The passing of Don McKenize

Gary's post is so right on. No one expected Don to win in Mexico City. The two Russian's were favored and in the final Don swam past them both with about 10 meters to go. This guy was super strong and it was always such a pleasure to swim against him. I remember the year he came back at DeAnza in 96 (Doc's team deal). I had just aged up to 50 and went 1:01 in the 100 *** (he was year younger) and I think he went about 1:04 in his first year back. In 1998 he went 1:01.02 at 51 and and was out like a rocket I went 1:01.7. The record still stands. When Don and I got on the blocks it was "no holds bared". Over the years we probably split the races I won more of the 50"s, he the 100's and me the 200's. I remember him saying how good I was and I said "WAIT a minute" your the guy with the two Olympic gold medals on your mantle you did it!!! Where was I??? USMS/world champ you bet and proud of it!! Olympic champ far from it he was the MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Robert: Thanks for sharing your story. Jerry Gorkski was a High School swimmer from Michigan and in 1965 he was 6th in the country in the 100 yard *** with a time of 1:02.5 and went on to swim in Junior College in California. A lot of people don't realize that Don McKenzie swam two years of Junior College after HS in 1966 and 1967. In his first year he went a 1:05 in the 100 *** but the second year in 1967 dropped to a :59.7 and won the JC National Championship. I remember Jerry saying that after he did this swim he set a goal to win the 1968 Olympics in the 100 ***. At that time he had hardly ever competed in Long Course competition and was not in the World Rankings. Back in those days Junior College swimming in California was more competitive at the top level than Division 2 or 3 today. Olympians Gary Ilman, Greg Buckingham, and Ralph Hutton got there starts and made transfers to NCAA programs after 1 or 2 years. Foothill was the power back then winning at least 8 or 9 Championships in a row and Nort Thornton was the coach there before he went on to Cal Berkley. In 1967, Don made a transfer from JC to the NCAA and was at Indiana. At that time Doc Counsilman was considered the best breaststroke coach in the World and had a the swimmers to prove it with the most famous being Chet Jastremski because in 1961 he dropped the World Record in the 200 *** by 7 seconds. Also at that time Indiana had some of the nations best breaststrokers with Dave Perkowski and Doc's son Jimmy Counsilman. When he arrived he was behind those swimmers. In 1968 the Big Ten Championships were at Univ. of Michigan and the star of the 100 and 200 was Kip Pope from Illinios. At the 1968 NCAA meet, Don placed 4th in both the 100 and 200 and going into the summer of 1968, his best time in the 100 meter *** was a 1:12.6, which was 22nd in the 1967 World Rankings. As everyone knows he won the 1968 Olympic Trials with a time of 1:07.3 and set a new American Record breaking Chet Jastremski's AR of 1:07.5 but he was still far from the top breaststrokes in the World and was going to have a hard time getting to the finals let alone getting a medal. He had dropped over 5 seconds from the year before and I think the Olympic Coaches did not think it was possible to swim this well at altitude in Mexico City. He won the 100 *** with a time of 1:07.7 and if he was at sea level he probably would have gone in the 1:06 range. He beat the World Record holder who went a 1:06.4 so you know he would have been in that range. His drop in the 100 of 5 seconds from one year is rarely if ever seen in swimming at this level. In fact the coaches were thinking about having time trials for the two alternates that made the team because they did not believe that with his experience he would not be up for the task. In Don Schollander's great book called "Deep Water" he talks about Olympic Relay controversies and says the coaches had doubts about Don McKenzie and were worried about the 400 Medley Relay. After he won the 100 ***, there were no more doubts and no time trials for anybody for the 400 Medley. Don won the 100 *** at the 1969 NCAA Championships to close out his career and broke the NCAA Record and American Record with a time of :58.3 but the record didn't last long because 2 months later Brian Job went a :57.7 at the California High School Championships. In 1998, at the SC Nationals in Indy, I went up and talked to Don and wanted to see if he remembered Jerry from his JC days and he did and remembered all of his Junior College experiences. This past weekend I was at the TYR Grand Prix meet and ran into one of Don's teamates at IU, Bryan Bateman, who had just broke the World Record in the 100 IM in the 60-64 age group and he said he had heard the news about Don's passing from brain cancer. Brian swam on the 1969 NCAA 400 Medley Relay team that won 1st place with Don along with Charlie Hickcox and Steve Borowski, who lives in Hawaii and swims masters also. At the time I asked Bryan about this because there was nothing on the Swimming World website and I heard the news from a swimmer at the meet. Bryan had great memories like everyone else here about Don McKenzie.

Gary's post is so right on. No one expected Don to win in Mexico City. The two Russian's were favored and in the final Don swam past them both with about 10 meters to go. This guy was super strong and it was always such a pleasure to swim against him. I remember the year he came back at DeAnza in 96 (Doc's team deal). I had just aged up to 50 and went 1:01 in the 100 *** (he was year younger) and I think he went about 1:04 in his first year back. In 1998 he went 1:01.02 at 51 and and was out like a rocket I went 1:01.7. The record still stands. When Don and I got on the blocks it was "no holds bared". Over the years we probably split the races I won more of the 50"s, he the 100's and me the 200's. I remember him saying how good I was and I said "WAIT a minute" your the guy with the two Olympic gold medals on your mantle you did it!!! Where was I??? USMS/world champ you bet and proud of it!! Olympic champ far from it he was the MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Robert: Thanks for sharing your story. Jerry Gorkski was a High School swimmer from Michigan and in 1965 he was 6th in the country in the 100 yard *** with a time of 1:02.5 and went on to swim in Junior College in California. A lot of people don't realize that Don McKenzie swam two years of Junior College after HS in 1966 and 1967. In his first year he went a 1:05 in the 100 *** but the second year in 1967 dropped to a :59.7 and won the JC National Championship. I remember Jerry saying that after he did this swim he set a goal to win the 1968 Olympics in the 100 ***. At that time he had hardly ever competed in Long Course competition and was not in the World Rankings. Back in those days Junior College swimming in California was more competitive at the top level than Division 2 or 3 today. Olympians Gary Ilman, Greg Buckingham, and Ralph Hutton got there starts and made transfers to NCAA programs after 1 or 2 years. Foothill was the power back then winning at least 8 or 9 Championships in a row and Nort Thornton was the coach there before he went on to Cal Berkley. In 1967, Don made a transfer from JC to the NCAA and was at Indiana. At that time Doc Counsilman was considered the best breaststroke coach in the World and had a the swimmers to prove it with the most famous being Chet Jastremski because in 1961 he dropped the World Record in the 200 *** by 7 seconds. Also at that time Indiana had some of the nations best breaststrokers with Dave Perkowski and Doc's son Jimmy Counsilman. When he arrived he was behind those swimmers. In 1968 the Big Ten Championships were at Univ. of Michigan and the star of the 100 and 200 was Kip Pope from Illinios. At the 1968 NCAA meet, Don placed 4th in both the 100 and 200 and going into the summer of 1968, his best time in the 100 meter *** was a 1:12.6, which was 22nd in the 1967 World Rankings. As everyone knows he won the 1968 Olympic Trials with a time of 1:07.3 and set a new American Record breaking Chet Jastremski's AR of 1:07.5 but he was still far from the top breaststrokes in the World and was going to have a hard time getting to the finals let alone getting a medal. He had dropped over 5 seconds from the year before and I think the Olympic Coaches did not think it was possible to swim this well at altitude in Mexico City. He won the 100 *** with a time of 1:07.7 and if he was at sea level he probably would have gone in the 1:06 range. He beat the World Record holder who went a 1:06.4 so you know he would have been in that range. His drop in the 100 of 5 seconds from one year is rarely if ever seen in swimming at this level. In fact the coaches were thinking about having time trials for the two alternates that made the team because they did not believe that with his experience he would not be up for the task. In Don Schollander's great book called "Deep Water" he talks about Olympic Relay controversies and says the coaches had doubts about Don McKenzie and were worried about the 400 Medley Relay. After he won the 100 ***, there were no more doubts and no time trials for anybody for the 400 Medley. Don won the 100 *** at the 1969 NCAA Championships to close out his career and broke the NCAA Record and American Record with a time of :58.3 but the record didn't last long because 2 months later Brian Job went a :57.7 at the California High School Championships. In 1998, at the SC Nationals in Indy, I went up and talked to Don and wanted to see if he remembered Jerry from his JC days and he did and remembered all of his Junior College experiences. This past weekend I was at the TYR Grand Prix meet and ran into one of Don's teamates at IU, Bryan Bateman, who had just broke the World Record in the 100 IM in the 60-64 age group and he said he had heard the news about Don's passing from brain cancer. Brian swam on the 1969 NCAA 400 Medley Relay team that won 1st place with Don along with Charlie Hickcox and Steve Borowski, who lives in Hawaii and swims masters also. At the time I asked Bryan about this because there was nothing on the Swimming World website and I heard the news from a swimmer at the meet. Bryan had great memories like everyone else here about Don McKenzie.