Augustus Michael "Gus" Goessling (November 17, 1878 – August 22, 1963), usually known as "Gus", was an American

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 ...

player, and

breaststroke Breaststroke is a human swimming, swimming style in which the swimmer is on their chest and the torso does not rotate. It is the most popular recreational style due to the swimmer's head being out of the water a large portion of the time, and ...

and

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 ...

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 ...

who represented the United States at the 1904 St. Louis and 1908 London Summer Olympics. Augustus Michael Goessling was born into a family of three brothers and a sister on November 17, 1878 to Mr. and Mrs. August Goessling. During his athletic career, he held the National breaststroke and backstroke championships. He was a highly accomplished cyclist, and rowed with some of the outstanding crew teams of the Century Boat Club. In late June, 1893, Goessling received the honorary certificate for completing the commercial course at the 64th Commencement exercises of St. Louis University held at the Olympic Theatre."St. Louis University", ''St. Louis Globe-Democrat'', St. Louis, Missouri, June 29, 1983, pg. 9 Goessling trained and competed with the local Missouri Athletic Club (MAC). Alex Meffert was the club's swimming director, and coached and trained the swimmers and water polo players who attended the 1904 Olympics. Meffert advocated the somewhat new, but now traditional crawl stroke, with the body aligned parallel to the bottom of the pool, and a single breath taken after a left and right arm stroke cycle, but generally advocated a single two-beat kick per stroke cycle. While he worked with the members of the New York Athletic Club before the Olympics in July and part of August, 1904, the Missouri Club was trained by Assistant Coach and Instructor Pete Rodgers, and team Captain Billy Orthwein, a Yale graduate and future lawyer. Meffert had been the regular coach, and returned to train the Missouri club's swimmers and water polo players in late August, 1904.

1904, 1908 Olympics

On September 6, 1904, Goessling won a bronze medal as a member of the third-place

Missouri Athletic Club The Missouri Athletic Club (often referred to as the MAC), founded in 1903, is a private city and athletic club with two locations. The Downtown Clubhouse is in Downtown St. Louis, Missouri, USA and the West Clubhouse is located in the St. Lou ...

team in the Olympic water-polo tournament. Besides Goessling, the Missouri Athletic Club's (MAC) 1904 water polo team included Amedee Reyburn, Gwynne Evans, John Meyers, Bill Orthwein, Frank Schreiner, and Manfred Toeppen. Four years later Goessling was eliminated in the first round of the mid-July 100-meter backstroke, at the 1908 London Olympics, as well as in the first round of the 200-meter breaststroke.

American AAU records

Prior to the 1908 Olympics, at the National Amateur Athletic Union Championship at the Chicago Athletic Association in Chicago, Illinois, on March 18, 1908, Goessling set a record of 2:46.4 for the Men's Senior 200-yard breaststroke, which improved on both the American and World Record. He also set a new American record in the 150-yard backstroke with a time of 2:00.2. Competing with the Missouri Athletic Club (MAC) at their Cherry Diamond Tank pool on February 7, 1914, in a local meet where M.A.C. placed second to the Chicago Athletic Association, Goessling won the 200-yard breaststroke in a noteworthy time of 2:52.2. He had won the event three weeks earlier in a meet against the Illinois Athletic Club with a time of 2:52.4.

Later life

He worked as a wholesale farmer and then as an Executive of the National Paper Company. He was a co-founder of St. Louis's Century Boat Club. He was married to Nellie Saurs Goessling who predeceased him. Goessling died at the age of 84 on August 22, 1963 at Deaconess Hospital, in St. Louis and was buried at St. Louis's Calvary Cemetery and Mausoleum. He was survived by his brother Valentine and his sister Isabelle. His wife Nellie Sauer Goessling had died the prior year, in November, 1962."Obituaries, Goessling, Nellie M.," ''St Louis Post-Dispatch'', St. Louis, Missouri, November 29, 1962, pg. 43 A Funeral and Mass for Goessling were held on the morning of August 24, 1963, at the Church of the Annunciation in St. Louis. Shortly after his death, his estate was valued at $267,186."A. M. Goesling Estate Valued at $267,186", ''St. Louis Globe-Democrat'', St. Louis, Missouri, October 2, 1963, pg. 11"Gus Goesling, Boating Club Founder Dies", ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'', August 23, 1963, pg. 32

References

External links

Augustus Goessling
– Olympic athlete profile at Sports-Reference.com * 1878 births 1963 deaths Sportspeople from St. Louis American male water polo players American male backstroke swimmers American male breaststroke swimmers Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in water polo Olympic swimmers for the United States Swimmers at the 1908 Summer Olympics Water polo players at the 1904 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1904 Summer Olympics 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-waterpolo-Olympic-medalist-stub ru:Водное поло на летних Олимпийских играх 1904#Составы команд