This week's hero is...
Adolph Kiefer
Adolph Kiefer was born on June 27, 1918. During his early childhood, he fell into a Chicago drainage canal during winter. Despite having a near-death experience, his accident prompted Kiefer to learn how to swim. While he attended high school, he joined the swim team and quickly established himself as being very skilled. When Kiefer was 16 years old, he became the first athlete to ever break the one-minute mark in 100-yard backstroke. His skill and talent at backstroke led to his recruitment by the United States's 1936 Olympic team.
At the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Kiefer won the gold medal for the men's 100 m backstroke. He also set an Olympic record at 1:05.9. His record would not be broken for 20 years (he also became good friends with Jesse Owens). From the years 1934 to 1942, he would win more than 200 races and set at least 17 world records at distances of 100 to 1,500 yards. However, his proudest personal achievement was what he did while serving in the US Navy during WWII.
In the summer of 1942, Kiefer put his athletic career on hold and entered the US Navy. To his astonishment he found out that nearly all of the American sailors (even the officers) did NOT know how to swim (some records show that more sailors died from drowning than gunfire). Although the navy did have a Swim Training Program it was quite inadequate in teaching the sailors how to swim for long periods of time.
Kiefer immediately set about running swimming and lifesaving instructions for the entire American navy. He convinced the commanders of the navy to make swimming lessons compulsory for all members of the navy (enlisted men and officers). As a result, no man was allowed to board a ship without taking a 21 hour course in swimming. One of the strokes that he taught was the, "victory backstroke", where both arms were extended over the head to form a V. This stroke was credited with saving the lives of thousands of American sailors from drowning after their ships were sunk in battle.
Throughout World War II, as many as 2 million American recruits learned to swim at 6 different bases. Even after the end of WWII, the US Navy still uses the programs and strokes that Kiefer introduced in 1942. Many years later, Kiefer remarked that teaching the navy to swim was the biggest thing that he had ever done in his life (much more valuable than his gold medal).
After the end of World War II, Kiefer became an innovator and entrepreneur for swimming. His innovations included the first nylon swimsuit, a commercial line of floating kick boards, and the PVC rescue tube that lifeguards now use. These along with many other innovations helped to revolutionize the sport of swimming around the world. In 1965, Adolph Kiefer was in inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame. In 2013, USA Swimming named him, "the father of American swimming". Kiefer lived to age of 98 (even then he was still swimming) before passing away on May 5, 2017. At the time of his death he was the last surviving gold medalist from the 1936 Summer Olympics.
For more than 100 years, the world has watched millions of athletes compete in the sporting events of the Summer and Winter Olympics. What many of us usually forget about is what these athletes do when they are not competing. We don't realize many of them use their talent and skills to do much more than break records. Many of them also use them to help the world around them. Adolph Kiefer was one of those people. He was an impressive athlete who used his gift to help people and revolutionize the sport of swimming. I believe that he is a great example of what it takes to be a true champion and a major inspiration to the whole world.
https://www.kiefer.com/history-pages-188.php
https://www.kiefer.com/adolph-kiefer---our-founder-pages-317.php
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/adolph-kiefer-olympic-champion-who-taught-the-navy-to-swim-dies-at-98/2017/05/06/c92be39c-326a-11e7-8674-437ddb6e813e_story.html?utm_term=.fb3d7a7400f3
https://www.cnn.com/2017/05/06/us/olympic-swimmer-adolph-kiefer-dies/index.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/05/sports/olympics/adolph-kiefer-dead-olympic-swimming-champion.html
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