Naber, John P.
Swimming
b. Jan. 20, 1956, Evanston, IL
When he was nine years old, Naber's family visited Olympia while on a trip to Greece, and he told his parents that he would be an Olympic champion some day. Although he didn't begin swimming competitively until he was thirteen, Naber made good on his prophecy in 1976, winning gold medals in the 100- and 200-meter backstroke events, the 4 by 200-meter freestyle relay, and the 4 by 100-meter medley relay. He also won a silver medal in the 200-meter freestyle.
The 6-foot-6, 195-pound Naber swam world record times in both backstrokes, 55.49 seconds in the 100-meter and 1:59.19 in the 200-meter, making him the first swimmer to break the 2-minute barrier in that event. His world records stood until 1983, an unusually long period in modern swimming.
Swimming for the University of Southern California, Naber won the 500-yard freestyle in 1974 and 1975 and both backstroke events from 1974 through 1977. He also swam on five winning relay teams. His ten individual titles was the NCAA record until 1987, and his total of fifteen championships is still the record.
Naber won a total of eighteen national individual championships and was on seven relay champions. He won three gold medals at the 1975 Pan-American Games. He was named winner of the Sullivan Award as the outstanding amateur athlete of 1977.