Bill Smith
Three Year Swim Club
1948 Double Olympic Gold Medalist 400m Free and Free Relay
Multiple world records stood for over 8 years.
International Swimming Hall of Fame Honoree

One of many great pupils of the legendary Coach Soichi Sakamoto, Bill Smith won two Olympic Gold Medals at the 1948 Olympic Games.  Bill joined the Three Year Swim Club in 1937 and trained under the motto "Olympics first, Olympics always." Even after the war destroyed the 1940 Olympic Games, Bill and his teammates continued to break records at national competitions.  Following a collegiate career at the Ohio State University, Bill served in the Navy through the years surrounding another Olympic Games cancellation in 1944.  After the conclusion of his military service, Bill returned to Ohio State to once again take aim at the Olympic dream and achieved long-awaited success at the London Games in 1948.  Bill returned to the islands and later became the head coach of Kamehameha Swim Club to develop some of the top age group competitors such as Kahoku Rowland and Ross Williams. 

Bill displays his two Olympic Gold Medals from the London Games on a bed of blue velvet framed in koa on a table at his Kaneohe condominium.  On the other side of that table sits a trophy equally valuable to Bill, a crudely cut piece of wood formed into a small shield.  It is the plaque for the 1940 and 1941 "Monthly Boys' Improvement Point Contest." Clearly visible are the pencil lines that Coach Sakamoto used to guide his hand as he wrote in the names; Nov.: Jose Balmores, Dec.: Jose, Jan.: Jose, Feb.: Charles Oda, March: Bill Smith, April: Bill, May: Bill... 

Sources and Credits:
Keith Arakaki and Hawaii Swim Page at:
http://www.hawaiiswim.org/business/sakamoto.html
http://www.hawaiiswim.org/team/hsc/keoStories/tocStories.html

International Swimming Hall of Fame page at:
http://www.ishof.org/HonorAchievements.html

Nakaso, Dan, "They Promised to Swim Three Years and Beyond"
http://www.hawaiiswim.org/team/hsc/keoStories/bunmei.html

Tsukano, John, "I Saw a Dream Come True"
http://www.hawaiiswim.org/team/hsc/keoStories/bunmei.html