A Swimming Era Ends

When a guy has been at the same stand for 30 years, you're inclined to think he might get a bit stale, have a tendency to say "What the hell," and let things slide a bit.

Karl Michael '29 has been coaching swimming at Dartmouth since 1939. He retires next month. Maybe it's a good thing. If they decided to wait for him to say "What the hell" and let things slide a little, they'd have to bid him farewell with one breath and announce the Fourth Century Fund with the next.

Since he took over from retiring Sid Hazelton '09 'way back when, Mike has coached Dartmouth's swimmers to 218 dual meet victories. He has lost only 91 times and in 28 seasons (he missed three during World War II) his teams have had a .500 record or better 27 times.

It's a record that speaks for itself and when you consider that 40 of those victories came during the past four seasons - well, it simply proves that Mike is one old dog who's learned a lot of new tricks.

Mike's reputation back in the 1920's was as a diver, not as a swimmer. Terry Robinson, Dartmouth's captain in 1968-69 and one of the Green's greatest freestylers, will tell you, "Mike's forgotten more about coaching strokes than most coaches ever knew." Robinson was a record-setter on three Dartmouth teams that produced identical 10-2 records from 1966 to 1969. His records already are falling to guys like sophomore Chris Carstensen and Steve Quigley, a freshman.

"The greatest thing about Mike is his flexibility," said Robinson. "He's been coaching a long time but he was quick to recognize the changes that have been introduced in swimming training during the last five years. Sure, he has his old ways, but he listens. He's adapted many of the new training methods and the result is that his last team (10-1 and winner of five firsts in the Eastern Meet) was probably his best."

Mike grew up in New Haven and learned his swimming from Yale's great master, the late Bob Kiphuth. If there's one frustration that Mike never overcame, it was that his teams never managed to beat Yale, a team he helped Kiphuth coach before returning to Dartmouth.

"The record is meaningless," said DeLaney Kiphuth, Bob's son and the director of athletics at Yale. "What matters is that Mike has given so much to the Dartmouth-Yale tradition and to swimming everywhere."

Through the years, Mike developed 37 All-America swimmers. That total will increase with this winter's selections. Perhaps the greatest was the late John Glover who died in Yale's Payne Whitney exhibition pool while training for the 1956 Olympics. In a day when it was a novelty to break 50 seconds in the 100 freestyle, Glover did it ten times in one year (1955).

You don't think of Dartmouth swimming without thinking of Karl Michael. Add in his undergraduate days and his links with swimming are fast closing in on a half-century. During those many years he's coached in the Olympic Games (1956), been president of the College Swimming Coaches Association of America, chaired the NCAA swimming rules committee, and served on the U.S. Olympic men's swimming committee. He was honored by his peers in 1969 for 40 years of service to the sport.

During his years, the face of Dartmouth swimming has changed from the cramped old Spaulding Pool to the spacious nine-lane Alumni Gym pool that was the site for the 1968 NCAA championship meet.

Mike smiles easily as he reflects on the years and the swimmers he's coached. "Each year they're better," he said. "I'm going to miss the swimming, but I'll cherish each memory. I've had a wonderful life at Dartmouth."

Swimming coach Karl Michael '29, whois retiring, shown giving instructionsto Jim Gottschalk '72, one of the starreasons for Mike's final 10-1 season.