59 MICHIGAN TEAM STILL “THE GREATEST OF ’EM ALL”
by Bruce Wigo
For overall strength as well as balance in all the strokes, distances and diving, no team in history has ever dominated the men’s NCAA Division I Swimming and Diving Championships like the 1959 University of Michigan Wolverines.
052 A DUKE, A MERMAID, A WAR AND THE FLU
by Bruce Wigo
COVID-19 isn’t the first pandemic disease to have brought the world of competitive swimming to a halt, and the 2020 Olympic Games are not the first to be postponed or canceled. This is the story of the years between 1914 and 1918, when the world was suddenly and unexpectedly turned upside down by events not so different from what our sport is experiencing today.
054 SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT
by Bruce Wigo
Dr. Kevin Dawson, who received the 2019 Harriet Tubman Prize for his book, “Undercurrents of Power: Aquatic Culture in the African Diaspora,” corrects and revises the history of swimming to include and recognize the contributions and accomplishments of Africans to aquatics.
DID YOU KNOW?
by Andy Ross
012 USA-USSR DUAL MEET
025 MARY T. MEAGHER
026 MARJORIE GESTRING
027 ISHOF’S FIRST HONOREES: A “SPORTS SPECTACULAR”
030 MARK SPITZ & PIETER VAN DEN HOOGENBAND
039 MARTHA NORELIUS
044 1920 U.S. WOMEN’S OLYMPIC TEAM
by Bruce Wigo
056 TRACY CAULKINS
057 CLARE DENNIS
058 ISHOF/MASTERS HALL OF FAMERS
060 PARTING SHOT
