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.
TOOTHLESS: Bologna never looked like finding a way back, and Antonio Conte and his substitutes were waiting to celebrate long before the final whistle SSC Napoli on Monday lifted the Italian Supercoppa with a 2-0 win over Bologna in Riyadh, David Neres netting both goals to earn the league champions a deserved victory over the toothless Coppa Italia winners. Neres opened the scoring with a stunning strike from distance six minutes before halftime and found the net again in the 57th minute when Bologna were caught trying to play out of defense. “We came here as champions of Italy, we wanted this trophy and we showed it with a great performance,” Napoli forward Matteo Politano told Mediaset. “We could have scored a few more goals, but
Backup quarterback Luke Weaver on Wednesday night threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to Nick Cenacle with 10 seconds left, as the University of Hawaii rallied for a 35-31 comeback victory over the University of California, Berkeley in a thrilling Hawaii Bowl. Weaver entered the game after Micah Alejado took a hard hit on the previous play. With the Rainbow Warriors (9-4) in range for a tying field goal, coach Timmy Chang took a shot at the end zone, and Cenacle got between two defensive backs and made the contested catch. “How amazing is that?” Chang said. “It’s a program that is built
Hosts Morocco on Friday were held to a 1-1 draw by Mali at the Africa Cup of Nations, ending their world record run of wins and leaving them still to make sure of progress to the next stage. Midfielder Brahim Diaz tucked away a penalty in stoppage-time at the end of the first half, but Mali equalized from the spot midway through the second half through Lassine Sinayoko. Both penalties were awarded after video reviews in a tempestuous clash at the end of a busy day of action at the tournament. Morocco were atop the Group A standings with four points, while Zambia,
An astounding 20 wickets fell on a frantic first day of the fourth Ashes Test yesterday, with Australia all out for 152 before storming back to dismiss England for 110 and leave the clash on a knife-edge. England skipper Ben Stokes won a key toss on a green track and his quicks feasted after sending in the hosts under overcast skies in front of 94,199 fans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. It was the biggest cricket crowd ever at the cavernous arena, exceeding the 93,013 who watched the 2015 World Cup final, and they witnessed the home side collapse with Josh Tongue
RSS