{"id":460675,"date":"2021-01-28T10:55:38","date_gmt":"2021-01-28T17:55:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=460675"},"modified":"2021-02-04T16:37:56","modified_gmt":"2021-02-04T23:37:56","slug":"ian-mcallister-grandson-of-1920-olympic-medalist-hilda-james-joins-ishofs-one-in-a-thousand-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ian-mcallister-grandson-of-1920-olympic-medalist-hilda-james-joins-ishofs-one-in-a-thousand-campaign\/","title":{"rendered":"Ian McAllister, Grandson of 1920 Olympic Medalist Hilda James, Joins ISHOF’s One in a Thousand Campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ian McAllister<\/strong>, the grandson of 1920 Olympic medalist and Hall of Fame pioneer swimmer\u00a0Hilda James<\/strong>, has joined ISHOF\u2019s \u201cOne in a Thousand campaign,\u201d designed to help the hall prosper during the difficult financial times of the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

“The Hall of Fame gave me a lot of help over several generations of Hall of Famers,” Ian McAllister said. “I was quite touched by the way Bruce approached it. When I brought the book over and before I applied to put her in the Hall of Fame, he showed us around the museum and he wouldn’t put the book down. I gave it to him and he carried it with him all the way around.<\/p>\n

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Ian McAllister accepting Hilda James’ induction. Photo Courtesy: International Swimming Hall of Fame<\/p><\/div>\n

“The thing that made him the most passionate about the Hall of Fame was the pioneers of swimming. Until we had walked in, he had not know anything about Hilda. He said, ‘here is someone that should be here but has almost completely disappeared in history.’ It really struck me that my whole project with her book is a record to keep the story of swimming, if you like, in one place and I thought it was worth donating because of all the encouragement I had from them. I’m not a swimmer but I think it is important.”<\/p>\n

James had put McAllister in charge of writing her biography when he was 12-years-old in the mid-1970s when she started living near his family after her husband passed away. He spent a lot of time with his grandmother on the countryside about 10 miles north of Liverpool where he learned of her story, how she only took up swimming because her family wouldn’t let her go to religious education lessons and was not encouraged to swim and shouldn’t aspire to be anything else than what her family already was.<\/p>\n

“My wife and I went to Miami for a vacation a few years ago,” Ian McAllister said. “I phoned Bruce Wigo<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>at the time and asked him if I could give him a copy of my book (on Hilda’s life) and we got a tour after hours in Fort Lauderdale. He got really excited about it and said I needed to start the process to get her in the Hall of Fame. It took a few years but it is a really exciting thing.”<\/p>\n

Join the One in a Thousand Club by helping ISHOF on a monthly or one-time basis.<\/p>\n

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