Lance Melvin Larson (July 3, 1940 – January 19, 2024) was an American competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and world record-holder in four events.

Early years

Lance Melvin Larson was born in

Monterey Park, California Monterey Park is a city in the western San Gabriel Valley region of Los Angeles County, California, United States, approximately east of the Downtown Los Angeles civic center. It is bordered by Alhambra, California, Alhambra, East Los Angeles, ...

, and attended

El Monte High School El Monte High School in El Monte, California, is a public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a differe ...

. Larson's parents, Walter and Virginia Larson, were owners and operators of a dairy farm and later, a service station. Larsone set CIFSS (California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section) records in 1957 and 1958 in the 100-yards butterfly of 55.5 and 54.6 seconds, and another CIFSS record in 1958 in the 100-yard freestyle of 50.9 seconds. He was the first high school swimmer to break the 50-second barrier in the 100-yard freestyle. Larson was the first man in the world to swim the 100-meter butterfly in under sixty seconds. He enrolled in the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

, where he swam for the

USC Trojans The USC Trojans (also Southern California Trojans) are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles. While the men's teams are nicknamed the ...

swimming and diving team in

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

(NCAA) competition. He was an "all-around" swimmer in the four-stroke individual medley, the butterfly, and the sprint freestyle, and he won

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It h ...

(AAU) national championships in all three.

Olympics

Larson competed at the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad () and commonly known as Rome 1960 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 25 August to 11 September 1960 in Rome, Italy. Rome had previously been awar ...

in Rome, Italy, where he received a gold medal for swimming the butterfly leg of the men's 4×100-meter medley relay for the winning U.S. team."1960 Summer Olympics – Rome, Italy– Swimming"
– ''databaseOlympics.com'' (Retrieved on April 30, 2008) The U.S. relay team of

Frank McKinney Frank Edward McKinney Jr. (November 3, 1938 – September 11, 1992) was an American competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and world record-holder. He later became a prominent executive in the American banking industry, but died in a mid-air c ...

(backstroke),

Paul Hait Paul William Hait (born May 25, 1940) is an American former competition swimmer and breaststroke specialist who swam for Stanford University and is a 1960 Rome Olympic champion and former world record-holder. After graduating Stanford as a Mec ...

(breaststroke), Larson (butterfly), and

Jeff Farrell Felix Jeffrey Farrell (born February 18, 1937) is a Hall of Fame American former competition swimmer, and a 1960 two-time Olympic gold medalist, where he became a world record-holder in two relay events. After the Olympics, he worked as a swi ...

(freestyle) set a new world record of 4:05.4 in the event final. Individually, Larson also won a silver medal in the men's 100-meter freestyle at the 1960 Olympics, and he was a participant in one of the most controversial Olympic swimming finishes ever.

John Devitt John Thomas Devitt, Order of Australia, AM (4 February 1937 – 17 August 2023) was an Australian sprint Freestyle swimming, freestyle swimmer of the 1950s and 1960s, who won a gold medal in the 100-metre freestyle at the 1960 Summer Olympics ...

of Australia was listed as the winner of the men's 100-meter freestyle race. Results were decided by finish judges who relied on their eyes and did not use replays. Three judges were assigned to each finishing position. There were three official timers in 1960 for each lane and swimmer, all timing by hand. All three timers for Devitt, in lane three, timed him in 55.2 seconds. The three timers for lane four timed Lance Larson in 55.0, 55.1, and 55.1 seconds. Former Olympic swimmer and

FINA World Aquatics, formerly known as FINA (; ), is the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administering international competitions in List of water sports, water sports. It is one of several interna ...

co-founder

Max Ritter Richard Max Ritter (November 7, 1886 – May 24, 1974) was a German freestyle and backstroke swimmer who competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics and in the 1912 Summer Olympics. Biography He was born in Magdeburg and died in Montgomery, Pennsyl ...

inspected the judge's scorecards. Two of the three first-place judges found that Devitt had finished first and the third found for Larson. Of the three-second-place judges, two found that Devitt finished second and one found that Larson was second. Ritter pointed out to chief judge Hans Runströmer of West Germany that the scorecards indicated a tie. Runströmer cast the deciding vote and declared Devitt the winner. Runstromer later claimed that he had a clear view of the finish line, but photos of him showed that he was 25 yards away and could only see the finish line at an angle. As a result, officials placed Devitt first and Larson second, both with the identical time of 55.2 seconds. The United States team appealed, bolstered by videotaped footage of the finish that appeared to show Larson the winner. The appeal jury, headed by Jan de Vries, also the President of FINA in 1960, rejected the appeal, keeping Devitt the winner. This controversy would pave the way for electronic touchpads to be included in swimming events to determine finish and accurate timing. Larson broke the 100-meter butterfly world record twice in 1960: first, setting the new record of 59.0 seconds on June 29, 1960; and again, a new record of 58.7 seconds on July 24, 1960.

Life after swimming

After the Olympics, Larson continued his studies of business and commerce at the University of Southern California. He then was accepted into the University of the Pacific's dental program, graduating in 1964. Following his graduation, Larson served in the

Navy Dental Corps The Dental Corps of the United States Navy consists of naval officers with a doctorate in either dental surgery (DDS) or dental medicine (DMD) and who practice dentistry for Sailors and Marines to ensure optimal oral health. The U.S. Navy Dent ...

from 1965 to 1968. After completing his service time, he started his own career in general dentistry. Larson was formerly married to Betty Lee Puttler (1940–2007) of

Newport Beach, California Newport Beach is a coastal city of about 85,000 in southern Orange County, California, United States. Located about southeast of downtown Los Angeles, Newport Beach is known for its sandy beaches. The city's harbor once supported maritime indu ...

; they raised four sons, Lance Jr., Greg, Gary, and Randy, all of who attended and were members of the University of Southern California Swim & Dive program. Following his divorce to Betty Lee, he married Sherri (Powell) Larson in the late 1990s, and adopted her two daughters. Larson retired to Southern California's desert community in 2014 after owning and operating a dentistry practice in Orange, California since 1979. He was a member of the BPO
Garden Grove Elks
#1952. Larson 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 1980. Larson died in Orange, California on January 19, 2024 following complications from pneumonia, at the age of 83. At the time of his death,whe was survived by his wife Sherri, three sons: Greg, Gary and Randy; two daughters: Jairica Fosburg and Danica Juliano; three stepdaughters: Erica Leon, Jessica Sherwood, and Monica Jara; and 10 grandchildren.

References

Bibliography

* Maraniss, David, ''Rome 1960: The Olympics That Changed the World'', Simon & Schuster, New York City (2008). .

External links