Adolph Kiefer

Kiefer Aquatic (Kiefer Swim Products) was started by American Adolph Kiefer in 1947. By that time Adolph Kiefer had won the gold medal in the 100M Backstroke at the 1936 Olympics, broken 14 world swimming records, and taught thousands of Navy seamen how to swim during World War II.

Adolph Kiefer invented many of the products and swim categories still in use today - including pioneering developments in competitive racing lanes, starting blocks, swimwear, lifeguard safety, and aquatic therapy solutions. After 70 years of innovation, we are humbled by our history and proud of our ongoing commitment to Swim with Confidence in the aquatics industry.

View the infographic below to learn more about Kiefer's history of innovation:

My grandfather, Adolph Kiefer, would have been 99 today. He passed away peacefully on May 5, and we’ll miss him.

A World Without Adolph Kiefer

The morning of his passing, I experienced a spectrum of emotions. Adolph Kiefer lived a long, wonderful life and I was lucky to be a part of it. But it still wasn’t easy to accept.

I was left with a feeling that many survivors must feel when faced with the death of a family member: an unfamiliar discomfort of how to carry on without them.

How do I acclimate to a world without Adolph Kiefer?

It wasn’t a question that I could immediately answer at 4am, so I decided to do what I normally do on a Friday morning…

I went swimming.

Masters Swim Practice - Too Soon?

I arrived at Juniper Swim & Fitness Center at 5:15AM to train with Central Oregon Masters Aquatics, a team I’ve been swimming with for over a year.

As I walked across the deck, I wondered if it made sense to carry on as if this was just another start to a typical day. But that thought passed instantly. I’ve spent my entire life in and around competitive and recreational swimming pools and competitions. And although this day had started unlike any other, I had a duty to my grandfather to connect with the sport that defined him.

Instantly comfortable, the ripples and waves of my grandfather surrounded me. I flipped over for a few laps of backstroke, the stroke that became his signature event. When he was in high school, Adolph became the first swimmer to complete the 100-yard backstroke in less than one minute.

And while I’ll never break a minute swimming 100 yards in any stroke, I still love to swim, and recreate some of Adolph’s breakthrough accomplishments.

I easily flipped at the wall, performing my best rendition of the backstroke flip turn, a maneuver my grandfather invented to shave time off world records.

I began to think about how Adolph had revolutionized swimming and the swimming pool itself through innovation, making swimming pools both faster and safer.

Seeing the need to even the playing field for swimming competitions, Adolph invented the anti-turbulence racing lane to dampen wave interference from swimmers in surrounding lanes. And I enjoyed the benefits of the dampening lane dividers that morning - and the thought that my grandfather was in the pool with me, helping me through my workout.

Enduring Achievements & Memories

As I continued to swim, I realized that my grandfather will always be a part of my world and the world in general.

His legacy will live on through the swimmers he inspired and the lives that he helped save by making swimming a safer pursuit. Though Adolph Kiefer was first known as an Olympic Championship Backstroker, he considered his greatest achievement to be the work he did for the United States Navy, overhauling the survival swimming program with his Victory Backstroke and other maneuvers that allowed many soldiers to survive when they were thrown overboard.

I’ll never forget taking an elevator with Adolph years ago. He struck up a conversation with a stranger as we waited for our floor. After Adolph introduced himself, the man said, “I know who you are, your Victory Backstroke saved my life.”

Perhaps it was this indelible memory that inspired me, years later, to rescue a drowning boater in Lake Michigan on Independence Day.

As I completed the final laps of my morning swim, I realized that my grandfather is much more than a memory. Though he passed away, the swimmers he inspired and the lives he helped save continue to impact the world, as future generations of athletes and families develop and prosper.

And in that way, he lives on, actively contributing to the lives of millions of swimmers.

I left the pool that morning sad yet satisfied, the grandson of Adolph Kiefer, a man USA Swimming called ‘the Father of American Swimming.’

The World’s Biggest Pool Party

My grandfather would never have wanted a funeral; so I’m suggesting that we commemorate his life with a party.

He loved to throw huge parties and welcomed all partygoers, far beyond the Kiefer family, embracing our friends, and friends of friends. At these events, he was commonly found in front of the barbecue, watching his guests swim and relax during long summer days that flowed well into the evening.

That’s why I’m recommending that you spend today, June 27th, at the pool or beach, having fun in the water with friends and loved ones. What better way to celebrate the life of Adolph Kiefer, a man devoted to the celebration and advancement of swimming, than with the world’s biggest pool party?

See you at the pool.

- Robin

Let's Celebrate Adolph Kiefer Together

We’d love to see how you celebrate Adolph’s birthday. Post your swimming selfies to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram using the hashtag #KieferBirthday.

Donate to the Adolph Kiefer Memorial Fund

The Adolph Kiefer Memorial Fund is intended to financially support swimming initiatives at local YMCAs and provide learn-to-swim lessons for children and families unable to afford them. You can make a donation here.

It is with a heavy heart that we inform you that our Founder, Adolph Kiefer, passed away on May 5, 2017, at the age of 98. A man larger than life, Adolph had such a huge passion and joy for swimming. He has touched many in this industry and paved the way for future athletes with his historic swimming career.

Adolph’s swimming career began as a young child in Chicago, IL. At 18 years old, Adolph swam for the United States in the 100M backstroke at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. Finishing in first place awarded Kiefer a gold medal and a new Olympic record. Although Adolph was just reaching his peak in swimming, the start of World War II sent him on a different path.

After joining the U.S. Navy, Adolph saw the greatest loss in lives was due to drowning. With this knowledge, he formed a committee and helped to implement a training program that taught the “victory backstroke” to over 2 million troops, saving many lives in the process.

After the Olympics and World War II, Kiefer came home to Chicago to start his own business: Adolph Kiefer & Associates. His passion to continue helping people all over the world with water safety is seen in the products he invented and supported. To this day, Adolph’s famous words “Let’s keep ‘em swimming” can be heard through the halls of his company, where up to a week before his death he was calling in with new ideas to bring to the swimming world.

Adolph’s love for swimming has reached so many and that passion will be remembered forever.

Below is a video of Adolph from last August where he discussed winning his Olympic gold medal and “winning for life”.

https://twitter.com/RowdyGaines/status/860610025563279361

https://twitter.com/chh2o/status/860552153605312514

https://twitter.com/TexasMSD/status/860615115611287552

https://twitter.com/TeamUSA/status/860613916015157249

https://twitter.com/NBCOlympicTalk/status/860584765799452672

The official family obituary for Adolph Kiefer:

"Adolph Kiefer's family wishes to express its gratitude for the published obituaries and recognition of his life, as well as for his many friends from the swimming world who have reached out to express their admiration and remembrances. Adolph was an American hero who embodied an indomitable spirit of creativity and passion for all things aquatic. Over the past 20 years he suffered from peripheral neuropathy, and he always said that daily swimming in his home pool was the only thing that kept him alive -- and so it was.

Adolph had two great loves in his life: swimming and his wife of 73 years, Joyce Kainer Kiefer, who predeceased him two years ago. Our household revolved around swimming, humor and adventure. Adolph’s love of swimming was not solely based upon his extraordinary abilities. The sport was a symbol of something greater to him and he cherished the opportunities it offered: the friendships, the international travel, and the constant challenge of finding new and better swimming products.

Adolph was famed for his athleticism but he was also, at his core, a showman both in and out of the pool, and he relished a good audience. His humble origins gave him an everyman quality and he welcomed interaction with people of all walks of life, as long as they were good listeners and open to the next joke. He was a wondrous public speaker and an inspiration to all that knew him.

He is survived by four children, Dale, a professor of oceanography; Jack, a businessman; Kathy, an attorney; and Gail, an anesthesiologist, as well as 14 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren. We will soon celebrate his life during a family memorial gathering at his home in Wadsworth, Illinois.

Adolph recently initiated the establishment of a fund to be administered by The YMCA of the USA; to support the teaching of swimming and water safety, and scholarships for competitive swimmers of limited means. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to The YMCA of the USA, for the Adolph Kiefer Fund at: 101 North Wacker Drive, Chicago IL 60606, attention Jonathan Lever."

You can read the full ISHOF obituary for Adolph Kiefer below:

Wadsworth, Illinois, Friday May 5. – Adolph Gustav Kiefer died at 6:00 o’clock this morning at his home in Wadsworth, Illinois. The great swimmer, lifesaver, innovator and entrepreneur whose passion for swimming was an inspiration to all who met him, was 98 years and 11 months old. At the time of his death he was the world’s oldest living Olympic gold medalist.

[caption id="attachment_4469" align="alignright" width="384"] Adolph Kiefer with Johnny Weismuller. Courtesy of ISHOF.[/caption]

In recent years, the greatest all-round swimmer of his generation was afflicted by neuropathy (nerve damage that causes weakness, numbness, and pain) in his legs and hands that kept him in a wheelchair, except during his daily swims, where he was able to walk again in chest deep water. The water, he said, is what kept him alive, even after the loss of his beloved wife, mother of his four children, business partner and best friend, Joyce, to cancer in May of 2015. They had been married for 73 years. With the support of his incredible family, he emerged from grief and resumed his weekly bridge games and social life. In spite of his incredible life, he never dwelled on the past, but was always thinking about new ways to end drowning and promote swimming. In recent months, he had been hospitalized with pneumonia and longed to be reunited with his beloved wife. He was an incredible man and his passing is truly the end of an era – as the last of the immortals from the first golden age of American swimming that included Duke Kahanamoku, Johnny Weissmuller, Gertrude Ederle, Eleanor Holm, Buster Crabbe and Esther Williams.

As a child he hated getting water up his nose; so, he swam on his back. His father, a German born candy-maker died when he was only 12, but had encouraged his son to be the “best swimmer in the world”. Working furiously to make this a reality, he swam in any pool he could find. On Sundays, when the Wilson Avenue YMCA was closed, he would hop onto trucks, jump streetcars, anything to get to the only available pool, which was at the Jewish Community Center. He firmly believes that the reason he became a world champion is simple, he loved swimming more than anyone else.

At the 1933 World’s Fair, he worked as a lifeguard in the Baby Ruth pool, which hosted exhibitions by swimming champions. Kiefer pestered one recognizable figure in attendance Tex Robertson, captain of the University of Michigan swim team, until Tex finally agreed to coach him. That Thanksgiving, Adolph, then 16 years old, hitchhiked to Michigan where Robertson coached him. “Who’s that kid in the pool?” asked Michigan’s legendary coach, Matt Mann. Robertson replied, “Kiefer, I’m helping him.” Taking out his watch, Mann said, “Let’s see that kid swim a hundred”. Kiefer swam it. Mann looked at his watch and said — “I don’t believe this … do it again!” Kiefer did. Dumbfounded Mann replied, “You just broke the world record — twice!”

A few months later, while swimming in the Illinois High School Championship meet, Kiefer made it official, becoming the first in history to break one minute mark in the 100 yds backstroke. After the meet, his coach, Stanley Brauninger, of the Lake Shore Athletic Club, predicted that the six foot, 165 pound youth would put most of the world’s backstroke records beyond reach of his competitors by the end of the year. His prediction proved right. As a rookie member of the USA National Team at a meet in Breslau, Germany, on November 10, 1935, Adolph smashed the world record for the 100m backstroke with a time of 1:04.9. The listed world record was 1:08.2. One year later, he broke the world record three more times on his way to winning the gold medal in the 100m backstroke at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. It was one of only two events won by an American male swimmers that year.

When Kiefer was ready for college after the Berlin Olympic Games, he chose the University of Texas, where Tex Robertson was the coach.

Leading up to the 1940 Olympic Games, as a college student at the University of Texas, Kiefer compiled one of the most impressive records in sporting history, winning National Championships not only in the backstroke, but in freestyle and individual medley races as well. Some of his records lasted 15 years or more. Kiefer’s aquatic achievements earned him an audition for the movie role of Tarzan, but instead of answering the siren call of Hollywood, he heeded the call of Uncle Sam and signed up for the U.S. Navy.

Because of his background as an athlete, he was commissioned directly as a Chief Petty Officer and assigned to Norfolk, Virginia, for “the Tunney fish program,” nicknamed so for Gene Tunney, a former Navy man and heavyweight boxing Champion of the world. The program was aimed at fast recruitment of athletes to form a cadre of physical training instructors who would whip thousands of Navy recruits into condition as quickly as possible.

Once in Norfolk, Kiefer discovered something odd about the Navy. He found that many of the officers and enlisted men he worked with couldn’t swim. Norfolk was also where the survivors of merchant and naval ships torpedoed off the east coast by the Nazis, were brought and he was bothered by the stories they told. He started researching the matter on his own time at night and read a report on Pearl Harbor that said seventy-seven percent of all lives lost were due to drowning. The idea that most men in the navy couldn’t swim well enough to save their lives bothered him. He couldn’t sleep at night because he knew the navy was not training recruits properly to save themselves in the water.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Adolph Kiefer in the Navy.[/caption]

He knew a Captain at the Naval Training Headquarters in Washington, D.C. and on his own, hopped on a train to tell him his concerns. A few days later the captain called, he arranged for Kiefer to meet with an Admiral. The Admiral listened attentively, but showed no emotion and asked no questions. Finally, he said, “Ive heard enough. Why don’t you take lunch and come back in two hours.” Kiefer didn’t know what to think. Because he so critical of the Navy, he even wondered if he might be court martialed for going over the head of his suppers at Norfolk?

When Kiefer returned, the Admiral was all smiles. He said he’d like to know more about what the navy needed to do to protects its men. “When you get back to the base, go see the Commandant and he’ll give you all the assistance you need to write up a program.”

When he got back to Norfolk, he was relieved from teaching, given an office, a yeoman and secretary with a typewriter and devoted himself to reading every life saving manual and report on sinking and shipwrecks he could find. One thing he discovered while he had been instructing sailors to swim was that Fear and Poor Breathing methods were the main reasons why people couldn’t swim. He thought back to his first experience in the water, when he was playing near a canal in Chicago and fell in. He survived by turning over on his back and somehow got to shore. It was not something he had been taught, but whether it was serendipitous or instinctive, that simple movement saved his life – and changed it forever. From that moment on, he felt comfortable and relaxed in the water, he said, because he could breathe naturally and didn’t have his face and eyes in the water and could see. This was the genesis of a new program he called “The “Victory Backstroke.”

Armed with the “Victory Backstroke,” he outlined an intensive learn-to-swim and water survival program that required sailors to receive 21 hours of aquatic survival training. He was then transferred to the new Physical Instructor’s School in Bainbridge, Maryland and oversaw the recruitment and training of over 13,000 naval swimming instructors, including seven “colored squads,” of which there were 70% non-swimmers, yet qualified 100%. These instructors in turn taught over 2 million recruits how to swim and survive a sinking.

One of the many great swimmers Kiefer recruited to the instructors program was Julian “Tex” Robertson, who had mentored him while still in high school and who was his coach at Texas.

Now Kiefer was in charge and once Robertson passed the instructors course, Kiefer sent him to San Diego. After a year, Tex felt guilty about staying in the states and requested an assignment to the front lines. But Naval command had a different mission for him. His persona, training style and techniques had caught the eye of his superiors. He was promoted to Chief Petty Officer and reassigned to train members of an elite special forces unit being formed in Fort Pierce, Florida. Another instructor Kiefer had recruited and who had been selected for Fort Pierce was Tom Haynie, also a swimmer from Michigan. Instead of teaching raw recruits the “Victory Backstroke” they were now preparing experienced swimmers for the first Underwater Demolition Team “Frogmen” – known as UDTs – the forerunners of the Navy Seals.

UDT training began with an “Indoctrination Week,” which compressed an arduous and brutal eight-week physical training program into one week. For twelve to sixteen hours a day, trainees went through physical and mental hell, with each day more difficult than the last. To help ensure safety and maintain morale, the trainers, including Robertson and Haynie, were required to go through this “Hell Week” with the trainees to demonstrate they had the same capabilities and could endure the same hardships as their men. After “Hell Week” Tex and Haynie continued to train the swimmers, but the trainees were also trained in explosives and special warfare tactics and to accompany them on training missions in the most extreme and dangerous conditions imaginable. By the time the trainees graduated as Frogmen, they were some of the toughest commandos in the world, and would play a pivotal role in reconnoitering and clearing obstacles in advance of the invasion of Normandy.

[caption id="attachment_4467" align="alignright" width="425"] Adolph Kiefer with Ronald Reagan. Courtesy of ISHOF[/caption]

After establishing his program at Bainbridege, Kiefer turned his attention to the Navy’s lifesaving devices: rings, buoys and lifejackets. When he returned to civilian life, Kiefer established Adolph Kiefer & Associates in Chicago, a highly successful business that he ran until 2014.

Tex Robertson left the Navy after the war and returned to Austin, Texas where he continued to coach and establish an extremely successful summer camp. Since 1946, over 75,000 children have attended Camp Longhorn, including George W. Bush.

After Tom Haynie became a very successful swim coach at Stanford University.

Another Kiefer instructor was Harold Henning, who later became a dentist and successful swim coach at North Central College in Illinois. He also rose to the position of President of FINA, the international governing body for the aquatic sports in the Olympics and was the founding father of the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

Kiefer’s first successful product was the “Kiefer” suit. The silk shortage from WWII caused Kiefer to consider using nylon fabric for suits as the full body competitive suit requirement had just been lifted. Adolph offered a viable option to the wool suits still worn by many beach-goers. The “Kiefer” suits were great for swimmers, improved everyone’s time, no matter how risqué for the era.

His next great product was the wave eating lane line. Kiefer got the idea for the product from Yale’s legendary coach, Bob Kiphuth, who was looking for something that would reduce the waves at Payne Whitney Gymnasium’s pool. Up to this time, lane lines were made of rope with a cork ball spaced every three feet. Kiefer put his mind to work. He noticed the plastic mesh bags that were typically used for packing citrus fruits. He used the mesh idea to create a hard plastic mesh cylinder that became the first commercial wave eating lane line.

Kiefer also was one of the first to distribute and make popular Duraflex Diving Boards for his friend Ray Rude. Duraflex is now the only competitive diving board used world-wide.

Over the years, Adolph Kiefer & Co. has been an official supplier to both the USA Olympic Team and the Olympic Games. He has donated his time and money to efforts helping youngsters learn to swim – even supplying pools in impoverished neighborhoods. Into his early 90s Adolph Kiefer maintained an ambitious schedule of lecturing and promoting the benefits of swimming around the world.

“There will never be another like Adolph Kiefer,” says Bruce Wigo, President of the International Swimming Hall of Fame. “Not only was he a great swimmer and businessman, but he was a great human being, husband and father whose memory will live on as a model and inspiration for future generations of swimmers and non-swimmers alike.”

The family has not made any arrangements for a celebration of Adolph’s life at this time. More details to follow as they become available.

We recently hired a film crew to interview Adolph Kiefer and create a three-part video series on his life and legacy in the world. The videos showcase Adolph's upbringing in swimming, his road to winning an Olympic Gold at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, and how his desire to save lives during World War II led to the creation of a company and innovative swim products.

Watch the videos below, let us know your thoughts in the comments, and share with your family and friends on social media.

1. Adolph Kiefer's First Race and Journey to the 1936 Olympics

In part one of this video series, Adolph talks about his first race, his beginnings as a swimmer, and his journey to winning a gold medal at the 1936 Olympic Games.

2. Winning for Life

In 1936, Adolph Kiefer won a gold medal at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, setting a record that would remain unbeaten for 15 years. In this second video, Adolph tells the story of that Olympic victory, and shares what he believes to be even more important than winning swim races.

3. Business and Innovation

As the Navy's Chief Athletics Specialist in charge of Physical Fitness and Swimming, Adolph Kiefer taught thousands of sailors to swim, and focused on getting them the right training and the right equipment. Learn the stories that inspired Adolph to start his own swim company and design innovative swim products - products that have helped swimmers get better and saved lives around the world.

The 1936 Olympics were one of the most memorable and dramatic Olympics of the modern age. Prewar Germany was alight with a new spirit of revolution after being humiliated in World War I just 18 years earlier. The American Olympic team featured future legends Jesse Owens, Louie Zamperini and the youngest member of the team, 17 year old Adolph “Sonny” Kiefer, the world record holder in the 100M backstroke.

I am fortunate to have heard the story of his Olympic race from Adolph himself but the following description from Alan Abrahamson in his article “The Father of American Swimming” (from the USA Swimming Splashmakers book) truly captures the essence of the man and the moment.

“The photo of Kiefer winning gold in 1936 underscores just how good he was. He won by a body length over his American teammate Albert VandeWeghe, touching in Olympic record time, 1:05.9 to VandeWeghe’s 1:07.7.”

[caption id="attachment_2316" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Adolph Kiefer winning the 100M Backstroke
at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany[/caption]

(As an aside……If you look closely at the picture of Adolph winning the race at the Olympics, it looks like the spectators were wearing overcoats so it must have either been a cool or rainy day and my guess is that the pool wasn’t heated!)

[caption id="attachment_2317" align="aligncenter" width="450"] 1936 Berlin Olympics Swimming Venue[/caption]

It really wasn’t a surprise that Adolph won the gold medal. In 1935 he broke 11 American and world backstroke records in five weeks. Talk about being in the zone but there is actually a very good reason he swam so fast. The undisputed truth is that Adolph invented the backstroke flip turn. 80 years later it’s still the standard for changing direction. Of course he trained hard, had a single-minded focus on being the best in the world and was fast through the water but there is no question that the flip turn gave him an edge. Although World War II robbed him of two more Olympic opportunities, between 1935 and 1944 he set 17 world records and none were broken until 1950.

Abrahamson also comments in his article; “If Adolph Kiefer were swimming competitively now, he would be Mark Spitz, Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte all rolled into one. He would be the face of American swimming. The poster boy. The all-American guy. The can-you-believe-he-did-that-again record breaker.”

At Kiefer Swim Products being true to our rich heritage is critically important to us. We strive to be the company that works hard, is focused on our customers, innovates new and better ways to support competitive and safe swimming and pays our successes forward.