>newground
During his tenure, Doc made Royer pool his lab.
He led Indiana University to 20 consecutive Big Ten swimming titles. His teams won six straight national championships. He coached 48 Olympians.
He developed innovations still used in the sport today: pace clocks, for instance, and lane dividers to cut down on waves. And he swam the English Channel at age 58.
His name was James E. Counsilman, but everybody knew him as “Doc.” As coach of the IU men’s swimming team from 1957 to 1990, he led the program to unprecedented heights.
His secret? He was the first coach to apply scientific methods to analyzing the motions of swimming. He used that knowledge to develop training techniques for increased strength and speed. He held a doctorate in physiology from the University of Iowa (hence the nickname), and his 1968 book, The Science of Swimming, was translated into 20 languages. It is still considered an essential text.
Doc came to Indiana University in 1957 as an associate professor and men’s swimming coach. Soon, world-class swimmers were flocking to Bloomington to work with him. The momentum grew until, at the Olympic Trials in 1964, seven of the eight finalists in the 200-meter breaststroke came from Doc’s team.
He served as American Olympic Coach in 1964 and 1976. The 1964 team won more than half of all the medals and all but two of the golds. His 1976 team won three-fourths of all the medals and all but one of the golds.
At one time or another, his swimmers set world records in every single men’s event, a record no other team has equaled. By the time Doc retired in 1990, his IU win/loss record was 286-36-1 and his swimmers had won seven long-course national team championships.
A list of Doc’s swimmers reads like a Who’s Who of swimming greats. Among them is Mark Spitz, whose seven gold medals in the 1972 Olympics stands as one of the greatest feats in Olympic history.
As Gary Hall, who swam on three Olympic teams and won two silver medals, recalls, “What really was extraordinary about this guy was his ability to manage athletes. Everybody got attention, got what they needed, and he created the chemistry that enabled us to win.”
Doc died in January 2004, after a 10-year fight against Parkinson’s disease. He was 83. A memorial service was held at IUB in May, attended by many of his former students and Olympians. At the service, the university announced a two-pronged fundraising effort to honor him.
The first part, spearheaded by the IU Varsity Club, will raise $5 million to permanently endow 10 scholarships in the swimming and diving program. The endowment will guarantee IU’s ability to recruit and retain the best swimmers and divers.
The second part will raise $3.2 million to endow faculty and graduate positions in the Counsilman Center for the Science of Swimming, housed in the School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation. The center continues Doc’s work as a researcher.
>Bill Holladay
Find out more about the swimming and diving campaign. For more on Doc Counsilman’s life and work, visit the Counsilman Center’s website.
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