John Phillips Naber (born January 20, 1956) is an American former competitive swimmer, five-time Olympic medalist and former world record-holder in multiple events. Born in

Evanston, Illinois Evanston ( ) is a city, suburb of Chicago. Located in Cook County, Illinois, United States, it is situated on the North Shore along Lake Michigan. Evanston is north of Downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, ...

, Naber studied in England and Italy where his father worked as a management consultant. He graduated from Woodside High School in

Northern Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a r ...

California, then completed his bachelor's degree in psychology in 1977 at the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

in Los Angeles. While at USC, he led the

Trojans Trojan or Trojans may refer to: * Of or from the ancient city of Troy * Trojan language, the language of the historical Trojans Arts and entertainment Music * ''Les Troyens'' ('The Trojans'), an opera by Berlioz, premiered part 1863, part 189 ...

to four consecutive NCAA titles (

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

–

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrat ...

1976 Olympics

At age twenty, Naber won four gold medals at the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

. Each of these victories was swum in world-record time; he swept the two backstroke events and was a member of two winning relay teams. He also won a silver medal in the 200-meter freestyle, part of a U.S. sweep in that event. One of Naber's gold medals was for the first 200-meter backstroke completed in under two minutes; his world record time of 1:59.19 stood for seven years. His world record of 55.49 seconds in the 100-meter backstroke also stood for seven years. For these accomplishments in Montreal and elsewhere, Naber won the 1977

James E. Sullivan Award The AAU James E. Sullivan Award, presented by the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), is awarded annually in April to "the most outstanding amateur athlete in the United States". Representatives from the AAU created the AAU Sullivan Award with the int ...

, which is presented to the top American amateur athlete of the year. He was inducted into the

International Swimming Hall of Fame The International Swimming Hall of Fame and Museum (ISHOF) is a history museum and hall of fame, located at One Hall of Fame Drive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States, operated by private interests and serving as the central point for the stu ...

as an "Honor Swimmer" in 1982.

After swimming

Naber joined

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on Octobe ...

in 1977 as a marketing representative, then became a full-time "roving ambassador" for the swimwear maker

Speedo Speedo International Limited is a distributor of swimwear and swim-related accessories based in Nottingham, England, known for its swim briefs. The company has roots in Australia but is no longer based there. Founded in Sydney in 1914 by A ...

. He later was a

sports broadcaster In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...

, motivational speaker, and professional writer. He was a member of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics Organizing Committee. In May 2014, Naber was inducted into Woodside High School's Community Hall of Fame.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Naber, John 1956 births 20th-century American people 21st-century American people Living people American male backstroke swimmers American male freestyle swimmers World record setters in swimming James E. Sullivan Award recipients Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in swimming Olympic silver medalists for the United States in swimming Sportspeople from Evanston, Illinois Swimmers at the 1976 Summer Olympics Swimming commentators USC Trojans men's swimmers World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming

1976 Olympics

After swimming

See also

References

External links