Word: russ
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Both were towheaded, wide-shouldered, active tots, bronzed by the Florida sun. Their ribs showed. Russ, who fed them protein baby food long after they were babies, said: "I keep them lean because they swim better." Eventually, both learned amazing stunts. Bubba would jump off a 33-ft. tower with his hands and feet tied and swim two lengths of the pool under water. Kathy swam seven miles every morning when training, and dived 20 feet blindfolded...
Down the Mississippi. Russ billed them as the "Aquatots," and was as proud as the owner of a top dog act. Bubba, he boasted, could hold his breath four minutes. The lad trotted 15 minutes on a treadmill, set to duplicate an 8½% grade, to prove that his oxygen intake per pound of weight was more than that of any recorded human other than Runner Gil Dodds. Kathy caused Russ some embarrassment-sometimes she cried in public. In 1949, two Miami women complained to the police that he treated the little girl cruelly; while his car was stopped...
...summer of 1951, Russ and his wife took both tots to England, amid a gratifying fanfare of publicity, to swim the English Channel. Bubba was five and Kathy four. The British were horrified, and after debate in Commons, refused to countenance Russ's fondest dream. Russ took the kids to France, but the French turned him down, too. Eventually Russ gave up and brought them home. They starred in Florida water carnivals and branched out with bit parts in an Esther Williams motion picture, Skirts Ahoy...
Back to the Pool. One day last week, the roof fell in on Russ again. Kathy died. Russ had apparently thought she was well able to swim a few hours earlier...
...failed, hit "perfectly flat on her belly" and complained that her back hurt. Then he took her to the Treasure Isle Pool, where the children did conditioning work five days a week. Lifeguard Dick Kohler reported that she had "bruises all over her" and "wasn't feeling well." Russ fed her a can of baby soup. She vomited. Then Russ told her to go into the water. She did. the lifeguard recalled, although she cried while she was swimming and didn't stay in long...