Remembering Counsilman.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)

James "Doc" Counsilman was always thinking. He studied swim strokes like nobody before or since. He explored why some swimmers were better than others and ignored studying their achievements. He looked at swimmers to see how they swam and then would try to make improvements on their techniques, which, in fact, he did with No. 1 swimmer Mark Spitz. Doc was his college coach and he took great interest in the development and making of Spitz as a full team swimmer and team player, which I think is remarkable.

Of course, in the years to come, Doc's teams at Indiana University were consistently National Champions, which is a great tribute to his ability as a coach. During the 1960 Olympics at Rome, Doc was not one of the selected coaches on the deck, yet he had more swimmers on that Olympic Team than any other coach in the United States.

We all admire Doc's belief in achievement and the betterment of the athlete. He came up with new theories of style and changeover. It didn't make any difference if the stroke was the butterfly, the breast stroke, the backstroke or the free-style--whether it was diving, depth of water or any subject pertaining to aquatics, he ...