Walter Percy Spence (March 3, 1901 – October 16, 1958) was a swimmer from

British Guiana British Guiana was a British colony, part of the mainland British West Indies, which resides on the northern coast of South America. Since 1966 it has been known as the independent nation of Guyana. The first European to encounter Guiana was S ...

(present-day

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

) who competed for Canada in the

1928 Summer Olympics The 1928 Summer Olympics ( nl, Olympische Zomerspelen 1928), officially known as the Games of the IX Olympiad ( nl, Spelen van de IXe Olympiade) and commonly known as Amsterdam 1928, was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from ...

and

1932 Summer Olympics The 1932 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the X Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1932) were an international multi-sport event held from July 30 to August 14, 1932 in Los Angeles, California, United States. The Games were held duri ...

. He immigrated to the United States and held several national swimming titles there. Spence was born in Christianburg, British Guiana, the oldest of eight children—four brothers and four sisters. His father was Scottish and worked as a

big game hunter Big-game hunting is the hunting of large game animals for meat, commercially valuable by-products (such as horns/antlers, furs, tusks, bones, body fat/oil, or special organs and contents), trophy/taxidermy, or simply just for recreation ("spo ...

and

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, while his mother was Indian. The Spences would swim in the

Demerara River The Demerara River is a river in eastern Guyana that rises in the central rainforests of the country and flows to the north for 346 kilometres until it reaches the Atlantic Ocean. Georgetown, Guyana's largest seaport and capital, is situated o ...

; six family members bore scars from

piranha A piranha or piraña (, , or ; or , ) is one of a number of freshwater fish in the family Serrasalmidae, or the subfamily Serrasalminae within the tetra family, Characidae in order Characiformes. These fish inhabit South American rivers, ...

bites suffered while swimming there. Walter and two of his younger brothers, Wallace and

Leonard Leonard or ''Leo'' is a common English masculine given name and a surname. The given name and surname originate from the Old High German ''Leonhard'' containing the prefix ''levon'' ("lion") from the Greek Λέων ("lion") through the Latin '' L ...

, became champion swimmers. Two of the four Spence sisters also swam competitively, although not at the level of their brothers. The youngest Spence brother, Harold, showed great promise but was killed in action in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

before his swimming career could take off. After becoming the top swimmer in British Guiana, Walter Spence moved to

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

and began competing there. After losing a freestyle race to a swimmer from Chicago, his first-ever loss in that type of competition, Spence decided to pursue training in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. He arrived in the United States in 1923, and would eventually gain

U.S. citizenship Citizenship of the United States is a legal status that entails Americans with specific rights, duties, protections, and benefits in the United States. It serves as a foundation of fundamental rights derived from and protected by the Constituti ...

. He began his U.S. career with the

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

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 ...

team, swimming the

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 ...

and three-stroke

individual medley Medley is a combination of four different swimming styles—backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, and freestyle—into one race. This race is either swum by one swimmer as individual medley (IM) or by four swimmers as a medley relay. Individual ...

. By 1925 he had broken ten world records and was the top point scorer at the

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It has ...

(AAU) national championships that year. He later competed with the Penn Athletic Club in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He competed for Canada in the 1928 Olympics and won a bronze medal in the 4x200-metre freestyle relay event. He was also sixth in the 100-metre freestyle event and sixth in the 200-metre breaststroke event. Four years later he was fourth in the 4x200-metre freestyle relay event. He was also fourth in his semifinal of the 100-metre freestyle event and fourth in his semifinal of the 200-metre breaststroke event and did not advance in both occasions. He later represented British Guiana at the

1938 British Empire Games The 1938 British Empire Games was the third British Empire Games, the event that evolved to become the Commonwealth Games. Held in Sydney, Australia from 5–12 February 1938, they were timed to coincide with Sydney's sesqui-centenary (150 ye ...

. He won the silver medal in the 220-yard breaststroke contest and finished fourth in the 110-yard freestyle competition. In 1930, Spence enrolled as a freshman at

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

. He set the collegiate record in the 100 yard freestyle and earned the highest point score at the 1934

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

(NCAA) championships. In 1934 he also broke the world record in the 300-yard three-stroke individual medley. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in

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on June 9, 1934. After leaving Rutgers, Spence swam with the

New York Athletic Club The New York Athletic Club is a private social club and athletic club in New York state. Founded in 1868, the club has approximately 8,600 members and two facilities: the City House, located at 180 Central Park South in Manhattan, and Travers ...

(NYAC). His two younger brothers, Wallace and Leonard, joined him in the United States in 1926 and 1928, respectively. The brothers competed for the NYAC in the three-stroke medley relay, with Wallace swimming the

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 ...

, Leonard the breaststroke, and Walter the

front crawl The front crawl or forward crawl, also known as the Australian crawl or American crawl, is a swimming stroke usually regarded as the fastest of the four front primary strokes. As such, the front crawl stroke is almost universally used during a f ...

. Together, they won the 1933 AAU championship title in the event and later set the world record during an exhibition at Rutgers. Joining with Peter Fick, they won the four-man 400 yard freestyle relay at the 1935 AAU championships. After retiring from swimming, Spence worked as an insurance salesman for the Security Mutual Life Insurance Company in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He married Sheila O'Connor and had five children: David (born ), Harold (born ), Donald (born ), Sheila (born ), and Wendy (born ). Spence was killed in an accident on October 16, 1958, in

White Plains, New York (Always Faithful) , image_seal = WhitePlainsSeal.png , seal_link = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = U.S. state, State , su ...

, while trying to board a train at the North White Plains station. He was on his way from New York City to his home in

Hawthorne Hawthorne often refers to the American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne may also refer to: Places Australia *Hawthorne, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane Canada * Hawthorne Village, Ontario, a suburb of Milton, Ontario United States * Hawt ...

and had stepped off the train to call his wife during a stop at White Plains. When the train began to debark, he ran to catch it and attempted to re-board, but slipped and fell onto the tracks. He suffered severe injuries to his legs and died at White Plains Hospital an hour and a half later. Nine years after his death, in 1967, Walter, Wallace, and Leonard Spence were inducted together 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 ...

References

External links

sports-reference.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spence, Walter 1901 births 1958 deaths People from Linden, Guyana Guyanese male swimmers Guyanese emigrants to the United States Canadian male breaststroke swimmers Canadian male freestyle swimmers Olympic swimmers for Canada Swimmers at the 1928 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1932 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Canada Swimmers at the 1938 British Empire Games Commonwealth Games silver medallists for British Guiana Olympic bronze medalists in swimming Canadian sportspeople of Guyanese descent Rutgers Scarlet Knights men's swimmers Guyanese people of Scottish descent Indo-Guyanese people Railway accident deaths in the United States Accidental deaths in New York (state) People from Hawthorne, New York Sportspeople from Westchester County, New York Medalists at the 1928 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming Medallists at the 1938 British Empire Games

See also

References

External links