Bentley Historical Library

University of Michigan Men's Swimming Rosters

1959 Swimming Team

Information About the Men's Swimming Roster Website

This website attempts to compile as complete a roster as possible of all individuals who have been part of the varsity men's swimming program at the University of Michigan from the 1922-present. It includes varsity and reserve letterwinners as well as non-letterwinners, members of the freshman team.

The database contains over 3,000 player/year records, i.e., one record for each year an individual was a member of the team. Jeffrey Klotz, who competed one season in 1991, has one record. Robert Helt, who won four varsity letters, 1974-1977, has four records.

The roster information is derived from a number of sources:

Notes on Database Fields

Name
Names are entered in separate database fields for last name and first name-middle name/initial. The results are displayed in last name, first name order. Variant spellings of last names have been standardized. Shortened versions of first names and nicknames have been standardized based on the most commonly used form. (Jim to James for example). Middle names/initials are included when available or necessary to distinguish between individuals with the same first and last names. For some years, rosters gave only last names. In most cases it was possible to determine the first name from other sources. Last names followed by question marks indicate either that the name did not appear in any of the other sources or could not be definitively identified among several possibilities. Question marks following a first name indicate it is probably correct, but not certain.
Year
Swimming season (Winter/Spring Term)
Letter
Indicates the letter the individual was awarded. The field is blank for non-letterwinners. A variety of letters have been issued over the years:
  • af - All-Freshman numeral or letter (1919-1932)
  • ama - an intermediate between varsity and reserve (1923-1931)
  • r -- Reserve (1940-1959)
  • v -- Varsity M
Event/Position
The event/position field list events a swimmer participated in. The information comes primarily from media guides and meet programs and in some cases from actual meet results. It may not include every event an athlete participated in and for many swimmers the field is empty.
Class
The class field usually gives the player's current class status as Freshman (FR), Sophomore (SO), Junior (JR) or Senior (SR, 5th SR for 5th year seniors).
Hometown, State
Player's hometown as listed in Media Guides or Game Programs or in other sources (usually the university General Catalog, Student Directory or the Alumni Association Necrology File). US states use standard postal abbreviations. Canadian provinces are abbreviated as: ONT = Ontario, QUE = Quebec.  Occasionally Media Guides and Game Programs listed different hometowns for a player in different years.  The student directories and other sources were used to determine the correct hometown, though in a few cases players (or their families) did change "hometowns" during their college careers.
 
High School
Player's high school is listed when the information was present in media guides, game programs or other sources. For most smaller towns, the presumption is that the name of the high school is the hometown name. Many records, particularly for earlier years, do not include high school information.

 

Some Known Deficiencies

While every effort has been made to make the database as complete as possible, the rosters are known to be incomplete in several respects. For most of the years between 1922 and 1944 the main source of information is the Official List of Letterwinners which typically lists only letterwinners, but does include meet results for some years.

Before preseason team rosters become available in the 1940s, some non-letterwinning athletes may not listed. For example, a player may have won a freshman letter and then not won a varsity letter until his senior season. He may not be listed in the database for his sophomore and junior years though it is probable he was a member of the team.

The "All-Freshman" letter was awarded in 1927-1978. The letter award was changed to the "Freshman Numeral" in 1927. The freshman award was discontinued in 1971 when freshman became eligible for varsity letters. The freshman letterwinner rosters do not, in most cases, include all individuals who were members of the freshman team.

Walk-ons and other non-roster players who were with the team for all or parts of seasons, but did not make it into a meet program, media guide roster, or a team photo are likely not included.

Efforts to fill the deficiencies and update the database continue as time permits. If you find an error in an entry or know of a player who is not included in the database, please contact me with the information and any supporting evidence at gkinney@umich.edu.