Who is your favorite male breaststroker?

Jon Blank: Thanks for sharing your list with us. All of those people are impressive. I had not followed Brian Job in years and was very impressed with the link you provided about his life after swimming. I was not a breastroker but I do remember Brian Job really well because he was originally from Kent Ohio and swam with the Lake Erie Silver Dolphins and I used to see him at the AAU meets in the 1960's. In fact he was the only person that made a first place in the High School All American listings in 1967, that was not from Santa Clara High School. He had a time of 1:00.60 for the 100 Yard *** which was a new national HS record. He was one of the first swimmers that I remember that moved and ended up at Santa Clara HS the next year which at that time was the top HS program in the country. In fact, Santa HS placed 4th with 20 All American berths behind the states of California, Illinois, and Texas. That is how good they were and they were coached by one of the greatest coaches of our time, George Haines. Before he moved he was not ranked in the World Rankings. The next year as a Jr. he went :59.2 and lowed his HS record and would have been 2nd at the NCAA championship meet. He also went to the 1968 Olympics and got a bronze medal behind Felipe Muoz in the 200 ***. His big break through came in 1969 when he lowered the HS record to :57.7 which was an American Record and he would have beaten the NCAA Champion and recent Olympic Gold Medalist, Don McKenize by .06 with his time of :58.3. That HS record stayed on the books until 1976 and was one of the longest records in HS at that time. He never broke the 100 Meter breastroke World Record record because that was held by Nicolia Pankin from Russia who held that record from 1968 to 1972. He did however break the Nicolia Pankin record in the 200 by 2 seconds going 2:23.5 and it stood for 2 years until John Hencken broke it 2 years later going in the 2:22's. The reason I bring this up is because there was a trend going on in the USA that swimmers with great potential would move and swim for a HS or club like Santa Clara. Don Schollander did this years before and this was the first time someone from the midwest of the country did it that I can remember. Years later one of the best swimming families that was from Akron, Ohio and they relocated to Santa Clara and that was the Bottom family. In fact this year Joe Bottom is finally being inducted into the ISHOF almost 25 years after he retired from swimming. I feel the Hall was a little slow about this. I am surprised that Brian Job has not been inducted either. Anyways I used to see these guys at all of the AAU meets in the midwest before they moved west and got famous.

Jon Blank: Thanks for sharing your list with us. All of those people are impressive. I had not followed Brian Job in years and was very impressed with the link you provided about his life after swimming. I was not a breastroker but I do remember Brian Job really well because he was originally from Kent Ohio and swam with the Lake Erie Silver Dolphins and I used to see him at the AAU meets in the 1960's. In fact he was the only person that made a first place in the High School All American listings in 1967, that was not from Santa Clara High School. He had a time of 1:00.60 for the 100 Yard *** which was a new national HS record. He was one of the first swimmers that I remember that moved and ended up at Santa Clara HS the next year which at that time was the top HS program in the country. In fact, Santa HS placed 4th with 20 All American berths behind the states of California, Illinois, and Texas. That is how good they were and they were coached by one of the greatest coaches of our time, George Haines. Before he moved he was not ranked in the World Rankings. The next year as a Jr. he went :59.2 and lowed his HS record and would have been 2nd at the NCAA championship meet. He also went to the 1968 Olympics and got a bronze medal behind Felipe Muoz in the 200 ***. His big break through came in 1969 when he lowered the HS record to :57.7 which was an American Record and he would have beaten the NCAA Champion and recent Olympic Gold Medalist, Don McKenize by .06 with his time of :58.3. That HS record stayed on the books until 1976 and was one of the longest records in HS at that time. He never broke the 100 Meter breastroke World Record record because that was held by Nicolia Pankin from Russia who held that record from 1968 to 1972. He did however break the Nicolia Pankin record in the 200 by 2 seconds going 2:23.5 and it stood for 2 years until John Hencken broke it 2 years later going in the 2:22's. The reason I bring this up is because there was a trend going on in the USA that swimmers with great potential would move and swim for a HS or club like Santa Clara. Don Schollander did this years before and this was the first time someone from the midwest of the country did it that I can remember. Years later one of the best swimming families that was from Akron, Ohio and they relocated to Santa Clara and that was the Bottom family. In fact this year Joe Bottom is finally being inducted into the ISHOF almost 25 years after he retired from swimming. I feel the Hall was a little slow about this. I am surprised that Brian Job has not been inducted either. Anyways I used to see these guys at all of the AAU meets in the midwest before they moved west and got famous.