James Edward "Doc" Counsilman (December 28, 1920 – January 4, 2004)
Published by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' on 2004-01-05; retrieved 2010-03-29. was an Olympic and hall-of-fame

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

coach from the United States. He was the head swimming coach at

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universi ...

(IU) from 1957 to 1990.2009-10 Men's Swimming Media Guide
p.123, from the IU Hoosiers website; retrieved 2011-02-02. He served as head coach for the USA's Olympic swim teams for

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarc ...

and

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 ...

; and was inducted as an Honors Coach 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 1976.

Early career

Counsilman was born in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% f ...

, but grew up and learned to swim in St. Louis, Missouri.
More about Doc page
' from the ''Doc Counsilman: Making Waves'' page of the

WTIU WTIU, virtual channel 30 (UHF digital channel 33), is a Public Broadcasting Service ( PBS) member television station serving Indianapolis, Indiana, United States that is licensed to Bloomington. Owned by Indiana University, it is a siste ...

; retrieved 2011-02-02. He swam collegiately for

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pub ...

under coach Mike Peppe, and while in college set world-records in the 50 and 300 yard breaststrokes. During World War II, Counsilman served in the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

in Italy as a

B-24 Liberator The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models ...

pilot with the 455th Bomb Group of the Fifteenth Air Force. Post Ohio State, Counsilman went on to earn a master's degree at the University of Illinois (1947), where he also served as an assistant coach, before pursuing a doctorate degree in physiology from the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 col ...

where he was also the assistant coach under David Armbruster(1948-1951).Counsilman's bio
from the

SUNY Cortland The State University of New York College at Cortland (SUNY Cortland or Cortland State College) is a public college in Cortland, New York. It was founded in 1868 and is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. History The State Un ...

Hall of Fame; published in 2005, retrieved 2011-02-02. It was at the Iowa that Counsilman coached his first two Olympians-

Wally Ris Walter Steven Ris (January 4, 1924 – December 25, 1989) was an American competition swimmer, two-time Olympic champion, and world record-holder. Ris won two gold medals at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, England.Sports-Reference.com, Olym ...

and

Bowen Stassforth Bowen Dow Stassforth (August 7, 1926 – November 22, 2019) was an American competition swimmer who won a silver medal in the 200 m breaststroke at the 1952 Olympics and set two world records in the 200-yard (long course) breaststroke. and one ...

. Following award of his doctorate, the now-dubbed "Doc" began teaching and coaching at

Cortland State University Cortland may refer to: Places In space * 27776 Cortland, an asteroid United States * Cortland, Illinois, a town * Cortland, Indiana, an unincorporated community * Cortland, Nebraska, a village * Cortland, New York, a city * Cortland, Ohio, a c ...

, where he stayed from 1952 to 1957, before beginning his career at Indiana University. While at Cortland State, he coached freshman

George Breen George Thomas Breen (July 19, 1935 – November 9, 2019) was an American competition swimmer, four-time Olympic medalist, and world record-holder in three events. After retiring as a swimmer, he became a coach at Jersey Wahoos Swim Club in New ...

in 1953. Breen was molded by Counsilman into a standout athlete, and broke the world record for the 1500 meter freestyle. Breen, qualifying for the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, set another world record in the 1500 meter freestyle with a time of 17:52.9 during the preliminaries, but was unable to match the time in the finals and received only a Bronze medal. Once at Indiana University, he continued to train Breen for the 1500, an event for which he would receive a second bronze medal in the 1960 Olympics in Rome. Ultimately, Counsilman was credited with molding Breen into one of the finest Olympic distance swimmers in United States history.

Tenure at IU (1957–1990)

At IU, Counsilman coached the men's team to 6 consecutive NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships (1968–1973), and 20 consecutive (1961–1980) and 23 total Big Ten Conference titles. While at IU, Doc coached over 60 Olympic swimmers, including

Mark Spitz Mark Andrew Spitz (born February 10, 1950) is an American former competitive swimmer and nine-time Olympic champion. He was the most successful athlete at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, winning seven gold medals, each in world-record ti ...

. He served as the Men's Head Coach of the USA's swimming team at the

1964 Olympics 1964 Olympics refers to both: *The 1964 Winter Olympics The 1964 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IX Olympic Winter Games (german: IX. Olympische Winterspiele) and commonly known as Innsbruck 1964 ( bar, Innschbruck 1964, label=Austro-Ba ...

(where the USA men won 9-of-11 events) and at 1976 Olympics (USA men won 12-of-13 events). In 1961, he was named Coach of the Year by the

American Swimming Coaches Association The American Swimming Coaches Association, or ASCA, is a professional organization for Swimming coaches in the USA. It was founded in 1958 and is based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. ASCA provides education opportunities for swimming coaches, includ ...

. In 1964, he led the Indiana team to its sixth straight USA national championships ( AAU at the time). In 1979, at the age of 58, he briefly became the oldest person to swim the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

. Swimmers who swam for Counsilman include: Jim Montgomery, Gary Hall, John Kinsella,

Mike Troy Michael Francis Troy (October 3, 1940 – August 3, 2019) was an American competitive swimmer, a two-time Olympic champion, and world record-holder in three events. The peak of Troy's swimming career occurred between 1959 and 1960 while he was ...

, Charlie Hickcox, Larry Barbiere, Don McKenzie,

Chet Jastremski Chester Andrew Jastremski (January 12, 1941 – May 3, 2014) was an American competition swimmer, Olympic medalist and world record-holder. Jastremski attended Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, where he swam for Doc Counsilman's Indian ...

, Tom Stock,

Mike Stamm Michael Eugene Stamm (born August 6, 1952) is an American former backstroke swimmer who earned a gold medal as a member of the winning U.S. team in the men's 4×100-meter medley relay at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany. At the 1972 O ...

, Alan Somers, Ted Stickles, John Murphy, Bill Heiss,

Fred Tyler Frederick Daniel Tyler (born March 15, 1954) is an American competitive swimming (sport), swimmer and aquatics coach, winner of several high school and college championships and a gold medal in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay at the 1972 Summe ...

, John Waldman, Tom Hickcox, and

Post IU

Doc Counsilman is known as one of the greatest swimming coaches of all time. He was also an innovator in the sport, pioneering underwater filming, and even watching swimmers underwater, as can be seen in Royer Pool at Indiana University today. He was also the instigator of

hypoventilation training Hypoventilation training is a physical training method in which periods of exercise with reduced breathing frequency are interspersed with periods with normal breathing. The hypoventilation technique consists of short breath holdings and can be ...

, a training method which consists of swimming with reduced breathing frequency. Counsilman died in Bloomington, Indiana, in 2004, after suffering from

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

. He has been inducted into various Hall of Fames, including: the

(1976), Ohio State Varsity "O" Hall of Fame (1988), IU Athletics (2001), the

Counsilman's entry
from the American Swimming Coaches Association Hall of Fame subpage; retrieved 2011-02-02. and SUNY Cortland (2005).

References

Bibliography

* ''The Science of Swimming'', by James E. Counsilman, Prentice Hall, Juni 1968, * ''The Complete Book of Swimming '', by James E. Counsilman, Atheneum, 1977, * ''Competitive Swimming Manual for Coaches and Swimmers'', by James E. Counsilman, Counsilman Co., 1977, * ''The New Science of Swimming'', by James E. Counsilman and Brian E. Counsilman, Prentice Hall, April 1994,

External links