Jack Babashoff Jr. (born July 13, 1955) is an American former 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 ...

and a 1976 Olympic silver medal winner in the 100 meter freestyle. Babashoff was born one of four children of Vera (Slevkoff), a former teacher, and Jack Babashoff Sr., a machinist. Both of his parents were second-generation

Russian-American Russian Americans are Americans of full or partial Russian ancestry. The term can apply to recent Russian immigrants to the United States, as well as to those that settled in the 19th-century Russian possessions in what is now Alaska. Russia ...

s.Babashoff, Shirley
Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives, Thematic Series: Sports Figures (January 1, 2002). His younger sisters Shirley and

Debbie Debbie (or Debby or Deb) is a feminine given name, commonly but not always short for Deborah (or Debra and related variants). Debbie is a name of Hebrew origin, derived from the Hebrew name Deborah, which means “ bee”. Notable people *Debb ...

and brother Bill were also swimmers who competed at the international level. Jack's father, Jack Sr., was a swimming instructor in Hawaii for a period while in the Army and hoped his own children might aspire to be Olympic swimmers.

Early swim career

Babashoff began swimming in 1965 around the age of nine at the pool of Cerritos College, a Junior College in Norwalk, California, as did his sister

Shirley Babashoff Shirley Frances Babashoff (born January 31, 1957) is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in multiple events. Babashoff set six world records and earned a total of nine Olympic medals in her c ...

, who would also become an accomplished Olympian. In his early years, Jack swam for a number of clubs including the Buena Park Splashers. Around 13, Jack joined a team with sister Shirley in El Monte coached by Don La Mont, then after moving to the area around 1971 swam at Golden West College in Huntington Beach for a team called Phillips 66. He later swam for Long Beach Swim Club under Hall of Fame Coach Dick Jochums through around 1971-1978, where he settled. After entering High School, Jack would swim for both his clubs and High School, at times requiring more than one practice per day. Babashoff attended and swam first for

Lynwood High School Lynwood High School is one of three high schools in Lynwood, California Lynwood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the city had a total population of 67,265, down from ...

and later when the family moved to Fountain Valley, he attended and swam for

Fountain Valley High School Fountain Valley High School (FVHS) is a public high school in Fountain Valley, California. It is a part of the Huntington Beach Union High School District. History Fountain Valley was established in 1966. It is notable for its rivalry with Ed ...

Fountain Valley, California Fountain Valley is a suburban city in Orange County, California. The population was 57,047 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. History Indigenous The Indigenous people of the Fountain Valley area are the Tongva. The closest ...

, where he graduated. Recognized as a top California swimmer, Babashoff's High School swim times by his Senior Year were exceptional with personal bests of 46.8 seconds in the 100-yard freestyle, and a 1:42 in the 200-yard freestyle.

College swimming

He later swam for the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, the Capstone, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of ...

where he was recruited and coached by

Don Gambril Donald Lee Gambril (born January 2, 1934) is an American former Hall of Fame swimming (sport), swimming coach (sport), coach who is best known for coaching the University of Alabama from 1973 to 1990. His Alabama teams had top ten NCAA finishes ...

a Swimming Hall of Fame inductee. Gambril also coached several American Olympic swimming teams, including Jack's 1976 team. Babashoff completed what was then a personal best 100-meter time at California's Mission Viejo Invitational in August 1975. As a college junior, in the summer he continued to swim with the Long Beach Swim Club coached by Dick Jochums, who believed in shorter distance training at faster speeds. About a year prior to his junior year he left competitive swimming briefly for a year."Now Its Jack Babashoff's Time to Crow", ''The San Francisco Examiner'', San Francisco, California, pg. 47, 4 August 1975

1975 Pan American Games medals

In the Pan American Games at Mexico City in 1975, Babashoff competed in one of his most successful meets and won three medals. He won a gold medal in the 4x100 meter freestyle relay, and a gold medal in the 4x100 meter medley relay. Continuing to improve his time, he took an individual silver medal, in the 100 meter freestyle, his signature event, with a time of 52.26."Pan Am Game Results, Swimming", ''The Gazette'', Montreal, Quebec, pg. 19, 25 October 1975 In the 1979 Pan American games in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Babashoff won another gold medal with the American team in the 4 x 100 Meter freestyle relay.

1976 Olympic silver medal, 100 meters

In what was his singularly most significant athletic achievement, Babashoff won a silver medal in 100-meter freestyle at the

1976 Summer Olympics The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Montreal 1976 (), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal ...

in Montreal, Quebec. Babashoff's time was 50.81 seconds, less than a second behind American team member Jim Montgomery's gold medal-winning time of 49.99. Montgomery's time became the first 100-meter swim to break the 50 second mark. With one of the most impressive displays by any woman in an Olympics, Jack's sister Shirley won five medals for the American women that Olympic year, with one gold, and previously had won every event in the Olympic trials. Jack was an alternate for the record setting 4x100 meter Medley relay team, which won a gold medal as well at Montreal, but he did not swim in the final heat, nor did he medal.

Record 4x100 free relay, East Berlin, 1977

Babashoff led off the 4 x 100 American Team freestyle relay on August 28, 1977, in a dual meet against East Germany in East Berlin. The team included the 1976 Olympic 100 meter Gold medal winner Jim Montgomery who swam last. (The American team's combined time was 3:21.11, which broke the standing world record by around 3.7 seconds.)"The Year 1977 in Statistics; Swimming, World Record Set, 400m Relay", ''Rutland Daily Herald'', pg. 16, Rutland, Vermont, 1 January 1978Standing world record for the 4x100 relay was 3:24.85 in Kellner, Jenny, "Last of Spitz's Mark's Broken, Men, 4x100 meter relay", ''Palladium-Item'', Richmond, Indiana, pg. 35, 7 January 1978

1978 World Aquatics Gold Medal

In August 1978, he won a gold medal in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay at the

1978 World Aquatics Championships The 1978 World Aquatics Championships took place in the City-state, free city of West Berlin between August 20 and August 28, 1978. Women's Water Polo competed as an exhibition sport. Medal table *Record(*) Results Diving ;Men ;Women S ...

in West Berlin. The relay time was another World Record and broke the prior World Record set by an American team, by 2.6 seconds. The 1976 Olympic 100-meter gold medalist Jim Montgomery swam on the team with Jack, and both had swum on the team that had set a prior World record in the event. The host team, West Germany, finished second, a considerable seven seconds behind the Americans, with the Swedish team a close third. After the win, the American team's legendary 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, ...

, said "We expected the victory and the new world record as well"."American Swimmers Set Records in Berlin, Relay Record", ''The Gazette'', Montreal, Quebec, pg. 44, 23 August 1978

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Babashoff, Jack 1955 births Alabama Crimson Tide men's swimmers American male freestyle swimmers American people of Russian descent Fountain Valley High School alumni Living people Medalists at the 1975 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1979 Pan American Games Olympic silver medalists for the United States in swimming Sportspeople from Fountain Valley, California Sportspeople from Whittier, California Swimmers at the 1975 Pan American Games Swimmers at the 1976 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1979 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in swimming Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States in swimming World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming World record setters in swimming 20th-century American sportsmen