![]() Kiefer in Vienna in 1935 | ||||||||||||
Personal information | ||||||||||||
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Full name | Adolph Gustav Kiefer | |||||||||||
Nickname | "Sonny Boy" "Old Man Kiefer" | |||||||||||
National team | United States | |||||||||||
Born | Chicago, Illinois, U.S. | June 27, 1918|||||||||||
Died | May 5, 2017 Wadsworth, Illinois, U.S. | (aged 98)|||||||||||
Sport | ||||||||||||
Sport | Swimming | |||||||||||
Strokes | Backstroke | |||||||||||
Club | Lake Shore Athletic Club | |||||||||||
College team | University of Texas | |||||||||||
Medal record
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Adolph Gustav Kiefer (June 27, 1918 – May 5, 2017)[1] was an American competition swimmer, Olympic competitor, the last surviving gold medalist of the 1936 Summer Olympics and former world record-holder. He was the first man in the world to swim the 100-yard backstroke in under one minute.[2] Kiefer was also an inventor of new products related to aquatics competition.
Kiefer was born as a son of German immigrants in Chicago, Illinois, and there attended Roosevelt High School (1936). He then attended the University of Texas at Austin (1939) and Columbia College, Columbia University (1940).[3]
Kiefer became the first man to break the one-minute mark in the 100-yard backstroke while competing as a 16-year-old in the Illinois High School Championships of 1935, swimming 59.8 seconds. His 1936 Illinois state championship backstroke time of 58.5 seconds was the Illinois state high-school record until 1960. On April 6, 1940, Kiefer set another world record, swimming the 100-yard backstroke in 57.9 seconds. He broke twenty-three records after breaking the one-minute backstroke mark.[4] Kiefer set a world record for the 100-meter backstroke of 1:04.8 on January 18, 1936, at Brennan Pools in Detroit, Michigan.[5]
Eighteen-year-old Kiefer represented the United States at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany.[4] On August 14, Kiefer won the gold medal in the men's 100-meter backstroke.[4] He set new Olympic records in the first-round heats (1:06.9), the second-round heats (1:06.8), and the event final (1:05.9). His Olympic Record would stand for over 20 years, finally broken by David Theile in the 1956 Summer Olympics.[citation needed]
Kiefer returned home a national hero, and began traveling with other U.S. Olympic medalists on a tour of Europe, China, Japan, and South America, during which he challenged other swimmers in those locations to individual races.[citation needed]
In over 2,000 races, Kiefer lost only twice. At the National AAU swimming championship in April 1943, University of Michigan All-American swimmer Harry Holiday, Jr. finally went head-to-head with world-record holder Kiefer. Holiday beat him in the 150-yard backstroke at the AAU meet.[6] The defeat was the first for Kiefer in eight years.[7][8]
In his first two months of varsity competition, Holiday broke two of Kiefer's world records, lowering the 100-yard backstroke mark to 57 seconds and the 200-meter standard to 2:22.9.[9] In August 1943, the NCAA also recognized Holiday as the holder of the new world record in the 150-yard backstroke with a mark of 1:31.5.[10] Shortly thereafter, Kiefer was asked to audition for the role of "Tarzan", but joined the U.S. Navy instead.[citation needed]
In 1947, he established Adolph Kiefer & Associates, Inc. in Chicago, which has provided swimmers with training, safety, and competition equipment.[11] His brother, Edward Kiefer, was responsible for the development of the nylon tank suit in 1948[12] and debuted the first nylon swimsuit supplied to the U.S. Olympic Swim Team—a marked improvement over the wool and cotton suits available at the time.[citation needed]
Kiefer subsequently devoted himself to community service, especially combining swimming and philanthropy. In the 1960s he worked with Mayor Richard J. Daley to build swimming-pools across the inner city of Chicago, providing the facilities needed for thousands of children to learn to swim. Kiefer actively supported Swim Across America, a nonprofit organization that raises funds for cancer research, and participated in SAA public swimming events well into his 70s and 80s.[13]
Kiefer was an "Honor Swimmer" member of the inaugural class inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1965.[14] In 1966 he patented the first design for a no-wave, non-turbulence racing lane.[citation needed]
In 2008 Kiefer celebrated his 90th birthday in Omaha at the 2008 U.S. Swimming Olympic Trials, where he awarded medals for the 200-meter backstroke. On June 27, 2012, he celebrated his birthday again in Omaha at the 2012 U.S. Swimming Olympic Trials—by awarding the medals for the 200-meter backstroke. In 2013 USA Swimming named Kiefer the "father of American swimming" in recognition of his contributions to American swimming.[15]
On the morning of May 5, 2017, Kiefer died at home in Wadsworth, Illinois, at the age of 98.[16][1]
In 1941, Adolph Kiefer married Joyce Kainer. Together, they had four children: sons Dale and Jack, and daughters Kathy and Gail.[citation needed]