By Sarah Lloyd, Swimming World College Intern
SAN FRANCISCO, California. (February 9, 2016.)–“The Pac-12 Sports Report” announced the list of the All-Century Team for Men’s Swimming and Diving, which is comprised of 32 members, including 28 Olympians and a combined 145 NCAA Individual Titles. Matt Biondi, Peter Daland, and Joona Puhakka are among the honorees.
The USC Trojans led the selections with 10 and were followed by Stanford (7), California (5), UCLA (4), Arizona (3.5), Arizona State (2), and Washington (.5). 26 swimmers, six divers, one Coach of the Century, one Swimmer of the Century, and one Diver of the Century were selected by a panel of 20 coaches, swimmers, and administrators.
Pac-12 All-Century Roster
| NAME | SCHOOL | DATES | EVENTS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Matt Biondi | California | 1984-1987 | Freestyle sprints, butterfly |
| Nathan Adrian | California | 2006-2007, 2009-2011 | Freestyle sprints |
| Tom Jager | UCLA | 1983-1986 | Freestyle sprints |
| Joe Bottom | USC | 1974-1977 | Freestyle sprints |
| Bruce Furniss | USC | 1976-1979 | Freestyle sprints |
| Brian Goodell | UCLA | 1978-1981 | Distance freestyle |
| Mike Burton | UCLA | 1967-1970 | Distance freestyle |
| Ryk Neethling | Arizona | 1996-2000 | Distance freestyle |
| Rick DeMont | Washington/Arizona | 1973-1975, 1977-1979 | Distance freestyle |
| Murray Rose | USC | 1959-1962 | Distance freestyle |
| John Naber | USC | 1974-1977 | Backstroke |
| Jeff Rouse | Stanford | 1988-1992 | Backstroke |
| Lenny Krayzelburg | USC | 1997-1998 | Backstroke |
| Peter Rocca | California | 1976-1979 | Backstroke |
| Kevin Cordes | Arizona | 2012-2015 | Breaststroke |
| John Hencken | Stanford | 1972-1976 | Breaststroke |
| John Moffet | Stanford | 1982-1986 | Breaststroke |
| Bill Barret | UCLA | 1980-1982 | Breaststroke |
| Pablo Morales | Stanford | 1983-1987 | Butterfly, Individual Medley |
| Tom Shields | California | 2010-2013 | Butterfly |
| Par Arvidsson | California | 1978-1981 | Butterfly |
| Mike Bruner | Stanford | 1974-1979 | Butterfly |
| David Wharton | USC | 1988-1991 | Individual Medley |
| Steve Furniss | USC | 1971-1975 | Individual Medley |
| Erik Vendt | USC | 2000-2003 | Individual Medley |
| Tom Wilkens | Stanford | 1994-1998 | Individual Medley |
| Kristian Ipsen | Stanford | 2011-2015 | 1M, 3M, Platform |
| Hongping Li | USC | 1986-1989 | 1M |
| Joona Puhakka | Arizona State | 2002-2006 | 3M |
| Micky Benedetti | Arizona State | 2006-2008 | 3M |
| Brian Earley | USC | 1991-1994 | Platform |
| Ben Grado | Arizona | 2008-2012 | Platform |
Coach of the Century
The Pac-12 Coach of the Century Award has been given to Peter Daland, who coached the USC men’s team from 1958-1992 and led the Trojans to nine NCAA championships. The team was also second in the National meet 11 times, won the Pac-12 Conference Championship meet 17 times and had an overall record of 318-31-1 in dual meets. He coached swimmers who went on to gather 93 NCAA individual titles and he won the Coach of the Year Award six times. He coached the U.S men to nine gold medals in the 1972 Olympics and the U.S women to six in the 1964 Games.
Swimmer of the Century
The Swimmer of the Century Award has been awarded to Matt Biondi, who swam with the California Golden Bears from 1984-1987. During his time with California, he collected 12 NCAA individual titles, as well as 14 conference titles, as well as setting 12 world records, including being the first man to go under 49 in the 100 free. He was also the first four-time All-American. The member of the Olympic Hall of Fame also boats 11 Olympic medals.
Diver of the Century
The Diver of the Century Award has been given to Joona Puhakka, the Arizona State Sun Devil from 2003-2006. He was four-time Diver of the Year, four-time 1M champion, four-time 3M champion, the 2003 1M NCAA champion, and the 2004 3M NCAA champion. A 3-time member of the Finnish Olympic team, Puhakka also collected a bronze medal on 1M during the 2003 World Championships in Barcelona.
Full press release here.
Certainly one cannot quibble w/the selection of Peter Daland as Coachif of the Century (and if the NCAA ever selects an all-century team he’d get my vote there too.)
However, the dominant team/coach for the last two decades of the 20th century was Stanford’s Skip Kenney, hands down…w/ Stix a close second!
Naw, just kidding on that last until you part but Stix DID win UCLA’s only NCAA Championship and did it without The Kinh ( Brian Goodell) as he completed his eligibility in 1880. To this day Goodell remains the only swimmer of either sex to win NCAA titles in the 509-1650 frees AND 400 IM @. the same championship and he did it thrice!
Probably would have gone four- for- four but illness and injury thwarted his bid his senior season — as did the threat of the Olympic boycott, which came to fruition that summer.
USC’s John Naber has a distinctive double triple of his own, winning the 100-200 backstrokes and the 500 free his freshman, sophomore seasons. He eventually went four- for- four @. NCAAs in the backstrokes but was nipped his last two years in the 500 by Cal State Long Beach’s Tim Shaw, Montreal silver-medalist in the 400 free ( Goodell won in wr- tine with/ Naber taking the bronze — along w/golds and wrs in the backstrokes and the 400 nedley- 800 free relays.)
Ah…them wuz the days!
thompsonfrank866@gmail.com
In 1995, Tom Dolan from Univ. of Michigan won the 500, 1650 frees,, and the 400 IM all in American Record time so Brian Goodell is not the only swimmer to accomplish this. I am surprised that Roy Saari was not named because on a winning % basis, he is the most successful swimmer In PAC and NCAA history because he was never defeated in a Championship meet he swam including PAC and being undefeated in the NCAA Championships and only one of 2 swimmers to ever accomplish this feat. He is ahead of Pablo and Naber regarding this but if International competition is a big part of this I can see why he might have been left off the list event though he swam to a silver medal in the 1964 Olympics in the 400 IM. He did not medal in the 1500 Free even though he was the World Record holder and his time would have won and he went 30 seconds slower and took 7th and in the 400 Free he was 4th.
The article says Matt Biondi was the conferences first four-time All-American. While he was a great swimmer, I believe John Nabor accomplished the same feat several years earlier winning backstroke NCAA championships in 74, 75, 76 and 77 (both 100 and 200 back in each year).
How could 5 time NCAA champion, world record holder, and Olympic medalist, Brian Job, not be included?