Via The International Swimming Hall of Fame
Bill Smith, the 1948 London Olympic Games gold medalist in the 400-meter freestyle and 4 x 200-meter freestyle relay has passed away. He was generally considered the World’s outstanding swimmer from 1941 through 1949. Smith’s greatest years were during the WWII years. After watching him shatter world records in the 200, 400 and 800 meter freestyle events at the 1942 US Nationals, three Hall of Fame coaches, Ohio State’s Mike Peppe, Michigan’s Matt Mann and Yale’s Bob Kiphuth were unanimous in declaring the 19 year old Hawaiian “the greatest swimmer who ever lived.”
William Melvin Smith, Jr. was born in Honolulu, Hawaii of Irish and Hawaiian ancestry on May 16, 1924. He could not remember a time when he could not swim. As a schoolboy he splashed around in the surf at Waikiki from the moment class was dismissed until it was time for his evening meal. During vacation periods, he would ride waves for ten hours a day. He entered his first competitive meet at the age of fifteen at the Waikiki Natatorium, and a year later moved to Maui, where he could be coached by Hall of Famer Soichi Sakamoto. Under Sakamoto’s guidance, Smith was motivated to excel and develop a stroke and form that Peppe declared was “absolutely perfect”, and which made Smith Sakamoto’s greatest star in a constellation of great swimmers.
Smith held world records in the 200, 400 and 800 meter freestyle for eight years, until the great Japanese swimmer, Hironoshin Furuhashi broke them in 1949 – 50.
Bill Smith had an undefeated collegiate swimming career – despite the interruption serving two years in the Navy during the war. Swimming for the Ohio State University, where he won a total of 36 individual and relay titles in AAU, Big Ten and NCAA Championships and was three-times runner up for the Sullivan Award, the USA’s highest amateur sports honor. He was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1966.
After retiring, Smith served as the Water Safety Director, Department of Parks and Recreation for the City and County of Honolulu. He also coached age group swimmers for many years, most recently at the Kamehameha Swim Club. A memorial service will be held in Honolulu on Saturday, March 9.
ABOUT THE INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING HALL OF FAME
The International Swimming Hall of Fame is a not-for-profit educational organization located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Our mission is to promote the benefits and importance of swimming as a key to fitness, good health, quality of life, and the water safety of children. We will accomplish this through operation of the International Swimming Hall of Fame, a dynamic shrine dedicated to the history, memory, and recognition of the famous swimmers, divers, water polo players, synchronized swimmers, and persons involved in life saving activities and education, throughout the world, whose lives and accomplishments will serve to inspire, educate, and be role models for all those who participate in the Hall of Fame’s experience and programs.
This is an unedited press release.
Also Olympic breaststroker (Montreal ’76) Chris Woo and Kathy Shipman who ranked 4th in the world in the 100 fly at age 14 (’75) and went on to swim at ASU; she also played volleyball and was a world class surfer. Both of them swam for Punahou School, which was also where Obama prepped. In fact, he was a classmate of Kathy Shipman, they graduated there together in 1979. Chris Woo finished 8th in the 100 breast in Montreal in 1:04.8.
There was a lot more than a few who did well from the 40′s and 50′s. they won the the national tem titles many times and produced national champs the Nakamas, Konno, Oyakawa, Hirose , Onekea, Tanabe , Cleveland, and Woolsey among many. Much was sccomplished under Soichi Ssakamoto. Comments about times are not needed as anyone knows how the sport has changed and the training today is vastly different. It’s that it wasn’t required then to be the best. It is that the sport grew so fast in numbers after WW II. Everyone tried to outdo the other with so many coaches especially the Aussies and the US.
Boy, that is very good for the Hawaiian teams and Yes… Read more »
There was a lot more than a few who did well from the 40’s and 50’s. they won the the national tem titles many times and produced national champs the Nakamas, Konno, Oyakawa, Hirose , Onekea, Tanabe , Cleveland, and Woolsey among many. Much was sccomplished under Soichi Ssakamoto. Comments about times are not needed as anyone knows how the sport has changed and the training today is vastly different. It’s that it wasn’t required then to be the best. It is that the sport grew so fast in numbers after WW II. Everyone tried to outdo the other with so many coaches especially the Aussies and the US.
Smith along with Duke or someone else is one of the few pacific-islanders who did well in swimming.
A handful of teams did double workouts in the late 1960’s, probably Santa Clara did since they dominated swimming in the 1960’s and had many swimmers into the 1970’s. Goggles for workouts came around 1971.
It’s shocking to consider that those times wouldn’t even finish top 8 at a sectional meet for women/girls today. Thinking of how far we’ve come in this sport is just amazing. I’m fairly certain we could take Joe Dimaggio or Ted Williams in a time machine and toss them in today’s MLB and they’d do OK. They’d still be Major Leaguers. But do that to a swimmer?
Hopefully my Irish-Hawaiian genes will result in 90 years 🙂
See this to understand why the times are RELATIVE not worse than contemporary times:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/08/01/sports/olympics/racing-against-history.html
It’s science, silly…
So what were his times?
His Individual NCAA titles were as follows…
220 Freestyle
1943 Bill Smith, Ohio St., 2:09.8
1947 Bill Smith, Ohio St., 2:10.4
1948 Bill Smith, Ohio St., 2:09.5
1949 Bill Smith, Ohio St., 2:08.5
440 Freestyle
1947 Bill Smith, Ohio St., 4:45.2
1948 Bill Smith, Ohio St., 4:43.8
1949 Bill Smith, Ohio St., 4:42.6