Jimmy McLane

In 1944, Jimmy McLane became the youngest-ever men’s AAU swimming champion by winning the long-distance event at the age of 13. In a long career, which ended with his retirement in 1955, McLane won, in addition to his four Olympic medals, three golds at the 1955 Pan American Games - 400 metre freestyle, 1500 metre freestyle, and 4×200 metre freestyle (with Wayne Moore, Bill Yorzyk, and the non-Olympian Martin P. Smith), 21 AAU titles and, while attending Yale, he won two NCAA championships in 1953.

McLane joined the Army after graduating from Yale in 1953, and served for two years, working with Army intelligence during the Korean Conflict. His final competitive meet was the 1955 Pan Ams. He then worked for Life Magazine and then General Mills in mergers and acquisitions. McLane stayed active throughout his life, swimming recreationaly, until he was forced to stop from declining health, due to multiple sclerosis. He was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1970.