Gregory Fenton Buckingham (July 29, 1945 – November 11, 1990) was an American competition

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 ...

, Olympic silver medalist, and former world record-holder in two events. Buckingham was born in

Riverside, California Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. As of the 2020 census, the city has a population of 314,998. It is the most populous city in th ...

, to Morris H. and Rutheda Buckingham in July, 1945. His family moved to

Palo Alto Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. Th ...

the following year, and then to Atherton, California in 1951. In his early years, he swam with Addison Janes Swimming School in Menlo Park, not far from his high school, and attended Encinal Grammar School. In the seventh and eighth grade, Greg was mentored in swimming by former Michigan All-American and 13-year Stanford Coach Tom Haynie at the Stanford Hills Club. Greg was one of two older brothers of

Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac are a British-American Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1967 by the singer and guitarist Peter Green (musician), Peter Green. Green named the band by combining the surnames of the drummer, Mick Fleetwood, and the bassis ...

guitarist

Lindsey Buckingham Lindsey Adams Buckingham (born October 3, 1949) is an American musician, record producer, and the lead guitarist and co-lead vocalist of the Rock music, rock band Fleetwood Mac from 1975 to 1987 and 1997 to 2018. In addition to his tenure with ...

. Their father Morris H. Buckingham, who was a football star at San Jose State College,Anderson, Dennis, "Bears Aquatics Star Tops District", ''Redwood City Tribune'', Redwood, California, 8 June 1962, pg. 10 by 1963 served as President of Alexander-Ballert Company of San Francisco, a producer of roasted coffee beans, and ran a coffee plant near Palo Alto. California's popular Alta Organic Coffee remains one of their brands.

High school swimming

Buckingham attended

Menlo-Atherton High School Menlo-Atherton High School (known as M-A to locals) is a four-year public high school secondary school located in Atherton, California. Menlo-Atherton is part of the Sequoia Union High School District.

Atherton, California Atherton ( ) is an incorporated town in San Mateo County, California, United States. Its population was 6,823 as of July 2023 estimates. The town's zoning regulations permit only one single-family home per acre in new subdivisions, though smal ...

, where he swam for coach Bob Gaughran, a swim team captain and outstanding swimmer at

College of the Pacific College of the Pacific (less formally Pacific College) is the liberal arts college of the University of the Pacific, a private Methodist-affiliated university with its main campus in Stockton, California. The college offers degrees in the natural ...

. Greg would later swim for Bob Gaughran's brother James Gaughran at Stanford. James Gaughran was a former Stanford All American swim athlete who coached swimming at Stanford University from 1960 to 1980. Greg became Menlo-Atherton High School's swim team captain and Most Valuable Performer. Greg's younger brother Lindsey, the future musician for Fleetwood Mac, was an accomplished swimmer in grammar school, and his older brother Jeff had excelled on both the swimming and basketball teams at Menlo-Atherton. Greg also played water polo for Menlo-Atherton, where he helped lead the team to the Northern California Prep Championship in the Fall of 1961.

High school swimming achievements

In March 1961, as a

sophomore In the United States, a sophomore ( or ) is a person in the second year at an educational institution; usually at a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of Post-secondary school, post-secondary educatio ...

at Menlo-Atherton, Buckingham was named the school's first All-American swimmer. In April 1962, he helped set a new National High School swimming record for the 200-yard freestyle relay of 1:30, and in May of that year set league records in the 100 back and 200 individual medley. In June of '62, he was named Sequoia District Athlete of the year by the ''Redwood City Tribune''. By the end of his high school junior year, including relays, Buckingham held five interscholastic national swimming records and had helped lead his high school varsity swim team to two South Peninsula Athletic League Championships.

Club and college swimming

Graduating high school in 1963, Buckingham briefly attended

San Jose State San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the List of oldest schools in California, oldest public university on the West Coast of ...

for about a year. Heralding a turning point in his swimming career, in mid-December 1964 he began swimming with the Santa Clara Swim Club in Santa Clara, California, under Hall of Fame swim coach

George Haines George Frederick Haines (March 9, 1924 – May 1, 2006) was a competitive swimmer and coach who for twenty-three years coached the highly successful Santa Clara Swim Club which he founded in 1951. He later coached UCLA, Stanford University, ...

. By April 1965, while training with Santa Clara, at the age of 19, Buckingham competed in the 400-yard individual medley at the AAU National championships at Yale, and set an American record. Under the guidance of San Mateo Athletic Hall of Fame Coach Rich Donner, he then swam for the

College of San Mateo College of San Mateo (CSM) is a public community college in San Mateo, California. It is part of the San Mateo County Community College District. College of San Mateo is located at the northern corridor of Silicon Valley and situated on a 153-a ...

, where he continued to set several national records. Greg was later inducted into the San Mateo Athletic Hall of Fame in 2012."Buckingham Leaves Storied Swim Past", ''San Mateo Bee'', San Mateo, California, 14 November 1990, pg. 5 Transferring to Stanford University where he swam under International Swimming Hall of Fame Coach Jim Gaughran, in 1966–67 Buckingham set world and American records in both the 200 and 400-meter individual medley. Gaughran was a friend and admirer of the coaching technique of George Haines, Buckingham's coach at Santa Clara, who had formerly coached several of Gaughran's Stanford swimmers. In the 1966–67 year, Buckingham helped lead Stanford to a first-place NCAA championship title in 1967, and a 10–0–1 record. Gaining endurance from long hours of training, he twice broke the world record in the 400-meter Individual Medley at the Santa Clara Invitational in 1967.

'68 Olympic medal

At the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Mexico 1968 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 October 1968, in Mexico City, Mexico. These were the first Ol ...

in Mexico City, he won a silver medal in the 200-meter individual medley, finishing second with a time of 2:13.0.Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports, Athletes
Greg Buckingham
. Retrieved December 29, 2014. His second-place performance completed an American sweep of the event with

Charlie Hickcox Charles Buchanan Hickcox (February 6, 1947 – June 14, 2010) was an American competition swimmer, three-time Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in six events. Career Hickcox was born in Phoenix, Arizona. He attended Indiana Uni ...

winning the gold medal (2:12.0) and John Ferris taking the bronze (2:13.3). He also competed in the 400-meter individual medley and was judged to have finished fourth in the event final, even though his clock time was the same as the bronze medalist (4:51.4).Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports, Swimming at the 1968 Ciudad de México Summer Games
Men's 400 metres Individual Medley Final
. Retrieved December 29, 2014.

Death

Buckingham died of a heart attack in 1990 at the age of 45 in San Carlos, California. Because of his versatility with all four strokes, his coach at Santa Clara Swim Club, George Haines, considered him one of the greatest all-round swimmers of his era. Buckingham was survived by his wife Daryl, and a son and daughter.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Buckingham, Greg 1945 births 1990 deaths American male medley swimmers World record setters in swimming Olympic silver medalists for the United States in swimming Sportspeople from Riverside, California Sportspeople from Palo Alto, California Stanford Cardinal men's swimmers Stanford University alumni Swimmers at the 1968 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics Lindsey Buckingham 20th-century American sportsmen San Jose State University alumni