Word: counsilman
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...walked into a campus store and the fellow behind the counter knew who I was right off. That was a good feeling." The fellows on the swimming team also knew only too well who Spitz was; his reputation as a taciturn loner had preceded him. But Coach James ("Doc") Counsilman wisely called his charges together and made sure that they gave Mark a fair shake...
Hitting His Peak. Counsilman's counsel paid off. "I think the guys on the team liked me right away," says Mark, "and they avoided talking about the Olympics." Mark moved into a dormitory with George Smith, another Olympian, pledged Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, earned A's for attitude as well as in his studies. "It was just a matter of growing up," says Counsilman. "College has given him the chance to mingle with contemporaries for the first time, and he has turned out to be one of the most popular guys on the team...
...rate Spitz is going, Counsilman reckons he may get another chance to stroke for Olympic gold-even though he will be 22, ancient by swimming standards, when the Munich games roll around. Says Counsilman: "He should just be hitting his peak by 1972." Spitz, of course, wants nothing more than another try. "Everything I do now is geared to 1972," he says. "I don't want another Mexico City...
...Under Counsilman's coaching, Indiana has not lost a two-team meet since 1959. Long an also-swam in Big Ten competition, Indiana demonstrated its new superiority in 1960 by trouncing Michigan, the perennial national champion, and snapping a Wolverine string of 33 straight dual-meet victories. In celebration, Indiana swimmers dumped Counsilman, clothes and all, into the pool. That year four of Counsilman's swimmers made the 17-man U.S. Olympic team, won three gold medals, one silver, one bronze. Members of the present Indiana squad hold world records for the medley relay, individual medley (Ted Stickels...
Honors have piled up for Counsilman. Indiana recently awarded him its 1963 Leather Medal for bringing "the most distinction to the university." (Among the previous winners: Sexpert Alfred Kinsey, Nobel Prizewinning Geneticist Hermann Muller.) The A.A.U. has just named him head coach of the U.S.'s 1964 Olympic swimming team. And five rival Big Ten swimming coaches, for whom Counsilman's success has meant nothing but hurt, pain, agony, have paid him an ultimate tribute: they refuse to compete against Indiana in a two-team meet...