When József Vértesy was only 3-years-old when his family moved to Budapest, where his father was a barber. József started swimming as rehab to overcome renal pelvic inflammation. He excelled in swimming as a member of the 4×200 relay team and the open-water swimming team that won Hungarian titles in 1921 and 1923, respectively. In 1921 Vértesy won his first of seven Hungarian titles in water polo, winning again in 1922, 1925-27, 1929, and 1940. In 1923 he had his first of 70 caps over a period of 11 years. His Olympic career started in 1924 at Paris with a fifth place (as a substitute) and Vértesy won a silver medal behind Germany at Amsterdam in 1928 under his birth name Vrábel. Four years later he finally won Olympics gold. He was also a four-time European champion (1926, 1927, 1931, 1934). After his active career he coached the Hungarian (1943-1944, 1949-50) and Romanian (1954-56) national teams.
Vértesy’s first occupation was as a librarian. Between coaching jobs he was a physical education teacher at the college in Praha from 1951-53.
Hungary