Back in those days the NCAA team championship (Univ or College Division) usually went to the team that had the top 1650 guy. For Peter Daland's Trojans, Roy Saari was money in the bank.
One of the premier swimmers of the early 60s. Sometimes too often history in this sport only judges you by Olympic achievements. He had a disappointing games relative to expectations in 1964. But you only have to look through the archival coverage to see what a huge name he was in the sport during his era. RIP.
Roy Saari is considered by many, including myself as the greatest swimmer in NCAA Divison I Championship history. He is one of only two swimmers who never lost an NCAA Championship race in the NCAA Championship meet. The other swimmer is Jack Medica from the University of Washington and he accomplished this feat from 1934 to 1936. Back in those days, the NCAA did not let freshmen swim in the NCAA Championship meet and swimmers had to swim in a separate freshmen championship meet. Both of these swimmers won the 3 individual events a year and are the only ones to be undefeated in the NCAA Division I Championship meet.
When Roy was a freshman in 1963, he swam at the AAU Short Course Nationals and set 3 American Records and would have soundly beaten the NCAA Champions in the 400 IM, 500 Free, and 1650 Free. With these performances, I would think he would have won 12 events if he would have been eligible to swim as a freshmen. The NCAA changed this rule in 1967 because UCLA freshmen basketball team beat the UCLA varsity team which was undefeated and won the NCAA Championship. The UCLA freshmen team had a player named Lew Alcindor who later changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. It was noted that athletes such as these should not be made to wait to play in NCAA Championships and thus the rule was changed.
In the 1967/1968 year was the first year of full eligibility for all of the college years in all sports. In the 1968/1969 year, Mark Spitz won the maximum 3 events as a freshmen but managed 5 wins in his next 9 races in 4 years of NCAA Division I Championship swimming. John Naber eventually broke the record for 9 wins but he had an extra year of eligibility and had two losses to Tim Shaw in the 500 Free so he was 10 and 2. In 1987, Pablo Morales won 11 NCAA titles and one 4th place to have more wins than anyone in NCAA Division I history, but again he had an extra year of eligibility and was a 11 and 1.
Because of Roy's top times in his freshmen year and his American Record times, I put him slightly ahead of both Medica and Pablo. He had top times in 5 events during his 4 years of college (200 Free, 500 Free, 1650 Free, 200 IM, 400 IM). This is similar to the 1972 Miami Dolphins going 14 and 0 because there are 3 other teams that have had more wins in a year but lost 1 game. A lot of people consider them to be the best because of being undefeated and others do not. Since there are only 2 swimmers in history to achieve going undefeated in NCAA Championships, he has to go down as one of the best ever.
I remember seeing Roy swim in 1963 in a meet in Michigan against Bill Farley and Carl Robie in a 1500 Free and he was real close to setting an American Record. He was a great HS swimmer and I believe he was first in 4 events and would have won NCAA Championships in 2 events as a HS senior. In 1960, at the age of 15, he was 3rd at the Olympic Trials in the 1500 Free. He was about 3 months older than when Michael Phelps made the team in 2000 as a 15 year old.
1964 was to be Roy's big year and he won the 400 Free and 1500 Free at the 1964 Olympic Trials. He was 2nd to *** Roth in the 400 IM at both the 1964 Olympic Trials and the 1960 Olympics. Unfortunately he did not swim his best at the 1964 Olympics and took 4th in the 400 Free and 7th in the 1500 Free and was 30 seconds slower than his best, which was the World Record and remained the World Record because the Olympic Champion was 3 seconds slower than his WR time. He was on the 800 Free Relay which won gold to go along with the silver medal in the 400 IM.
He was an All American water polo player in his 3 years of college eligibility and I would put him in the class of Matt Biondi and Tim Shaw as being one of the best in both sports. I don't believe Roy ever swam masters but was rumored to play masters water polo back in the late 1980's.
USC has had some of the greatest swimmers in the sport like Murray Rose, John Naber, Bottom brothers, Furniss brothers, Rod Strachan, David Wharton, and Lenny Krayzelburg but none of these swimmers ever went undefeated in the NCAA Championships and that is a record that anyone would be most proud of.
www.latimes.com/.../la-me-saari3-2009jan03,0,308210.storywww.mammothtimes.com/.../www.ilsa-timisoara.net/roy_saari.htm
Nice summary, Frank. He certainly was one of the greatest. The last couple of months have seen some great ones go down. I swam this AM thinking maybe I am not such a kid at almost 63. Make every moment count that is for sure. Roy sure picked a beautiful place to spend his later years, Mammoth Lakes, Calif.
One of the premier swimmers of the early 60s. Sometimes too often history in this sport only judges you by Olympic achievements. He had a disappointing games relative to expectations in 1964. But you only have to look through the archival coverage to see what a huge name he was in the sport during his era. RIP.
Back in those days the NCAA team championship (Univ or College Division) usually went to the team that had the top 1650 guy. For Peter Daland's Trojans, Roy Saari was money in the bank.
I just saw the name Mike Gerry as the College Division Champion in the 1650 Free in 1965 and 1966 and the 500 Free in 1966 and those were the same events that Roy Saari won for the University Division in 1965 and 1966. Are you the same Mike Gerry from San Diego State?
Frank Thompson --- Are you the same Mike Gerry from San Diego State?
Yes.
And from memory, (your record keeping puts my memory to shame), other teams from that era that won the 1650 and the team championship; Dave Gray/UCSB, Mike Martin/UC Irvine, John Kinsella/Indiana --- and I'm pretty sure they're were others.
