Bowen Stassforth

Bowen Dow Stassforth

Stassforth in Olympic warmup in 1952
Personal information
Full name	Bowen Dow Stassforth
National team	United States
Born	(1926-08-07)August 7, 1926 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Died	November 22, 2019(2019-11-22) (aged 93) Rancho Palos Verdes, California, U.S.
Occupation	Insurance executive
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight	173 lb (78 kg)
Spouse	Corinne Marjorie Batsche [1]
Children	5
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Breaststroke
Club	Los Angeles Athletic Club Hollywood Athletic Club
College team	University of Iowa
Coach	David Armbruster (U. Iowa) James Counsilman (U. Iowa)
Medal record Representing the United States Olympic Games 1952 Helsinki 200 m breaststroke[2] Pan American Games 1951 Buenos Aires 3×100 m medley[3] 1951 Buenos Aires 200 m breaststroke[4][3] US vs. Japan Dual Meets 1950 Osaka 100 m breaststroke 1950 Osaka 300 y medley relay[5] 1950 Osaka 200 y breaststroke[5] 1950 Osaka 100 y breaststroke[6] 1950 Osaka 50 y breaststroke 1950 Tokyo 100 m breaststroke.[7] 1950 Tokyo 200 m breaststroke Amateur Athletic Union 1952 Outdoor Championships 220 yd breaststroke[8] 1952 Outdoor Championships 110 yd breaststroke[9] 1952 Indoor Championships 220 yd breaststroke[10] 1952 Indoor Championships 100 yd breaststroke[11] 1951 Outdoor Championships 200 m breaststroke[12] 1950 Outdoor Championships 220 yd breaststroke[13] 1950 Outdoor Championships 3×110 yd medley 1950 Indoor Championships 220 yd breaststroke[14] 1950 Indoor Championships 3×110 yd medley[15] 1949 Outdoor Championships 200 m breaststroke}[16] 1949 Outdoor Championships 3×100 m medley[17] 1949 Indoor Championships 3×100 yd medley 1946 Indoor Championships 3×100 m medley 1945 Outdoor Championships 200 m breaststroke[18] NCAA 1952 Championships 100 yd breaststroke[19] 1950 Championships 200 yd breaststroke[20] 1950 Championships 100 yd breaststroke ({MedalSilver[21] 1949 Championships 3×100 m medley[22] Big Ten 1952 Championships 200 yd Breaststroke[23] 1952 Championships 100 yd Breaststroke[24] 1950 Championships 200 yd Breaststroke[25] 1950 Championships 100 yd Breaststroke 1949 Championships 200 yd Breaststroke 1949 Championships 3X100 yd Medley Relay

Bowen Dow Stassforth (August 7, 1926 – November 22, 2019) was an American competition swimmer who swam for the University of Iowa and won a silver medal in the 200 m breaststroke at the 1952 Olympics. He set two world records in the 200-yard (long course) breaststroke,^[26][27] and one world record in the 100 meter (long course) breaststroke. After retiring from his swimming career, he worked over fifty years in his family insurance business, and lived most of the remainder of his life in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.^{[1][7][28][29]}

Early life

Stassforth was born in Los Angeles on August 7, 1926 to Adelaide Dow and Howard P. Stassforth.^[1][30][31]. As a young child, he had an intense fear of water, as his early caretaker once put his head under water to familiarize him with the need to swim. After his parents discovered this, they began swimming lessons for Bowen with a number of instructors, none of whom could succeed in overcoming his fear of water. Finally, fundamental swim instruction and continuing lessons with Thelma Payne^[32][26] of the Los Angeles Athletic Club were able to help him overcome his fear of water. He trained and competed as a swimmer at Los Angeles High School (1942–44) and the Hollywood Athletic Club during which time he finished second at the 1943 California State Meet in the 200 yard breaststroke to his teammate Harry Messenheimer.^[32]

Bowen swam in the era when the accepted arm motion of the breaststroke was optional with either the contemporary breaststroke underwater arm recovery or the over the water arm motion for recovering the arms after catching the water. No butterfly stroke yet existed in competition. The leg movement for the breaststroke was and would remain the frog kick, also known as the whip kick. In 1953,^[33] the breaststroke was separated into two strokes, the breaststroke which used the frog kick, and the butterfly which used the dolphin kick. Stassforth's breastroke recovery placed his elbows out of the water and over his head, which has since been outlawed as part of the breaststroke. Since Stassforth used the breastroke recovery which placed his elbows out of the water, the breaststroke records he held were removed from the record books.^[33]

U.S. Navy

In August 1944, while still in high school, Bowen enlisted in the U.S. Navy. As his vision was poor, to aid him in gaining admission to the service, he memorized the eye chart for his initial physical. During basic training, his vision problems were discovered by his superiors, who learned of his former success as a club and high school swimmer. To restrict his range of service due to his vision and remove him from active duty, Stafforth was assigned to teach swimming and water survival skills to enlisted sailors on North Island in San Diego. He was honorably discharged in 1946.^[34][1]

National AAU competitions 1945-1949

At his first AAU National Outdoor Championship meet in 1945, representing Fleet Air Wing 14, he placed second in the 200-meter breaststroke.^[35][36] The next year in 1946, he placed sixth in both the AAU National Indoor and Outdoor Championship 220y/200M breaststroke behind Joe Verdeur, Charles Keating and his future coach, James Counsilman.^[37][38] In 1949, Bowen moved up the standings finishing third in the AAU Outdoor Championships 200 m breaststroke behind Keith Carter and Joe Verdeur the previous years' Olympic silver and gold medalists.^[39]

University of Iowa

He enrolled at the University of Iowa for the 1947–1948 school year and was coached by both David Armbruster and his assistant coach James "Doc" Counsilman, who would later coach at the University of Indiana and become a Hall of Fame recipient. Stafforth was not allowed to compete as a freshman, however, due to conference eligibility rules at that time. He swam for Iowa during 1949, 1950, and 1952. While enrolled at Iowa, he was awarded all-American honors in eight years and was a member of a 400 meter medley relay team that won a gold medal. In 1952, he received a most valuable award for athletes in Iowa by the American Athletic Union.^[40][41]

Having already enrolled at the University of Iowa, Stassforth participated in the U.S. Olympic Trials in July, 1948 placing seventh in the 200-meter breaststroke with a time of 2:47.7.^[42]

International competition

As a result of his success as a collegiate competitor at Iowa, Stassforth was invited to his first international competition as part of the U.S. National Swim Team in 1950, and participated in several meets held in Japan.^[43] This was the first time the American swim team had defeated Japan on Japanese soil.^[7] At the dual meet in Tokyo, Bowen set the world record in the 100 m breaststroke(long course) in 1:09.4 barely edging out his teammate Robert Brawner.^[7]> Later that year, he was second in the National AAU Outdoor Championships in the 220 yard breaststroke to Robert Brawner.^[13]

In 1951, he won a bronze medal in the 200-meter breaststroke with a time of 2:47.6^[44] and a gold in the medley relay at the 1951 Pan American Games in Buenos Aires. At the 1951 National AAU Outdoor Championships in the 200 m breaststroke, Bowen was second to John Davies but ahead of Robert Brawner, who placed third and Jerry Holan, who placed fourth.^[45]

1952 Olympic silver medal

While at U. of Iowa, after a fourth place finish behind John Davies, Jerry Holan, and Robert Brawner at the NCAA finals in 1952 in the 200 yard Breaststroke,^[46] his Big Ten rival and friend, John Davies informed Bowen he should making adjustments to his training regiment. After heeding Davies's advice, Stassforth qualified first overall at the 1952 US Olympic Trials beating trial competitors Brawner and Holan and breaking Joe Verdeur's American citizen record^[47] with a time of 2:36.0 in the 200 m breaststroke.^[48]

At the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland, he qualified for the finals of the 200 m breaststroke. While on the starting blocks of the finals, the cold air caused his muscles to tense up. In order to counter act this, he purposely false started using the short time in the water to loosen back up. Back up on the blocks, he was careful not to false start again. When the race was over, he placed second for the silver, touched out by only 0.3 of a second to gold medalist and Big Ten rival and friend John Davies of the University of Michigan who represented Australia. His time of 2:34.7 set a new American record for the 200 m breaststroke (long course).^[49][50][51]Herbert Klein the world record holder in the 200 m breaststroke in both short and long courses was third. Davies, Stassforth, and Klein were the only three swimmers to better 2:35 in history in the 200 m breaststroke (long course) prior to the bifurcation of the stroke in 1953.^[29]

He finished his career as the National AAU Outdoor Champion and the American record holder in the 220-yard breaststroke with the same time of 2:34.7 that he swam in the Olympics.^[52] After the race, Bowen remarked, "Up till now I never felt that I had done my best. Now I'm satisfied. That was it."^[8]

American Records

In 1952, as shown in the table below, at the conclusion of Stassforth's career, he concurrently held 16^[53] national breaststroke records in distances from 200 yards to 500 meters in 20 yard, short course and long course pools.^[54]

Post swimming life

Stassforth worked in his family's insurance business beginning in the 1950's where he served over fifty years. He married his wife Corinne Marjorie Batsche on the afternoon of November 24, 1954 at St. Thomas Aquinus Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. Marjorie was a graduate of the University of Cincinnati where she was a member of Theta Phi Alpha. The couple would have five children.^[1][55]

Stassforth died in Rancho Palos, Verdes, California at the age of 62 on November 22, 2019. His wife Marjorie had predeceased him in 2016. He had lived in Rancho Palos Verdes since 1957, not long after his retirement as a swimming competitor. Memorial services were held at Green Hills Memorial Park in Rancho Palos Verdes where he was buried.^[1]

Honors

He was the 1952 Iowa AAU Athlete of the Year and Iowa AAU's nominee for the James E. Sullivan Award. Bowen was inducted into the University of Iowa Hall of Fame in 1996.^[56][57][58]

Charles Roeser, the chairman of the U.S. Olympic men's swimming committee in a letter to his coach David Armbruster, called Bowen “one of the most cooperative athletes I have ever known in thirty years of teaching and coaching.” He also called him “America's greatest breaststroke champion, but more than that, a real American and gentleman whose conduct is a worthy example for others to follow.”^[59][60] He died at his home in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, on November 22, 2019, at the age of 93.^[61]

Records

Concurrent Breaststroke Records held in 1952

Date	Distance	Pool	Time	Location	Record/Prior Recordholder(Time)|
20 June 1952	200 yd (180 m)	20 yard	2:15.8	Iowa City, Iowa	American / Robert Brawner (2:16.6) [62]
23 February 1952	200 yd (180 m)	long pool	2:19.7	Iowa City, Iowa	World / Keith Carter (2:24) [26]
20 June 1952	200 m (660 ft)	20 yard	2:30.5	Iowa City, Iowa	American / Dave Seibold (2:38.5)[62]
1 August 1952	200 m (660 ft)	50 meter	2:34.7	Helsinki,Finland	American / John Davies (2:35.8)[49]
20 June 1952	220 yd (200 m)	20 yard	2:30.5	Iowa City, Iowa	American / Dave Seibold (2:38.5)[62]
27 August 1952	220 yd (200 m)	55 yard	2:34.7	Newark, New Jersey	American / Jerry Holan (2:38)[52][8]
20 June 1952	300 yd (270 m)	50 yard	3:39.9	Iowa City, Iowa	American / Keith Carter (3:50)[62]
23 April 1950	400 yd (370 m)	20 yard	5:16.8	Cedar Rapids, Iowa	American / James Werson (5:30.7)[63]
2 May 1950	400 yd (370 m)	25 yard	5:14.0	Iowa City, Iowa	American / John Higgans (5:15.7)[64]
2 May 1950	400 yd (370 m)	long pool	5:13.8	Iowa City, Iowa	American / [65]
23 April 1950	400 m (440 yd)	20 yard	5:33.8	Cedar Rapids, Iowa	American[63]
11 June 1952	400 m (1,300 ft)	25 yard	5:13.5	Iowa City, Iowa	American / John Higgans (5:44.8)[66][67]
29 February 1952	400 m (440 yd)	long pool	5:41.1	Iowa City, Iowa	American / Emmet Cashing (6:06.2)[68]
23 April 1950	440 yd (400 m)	20 yard	5:46.8	Cedar Rapids, Iowa	American / James Werson (5:58.5)[63]
26 April 1950	440 yd (400 m)	25 yard	5:15.7	Iowa City, Iowa	American / John Higgans (5:46.4)[65]
11 June 1952	440 yd (400 m)	long pool	5:33.8	Iowa City, Iowa	American / Emmet Cashing (6:06.2)[68][66]
4 June 1950	500 yd (460 m)	25 yard	6:40.4	Iowa City, Iowa	American / John Higgans (6:41.4)[69][67]
9 June 1952	500 yd (460 m)	long pool	6:52.0	Iowa City, Iowa	American / J. Cashian (6:59) [70]
4 June 1950	500 m (1,600 ft)	25 yard	7:16	Iowa City, Iowa	American /John Higgans (7:18.8)[69][67]
9 June 1952	500 m (1,600 ft)	long pool	7:35.0	Iowa City, Iowa	American /J. Cashian (7:42.2)[71]

See also

• List of Olympic medalists in swimming (men)
• List of University of Iowa people
• Los Angeles High School Notable Alumni
• World record progression 200 metres breaststroke-See notes regarding records prior to 1953

Notes

Stassforth's time of 2:34.7 in the 220 yard breaststroke (long course) at the 1952 AAU Outdoor Nationals correlates to a time of 2:33^[8] in the 200 meter breaststroke (long course). This performance was the fastest all-time for the 220 yard breaststroke (long course) and would have been the fastest 200 meter breaststroke (long course) in history (pre-bifurcation of the breaststroke in 1953) as well if it had been dual timed. This is evidenced by the dual distance timed race in the 1950 National AAU Indoor Championships in the 220 yard breaststroke (short course) between Joe Verdeur and Robert Brawner. During the race, Verdeur broke the world record for 200 meters with a time of 2:28.3 (short course). However, Brawner won the race with a time of 2:29.3 for the full 220 yards beating Verdeur who was second in 2:29.4.^[72] On July 10, 1952, Stassforth's coach, David Armbruster, had predicted a time of 2:33 for him in the 200 meter breaststroke (long course): "In my opinion, Bowen is capable of about 2:33 and he certainly should be a strong contender for the Olympic title."^[73]

References

1. "Legacy Obituary, Bowen Dow Stassforth, 1926-2019". legacy.com. Retrieved October 9, 2025.
2. 1952 US Olympic Book Page 129
3. 1952 US Olympic Book Page 349
4. New York Times 7 March 1951 Page 44
5. Los Angeles Times 13 August 1950 Page B13
6. Los Angeles Times 14 August 1950 Page C4
7. New York Times 6 August 1950 Page S1
8. New York Times 28 August 1952 Page 30
9. New York Times 27 August 1952 Page 35
10. New York Times 5 April 1952 Page 10
11. Cedar Rapids Gazette 30 March 1952 Section 4 Page 1
12. New York Times 28 July 1951 Page 21
13. New York Times 23 July 1950 Page S3
14. New York Times 1 April 1950 Page 23
15. New York Times 2 April 1950 Page A13
16. New York Times 20 August 1949 Page 15
17. Los Angeles Times 18 August 1949 Page C1
18. Los Angeles Times 12 August 1945 Page A6
19. New York Times 30 March 1952 Page S1
20. Iowa City Press Citizen 25 March 1950 Page 8
21. New York Times 26 March 1950 Page 149
22. New York Times 27 March 1949 Page S1
23. New York Times 8 March 1952 Page 17
24. New York Times 9 March 1952 Page S4
25. Iowa City Press Citizen March 4, 1950 Page 8
26. Iowa City Press-Citizen 27 February 1952 Page 18
27. Escanaba Daily Press February 25, 1952 Page 8
28. Newark Evening News 6 August 1950 Page 54
29. "Olympedia Biography, Bowen Stassforth". olympedia.org. Retrieved October 9, 2025.
30. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Bowen Stassforth". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020.
31. "NCAA Champions, All-Americans & Olympians". hawkeyesports.com. Archived from the original on March 2, 2014.
32. "Olympian's Oral History Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles Interview March 1987 Oxnard CA between Anita DeFrantz and Thelma Payne Sanborn" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 11, 2016. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
33. "History of Butterfly - Fiji Swimming". FOX SPORTS PULSE.
34. 2nd Place Curse phone interview August 9, 2010
35. "1945 AAU Men's National Swimming Championships". ovguide.com. Archived from the original on August 19, 2016. Retrieved July 12, 2016.
36. Los Angeles Times 12 August 1946 Page A6
37. New York Times 6 April 1946 Page 23
38. New York Times 5 August 1946 Page 28
39. New York Times 20 August 1949 Page 15
40. Mason City Globe Gazette July 16, 1948 Page 15
41. "University of Iowa Athletics Hall of Fame, Bowen Stassforth". hawkeyesport.com. Retrieved October 9, 2025.
42. Page 120 1948 US Olympic Book-Report of the US Olympic Committee
43. Aims Daily Tribune 25 July 1950 Page 16
44. Page 349 1952 US Olympic Book-Report of the US Olympic Committee
45. New York Times 29 July 1951 Page 21
46. Los Angeles Times 29 March 1952 Page B2
47. Evening Independent 7 July 1952 Page 16
48. Page 124 1952 US Olympic Book-Report of the US Olympic Committee
49. Page 129 1952 US Olympic Book-Report of the US Olympic Committee
50. "Athletes - Famous Olympic Athletes, Medalists, Sports Heroes". International Olympic Committee.
51. "Britain Wins Last Olympic Gold Medal".
52. Friel, Ed (August 28, 1952). "Stassforth's Final Sprint Beats Holan in 220-Yard Breaststroke". Newark News.
53. Iowa City Press-Citizen 11 December 1952 Page 22
54. Mason City Globe 6 October 1952 Page 16
55. "Married Yesterday, Corinne Marjorie Batsche", The Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati, Ohio, November 25, 1954, pg. 53
56. Iowa City Press-Citizen 6 September 1996 Page 13/
57. Mason City Globe 6 October 1952 Page 16
58. Iowa City Press-Citizen 6 September 1996 Page 13/
59. "Bowen Stassforth". Neal Rozendaal.
60. Cedar Rapids Gazette September 14, 1952 Page 5
61. ""Americas Greatest Breaststroke Champion" of 1950s Bowen Stassforth Dies at 93". November 22, 2019.
62. Iowa City Press-Citizen 21 June 1952 Page 8
63. Mason City Globe Gazette 24 April 1950 Page 9
64. Atlantic News Telegraph 3 May 1950 Page 6
65. Cedar Rapids Gazette 3 May 1950 Page 13
66. Burlington Hawk Eye Gazette June 12, 1952 Page 6
67. Cedar Rapids Gazette April 27, 1950 Page 21
68. Iowa City Press-Citizen 1 March 1952 Page 10
69. Burlington Hawk Eye Gazette 5 May 1950 Page 10
70. Iowa City Press-Citizen 10 June 1952 Page 10
71. Cedar Rapids Gazette 10 June 1952 Page 10
72. New York Times 1 April 1950 Page 23
73. Iowa City Press-Citizen 10 July 1952 Page 18