Frederick Daniel Tyler (born March 15, 1954) is an American competitive

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

and aquatics coach, winner of several high school and college championships and a gold medal in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay at the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and officially branded as Munich 1972 (; ), were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. It was the ...

and author.

High school and Indiana University

Tyler began his high school swimming at St. Andrews School, in Boca Raton, Florida, where in 1969 and 1970 he won the 400-yard freestyle and 200-yard

individual medley Medley swimming is a combination of four different swimming strokes ( freestyle (usually front crawl), backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly) into one race. This race is either swum by one swimmer as individual medley (IM) or by four swimmers as ...

(IM) at the state high school championships. He then attended

The Bolles School The Bolles School is an American private college preparatory day and boarding school in Jacksonville, Florida. It has a lower school (including pre-kindergarten), a middle school, and a high school, spread across four campuses around the Jackso ...

, a prep school in Jacksonville, Florida, where he swam for the Bolles high school swim team.The Bolles School, Athletics
Bolles Olympic Medalists
. Retrieved March 6, 2015. At the 1971 state championship meet, he was first in the 200- and 400-yard freestyle, and in 1972 won the 100-yard freestyle and 200-yard individual medley. Tyler remains one of only seven swimmers to win the Florida state swim championship in two different events for three separate years. He graduated from The Bolles School in 1972. Tyler was the first swimmer to earn All American honors in every individual event. He achieves this feat 3 straight years. Tyler, along with John Kinsella,

Mark Spitz Mark Andrew Spitz (born February 10, 1950) is an American former competitive swimmer and nine-time Olympic champion. He was the Lists of Olympic medalists#Medalist with most medals by Olympiad, most successful athlete at the 1972 Summer Olympi ...

and Gary Hall, Sr., was a member of coach

James Counsilman James Edward "Doc" Counsilman (December 28, 1920 – January 4, 2004)
...

's standout

Indiana Hoosiers The Indiana Hoosiers are the intercollegiate sports teams and players of Indiana University Bloomington, named after the demonym for people from the state of Indiana. The Hoosiers participate in NCAA Division I, Division I of the National Coll ...

swim team at

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

, which dominated men's college swimming in the early 1970s. During his college career, Tyler's Indiana teams were

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

champions for four consecutive years and NCAA national champions in 1972 and 1973. In 1975, Tyler was the NCAA individual national champion in the 200-yard individual medley (time of 1:50:658), and his 800-yard freestyle relay finished first in the NCAA finals in 1973, 1974 and 1975. He closed out his time as a Hoosier swimmer as one of the best swimmers in the history of the program, receiving 14 career

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

honors. Freddie was inducted into the Indiana University Athletic Hall of Fame on October 28, 2016.

Munich Olympics

In spite of the terrorist attacks against the Israeli athletes, some of the most spectacular events at the

in Munich were in swimming, where Mark Spitz won seven Olympic titles with seven world records. On August 29, 1972, Tyler finished 5th in finals of 200 meter freestyle, missing Indiana teammate Mark Spitz's world record time by 2.18 seconds. On August 31, 1972, the American 4 × 200 meter freestyle relay of John Kinsella, Fred Tyler,

Steve Genter Robert Steven Genter (born January 4, 1951) is an American former competition swimming (sport), swimmer and three-time Olympic medalist. He was a freestyle swimming, freestyle specialist who earned a gold medal as a member of the winning U.S. t ...

and Mark Spitz set a World & Olympic record at 7:35:78, eclipsing the record set earlier that day by the USA team in the semifinal heat, and winning the Olympic gold medal. The victory was all the more remarkable in that Spitz swam in the 4x200 relay only one hour after his world record victory in the 100 meter butterfly, and Genter had been released from the hospital only a few days before, following surgery for a collapsed lung.

Coaching

Tyler began coaching

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

and

water polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

at West Orange High School in

Winter Garden, Florida Winter Garden is a city in western Orange County, Florida, United States. Located west of Downtown Orlando, it is part of the Orlando metropolitan area. The population was 46,964 as of the 2020 census. History The pre-European history of the ...

, from 1980 to 1985. He coached at Mount Dora High School from 1986 through 1989. He was head aquatics coach at

Lake Mary High School Lake Mary High School is a public high school located in Seminole County, Florida, operating under Seminole County Public Schools. It was opened in 1981. Campus Lake Mary High School was the fourth high school in Seminole County, opening for th ...

Lake Mary, Florida Lake Mary is a suburban city that is located in the Greater Orlando, Greater Orlando metropolitan area in Seminole County, Florida, United States, and is located in Central Florida. The population was 16,798 at the 2020 census. It is the home of ...

, from 1990 until his retirement in 2015. He coached the Lake Mary Rams to a second-place finish in 2004 and fourth place in 2005 at Florida state swimming championships. Tyler's boys' water polo team reached the 2005 state quarter finals, and the girls' the state 2005 semis and the 2007 quarter finals.National & State School Recognitions
In 2004-05, Fred Tyler was recognized as both the Seminole Athletic Conference and Florida State 3A Coach of Year. Tyler coached gold medal winner

Brad Bridgewater Bradley Michael Bridgewater (born March 29, 1973) is an American former competition swimmer who won the gold medal in the men's 200-meter backstroke at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Bridgewater attended Lake Mary High School in Lake Mary, Florida, ...

(200-meter

backstroke Backstroke or back crawl is one of the four Swimming (sport), swimming styles used in competitive events regulated by FINA, and the only one of these styles swum on the back. This swimming style has the advantage of easy breathing, but the disa ...

at 1996 Summer Games), who attended Lake Mary High School from 1987 to 1990. Tyler taught social studies and mathematics to exceptional education students and Algebra and Geometry to Regular education students during his time at Lake Mary.

Author

Published Homesick - The Novel in March 2018

References

External links

1972 Olympics Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tyler, Fred 1954 births Living people American male freestyle swimmers American swimming coaches World record setters in swimming Indiana Hoosiers men's swimmers Olympic gold medalists for the United States in swimming Sportspeople from Winter Park, Florida Swimmers at the 1972 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics People from Lake Mary, Florida Sportspeople from Seminole County, Florida Bolles School alumni 20th-century American sportsmen