The International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) is proud to announce that Richard “Tod” Spieker, a Silicon Valley real estate investor and entrepreneur, will receive ISHOF’s Gold Medallion Award at ceremonies to be held in Santa Clara, Calif., on Saturday evening, October 29th, 2016.
ISHOF’s Gold Medallion is the organization’s highest honor. It has been conferred annually since 1983 upon an individual who has been a competitive swimmer, diver, water polo player or synchronized swimmer – who has achieved international recognition for accomplishments in the fields of science, government, entertainment, business or education and whose life serves as a positive role model for youth. Past recipients of the Award include: US President Ronald Reagan, US Senator Barry Goldwater, US Ambassador to the United Nations Andrew Young, H.S.H. Prince Albert of Monaco, Businessman and Secretary of the Treasury William E. Simon, Olympic and Baseball boss, Peter Ueberroth and entertainer, Esther Williams, to name a few.
“The purpose of the Gold Medallion Award is to provide positive role models for today’s youth,” said Bruce Wigo, ISHOF President/CEO. “While Tod may not be as well known to the public as some of our prior Award recipients, we are honored to be able to share the story of this humble and reserved man’s path to success in life and in business, which he attributes to the lessons he learned in his formative years as a swimmer.”
Tod Spieker began swimming competitively at the age of eight, but it was not until he was twelve that he won his first race. Trained and mentored by legendary coaches Al and Della Sehorn, Bob Gaughran, Nort Thornton and Bob Horn, he became an All-American Swimmer at Menlo Atherton High School and later at UCLA.
Unlike many athletes, Tod started planning for his post-athletic career while he was still competing. A geography major at UCLA, Tod signed up for extra courses in real estate at nearby Santa Monica College, during his senior year. After graduating in 1971, and spending the next ten years gaining experience, he set out on his own to form Spieker Companies, in 1981, and bought his first apartment building, a 34 unit rental property in Campbell, California. Today the Palo Alto based, wholly owned and privately-held company is an investment and property management engine that has an inventory of almost 4,000 rental units, mostly in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, with over 200 employees.
In 1977, Tod discovered adult age group swimming and returned to the pool where he burned his way through the FINA Masters world record books for the next quarter of a century and swam his way into the International Masters Swimming Hall of Fame in 2005.
Although he since stopped competing, he still begins each morning with a swim workout before heading to the office. He attributes his years in swimming for providing him the lessons and tools that have made him successful in real estate, as a father, husband and now a grandfather. It has also endowed him with the desire to give back. Over the years he has actively and generously supported a variety of aquatic projects and organizations, including the Spieker Aquatic Center on the Campus of UCLA, USA Masters Swimming and the International Swimming Hall of Fame. He also serves on a number of Boards, including the Ziman Center for Real Estate and the UCLA Foundation.
The presentation will take place on Saturday evening, October 29, during the 2016 International Swimming Hall of Fame’s Honoree Induction Dinner, starting at 6:30 PM, at the Santa Clara Convention Center.
For additional information, please call Meg Keller-Marvin at (570) 594-4367 or ISHOF at (954) 462-6536, or visit http://www.ishof.org
About the ISHOF
The International Swimming Hall of Fame & Museum was established in 1965 as a not-for-profit educational organization in the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida and was recognized by FINA, the international governing body for the Olympic aquatic sports, in 1968. The Mission of ISHOF is to PRESERVE and CELEBRATE aquatic history, to EDUCATE the general public about the importance of swimming as the key to water safety, drowning prevention, better health and a better quality of life, and to INSPIRE everyone to swim. ISHOF’s collection of swimming memorabilia, art, photos and films, along with archival documents and rare books in the Henning Library, make ISHOF the premier repository and academic research resource for swimming and aquatic history in the world. www.ishof.org
Courtesy of The International Swimming Hall of Fame.
This award for Tod Spieker will bring much needed attention to UCLA swimming. Tod Spieker is a generous alumnus of UCLA as well as a top swimming bruin athlete from the past. Maybe this type of recognition will bring awareness to the athletic administration the need to resurrect the once proud men’s swimming program at UCLA. Mr. Spieker often spoke about what UCLA swimming meant for him. I hope the athletic administration take heed. This past Rio Olympics UCLA came in as the 4th ranked program behind number one Stanford, 2nd place Cal and USC in Olympic athletes. This drop off was because UCLA had no men’s swimming program. UCLA women’s only sent one non-US swimmer to Rio. So embarrassing!
Tod, I’m happy to see this well deserved recognition of your enthusiasm and support for competitive swimming. To some small degree, I like to consider your winning this award as also winning for all of us who carry a love for this great sport and find our own ways to contribute to the next generations. Thanks for leading the charge. I know there are others who could follow your example. Always enjoyed your sense of humor!
I have known Tod since 1977 (and trained Masters with him at the same pool for a decade). He’s a good guy. He has been a great friend to swimming in general, and a generous financial benefactor to many different aquatic programs.
Agree with H2O but let’s not diminish what he has done for the sport. We need more benefactors like him to give back to swimming and not just to the general fund (football).
When Mr. Spieker gave the seed money for the future Spieker Aquatic Center at UCLA he should have stipulated that part of that money should go to bringing back the men’s program at UCLA. It was a very dumb decision of UCLA Athletic Administration to drop the men’s program. That action also harmed the women’s program in which the women’s program has not been ranked as high as before when the men’s program complemented the women’s program.