Bill Mulliken, a once little-known US college swimmer who outpaced national champions and the then-world-record holder in the 200m breaststroke to win gold in the 1960 Olympic Games, died on Thursday in Chicago. He was 74.
He died after having a stroke, his wife, Lorna Filippini-Mulliken, said.
Mulliken was a student at Miami University in Ohio who had won the 200m breaststroke at the Pan-American Games in 1959 when he went to Rome for the summer Games. He was ranked 17th in the event, well below stars like Yoshihiko Osaki of Japan, Georgi Prokopenko of the Soviet Union and Australian Terry Gathercole, who held the world record in the event.
Even his father held little hope, Mulliken told the Chicago Sun-Times in 2004.
“My dad had made this comment to me: ‘It really would be good if you could beat one Russian,’” Mulliken told the newspaper.
Mulliken beat Prokopenko in the semi-finals, setting an Olympic record at 2 minutes, 37.2 seconds. He went on to face the heavily favored Osaki in the final.
“We all kind of assumed that Osaki was going to rule the day,” Mulliken said. “Coming off the third turn, headed home, I realized I could not only beat the guy, but I could probably break the world record.”
He beat Osaki by 0.6 seconds with a time of 2 minutes, 37.4 seconds, short of the world record. He was the first American swimmer to win the event since Joe Verdeur won at the 1948 Games in London.
Other American gold medalists that year included the sprinter Wilma Rudolph and boxer Cassius Clay (the future Muhammad Ali).
William Danforth Mulliken was born Aug. 27, 1939, in Urbana, Illinois. He graduated from Miami in 1961 and received a law degree from Harvard.
His marriage to Julia Neavolls ended in divorce.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by two daughters, Cynthia Lazzara and Julia DeNapoli, and a son, John, from his first marriage; a sister, Sallie Olsen; a brother, John; and six grandchildren.
Jesper Boqvist on Tuesday scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period as the Florida Panthers, after raising their second straight NHL Stanley Cup banner, opened the defense of the title by beating the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2. Mackie Samoskevich — getting his second assist, the fifth two-point game of his career — chipped the puck toward the goal and Boqvist knocked it out of the air for the lead with 10 minutes, 20 seconds left. A.J. Greer and Carter Verhaeghe also had goals for Florida, who got 17 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky. Frank Nazar had a goal and an assist and Teuvo
Mexico’s teenage playmaker Gilberto Mora has lit up the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Chile as he basks in the limelight afforded by the absences of Barcelona and Real Madrid stars Lamine Yamal and Franco Mastantuono. “I don’t know if I’m the biggest star, and I’m not really interested in that. I think you can always give more,” 16-year-old Mora said before Mexico’s 4-1 win against host nation Chile in the round-of-16 on Tuesday, in which he provided the assist for the opening goal. Next on Mora’s schedule is a quarter-final clash against Argentina this morning Taiwan time, but after
HOMETOWN ZERO: Fans relished the fall of former Brewer-turned-Cubs manager Craig Counsell, as Milwaukee braces to face the Dodgers, who in 2018 denied them a pennant Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy has referred to his team as the “Average Joes,” a nod to their small-market status and lack of big names, but after they beat rivals the Chicago Cubs 3-1 in the decisive fifth game of their National League Division Series (NLDS) on Saturday night, Murphy decided it was time for an upgrade. “You can call them the average Joes, but I say they’re the above-average Joes,” he said. The Brewers relied on contributions from just about every player to get past the Cubs. Andrew Vaughn hit a tiebreaking homer in the fourth inning, and William Contreras and Brice
‘SOMETHING SPECIAL’: Nathan Lukes hit a two-run single and Addison Barger had three of Toronto’s 12 hits as the Blue Jays bounced back After taking down the storied New York Yankees in their own ballpark in their American League Division Series on Wednesday, Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider was ready to revel in the triumph. “Start spreading the news,” Schneider said while popping a bottle of bubbly to set off the Blue Jays’ jubilant celebration inside their Yankee Stadium clubhouse. With the party under way, the familiar lyrics from Frank Sinatra’s version of New York, New York — the Yankees’ long-time victory anthem — sounded in the background as roaring Toronto players sprayed each other with booze in the Bronx. This time, it was their