William Bachrach (May 15, 1879 in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, Illinois – July 1959) was an American swimming and

water polo Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with the ...

coach.

Early life

Bachrach was Jewish, and one of 16 children. In the 1890s, he was a competitive swimmer. He served in the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...

. Later in life, the 6 foot tall Bachrach weighed 300 pounds.

Coaching career

As a coach, Bachrach was called “the beloved tyrant.” He began as a swimming instructor at the Chicago Central

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

. He later moved to the Illinois Athletic Club (IAC). There, Bachrach coached swimming and water polo from 1912–54. His 1914–17 IAC water polo teams won the U.S. national championship for four straight years. At the IAC, he coached

Jam Handy Henry Jamison "Jam" Handy (March 6, 1886 – November 13, 1983) was an American Olympic breaststroke swimmer, water polo player, and founder of the Jam Handy Organization (JHO), a producer of commercially sponsored motion pictures, slidefilms (l ...

, Harry Hebner, Mike McDermott, Perry McGillivray,

Norman Ross Norman DeMille Ross (May 2, 1895 – June 19, 1953) was an American competition swimmer who won five events at the Inter-Allied Games in June 1919, held at Joinville-Le-Pont near Paris, and three gold medals at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antw ...

, Bob Skelton,

Johnny Weissmuller Johnny Weissmuller (born Johann Peter Weißmüller; June 2, 1904 – January 20, 1984) was an American Olympic swimmer, water polo player and actor. He was known for having one of the best competitive swimming records of the 20th century. H ...

(later famous in Hollywood as "Tarzan"),

Arne Borg Claes Arne Borg (18 August 1901 – 7 November 1987) was a Swedish swimmer. He is best known for breaking 32 world records and winning five Olympic medals in the 1920s. In 1926 Borg won the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal, shared with Edvin W ...

, Sybil Bauer,

Ethel Lackie Ethel Minnie Lackie (February 10, 1907 – December 15, 1979), also known by her married name Ethel Watkins, was an American competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and world record-holder. Lackie represented the United States at the 1924 Summer ...

, and others. His swimmers won 120 National AAU Championships. Bachrach was also head coach of the 1924 Olympics and 1928 Olympics U.S. men's and women's swim teams. His swimmers won 13

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

s in Paris in 1924, and 10 gold medals in Amsterdam in 1928. He developed four swimmers who won gold medals at the 1924 Olympics: Weissmuller (100m and 200m freestyles, and 800m relay), Skelton (200m

breaststroke Breaststroke is a swimming style in which the swimmer is on their chest and the torso does not rotate. It is the most popular recreational style due to the swimmer's head being out of the water a large portion of the time, and that it can be s ...

), Lackie (100m freestyle and 400m relay), and Sybil Bauer (100m

backstroke Backstroke or back crawl is one of the four Swimming (sport), swimming styles used in competitive events regulated by FINA, and the only one of these styles swum on the back. This swimming style has the advantage of easy breathing, but the disa ...

). Weissmuller also won two gold medals at the 1928 Olympics (100m freestyle and 800m relay. He also developed

, who won gold medals in the 400m and 1,500m freestyles and 800m relay at the

1920 Olympics The 1920 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1920; nl, Olympische Zomerspelen van 1920; german: Olympische Sommerspiele 1920), officially known as the Games of the VII Olympiad (french: Jeux de la VIIe olympiade; nl, Spelen van ...

in Antwerp.

Halls of Fame

In 1994, Bachrach was inducted into the

International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame ( he, יד לאיש הספורט היהודי, translit=Yad Le'ish HaSport HaYehudi) was opened July 7, 1981 in Netanya, Israel. It honors Jewish athletes and their accomplishments from anywhere around ...

. He was inducted into the

International Swimming Hall of Fame The International Swimming Hall of Fame and Museum (ISHOF) is a history museum and hall of fame, located at One Hall of Fame Drive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States, operated by private interests and serving as the central point for the stu ...

in 1996.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bachrach, Bill American swimming coaches American water polo coaches 1879 births 1959 deaths Jewish American sportspeople American military personnel of the Spanish–American War Swimming at the 1924 Summer Olympics Swimming at the 1928 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Chicago American Olympic coaches

Early life

Coaching career

Halls of Fame

See also

References