Jack Cody
Cody circa 1922
Biographical details
Born(1885-04-01)April 1, 1885
DiedApril 11, 1963(1963-04-11) (aged 78)
Santa Monica, California, US
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1913-1949Multnomah Athletic Club
1956U.S. Women's Team Coach
1956 Summer Olympics
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
3 National AAU Women's Titles
'43, '44, '49
42 Individual Championships '39-'49
1956 Olympics Coach, Women
Awards
Int. Swim. Hall of Fame '70
ASCA Hall of Fame '02.

Jack Cody (April 1, 1885 – April 11, 1963)[1] was an American swimming coach in Oregon. He coached at the Multnomah Athletic Club in Portland, Oregon for more than 30 years, winning 3 national championships and producing 15 Olympic swimmers.

Early career

A diver who developed his diving technique at the Multnomah Athletic Club in Portland, Oregon, by 1913 Cody began to coach divers and swimmers at the Club and brought national prominence to diver Constance Meyer. He was the first coach of Norman Ross, a swimming world record setter and multiple gold medal winner at the 1920 Summer Olympics, who later became a sportscaster.[2][3] In those same Olympics, his diving students Thelma Payne, Hap Kuehn, and Louis Balbach all medaled in diving.[4][5] Cody was one of the earlier proponents of the use of weight training for his divers.[2]

"Cody's Kids"

Zimmerman '48

His greatest fame came from 1939 to 1949 with the emergence of a group of his students who came to be known as "Cody's Kids": Nancy Merki, Brenda Helser, Suzanne Zimmerman, Joyce Macrae, Geneva Klaus, and Mary Anne Hansen, who dominated U.S. girls amateur swimming, winning three national Amateur Athletic Union swimming titles (in 1943, 1944, and 1949),[6][7][8] 42 individual championships, and 16 relay championships, setting numerous records along the way.[4][9]

Though greater recognition came in later years, many swimming analysts have noted the core of Cody's greatest national team consisting of Helser, Zimmerman, and Merki, were already swimming for Cody by 1938 but were quite young. Brenda Helser, only turning 14 in 1938, would soon emerge as an American freestyle champion, and Suzanne Zimmerman, barely 13, would be recognized as a national backstroke champion.

N. Merki

Nancy Merki, though only turning 12 in 1938, would become an exceptional middle distance freestyle swimmer, set 19 individual records in her swimming career, and go 17 seconds under the prior 1,500-meter freestyle record at the 1941 AAU championships. Later, at 22 she would qualify for the 1948 Olympics in the 400 meter freestyle. Showing unusual versatilty, she won swimming competitions at every distance and in every stroke.[10][11][12][13]Mary Anne Hanson who swam for Cody a bit after 1938 would help win four senior national indoor titles in Chicago in 1943.[14]

Two 1948 Olympic medalists

Helser '48

The cancellation of the 1940 and 1944 Summer Olympics due to World War II prevented several of Cody's swimmers from having a chance to appear in the Olympics at the peak of their careers, though Zimmerman and Helser did win medals in the 1948 games which Cody did not coach.[4] Zimmerman won a Silver medal in the 100-meter backstroke with a time of 1:16.0, and Helser took a Gold medal, swimming the third leg in America's winning 4x100 Meter freestyle relay team in an Olympic Record time of 4:20.2.[15] Nancy Merki, then known as Nancy Lees[16] reached the finals of the 400 women's 400-meter freestyle, but finished in eighth place. Brenda Helser did a bit better, finishing fifth with a time of 5:26.0.[17]

1956 Olympic coach

Cody was the head coach for the American Women's Olympic team at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia.[18] At the Melbourne Olympics, American swimmers finished second to Australia in the medal count with a combined 11 medals. The women's team accounted for six of the U.S. team's 11 metals, winning all three medals in the butterfly competition.[19] Though he served as head coach of only one Olympics, around fifteen of his swimmers from Portland's Multnomah Club competed in Olympic competition.[20]

Legacy

Cody retired from the MAC in 1949 and moved to Los Angeles, where he continued teaching and coaching. He is a member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame,[4] the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame,[21] and the American Swimming Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2002.[10]

At 78, he died at Saltair Convalescent Hospital in Santa Monica, California on April 10, 1963. He had been living on Veteran Avenue in Los Angeles, and had been stricken in his home a few days earlier.[20][22]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Social Security Death Index Search Results". Retrieved 2007-12-19.
  2. 1 2 "Jack Cody, Oregon Sports Hall of Fame". Oregon Sports Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2023-10-08.
  3. ↑ Ross at top of Mermen.; Rated Highest by Experts Because of Work at Meet. The New York Times, July 27, 1919. p. 21.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Jack Cody". International Swimming Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 2012-08-13. Retrieved 2007-10-08.
  5. ↑ Buker, Paul. MAC Club's history rich in diving glory. The Oregonian, April 20, 1990.
  6. ↑ "Multnomah Team of Four Gains U.S. Swimming Title as W.S.A. Places Third". New York Times. April 12, 1943. Retrieved 2008-01-16.
  7. ↑ "Swim Title Goes to Miss Sinclair". New York Times. April 17, 1944. Retrieved 2008-01-16.
  8. ↑ "Miss Olson First in 3-Meter Diving". New York Times. April 25, 1949. Retrieved 2008-01-16.
  9. ↑ Schneidermann, Floyd (August 19, 1990). "Swimmers Reunited at Coach's Induction into State Sports Hall". The Oregonian.
  10. 1 2 "Jack Cody". American Swim Coaches Association. Retrieved 2008-01-14.
  11. ↑ "Jack Cody Swim Coach Dies at 79", The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, California, pg. 36, 12 April 1963
  12. ↑ "Miss Merki sets U.S. swim record". The New York Times. August 16, 1941. Retrieved January 17, 2008.
  13. ↑ "National Title Leaders" (PDF). USA Swimming Media Guide. USA Swimming. p. 20. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 7, 2007. Retrieved January 17, 2008.
  14. ↑ Hoffman, Jeanne, "Olympic Coaching Job Surprises Jack Cody", The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, California, pg. 35, 13 December 1955
  15. ↑ "Swimming at the 1948 London Summer Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
  16. ↑ "Swimmer who took new title". The New York Times. April 6, 1948. Retrieved January 17, 2008.
  17. ↑ "Women 400m Freestyle London (GBR) 1948 - 07.08". Retrieved January 17, 2008.
  18. ↑ "Deaths Elsewhere, Jack Cody", The Akron Beacon Journal, Akron, Ohio, pg. 23, 13 April 1963
  19. ↑ "Swimming at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
  20. 1 2 "Obituarys, Jack Cody", The San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco, California, pg. 36, 13 April 1963
  21. ↑ "Hall of Fame Roll of Honor Members". Oregon Sports Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on July 27, 2011. Retrieved February 25, 2010.
  22. ↑ "Jack Cody, Swim Coach Dies at 79", The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, California, pg. 36, 12 April 1963
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