When Matt Mann first came to the U.S. in 1906 he was the sidestroke swimming champion of England. Since then, the sidestroke has fallen from fashion, but Mann has more than managed to keep up with the times. During the last 50 years, besides helping thousands of this magazine's readers to teach their children to swim (SI, June 27, 1960 et seq.), he has developed crack swimming teams at Syracuse, Harvard, Yale, Navy, Michigan and Oklahoma. His teams have won 14 NCAA championships, 16 Big Ten and five Big Eight titles.
Perhaps Matt's greatest contribution to swimming, however, has been his ability to communicate his contagious enthusiasm for the sport to those around him. Here, ranged below him in their natural habitat, are Matt's two children and three grandchildren—all of them topflight swimmers. Daughter Rose Mary is coach of the girls' swimming club at the University of Michigan; her brother Matt is a high school swimming coach; and grandchildren Bruce, Connie and Marilyn are all record or title holders. If, as some claim, man's remotest ancestors are fishes, Matt Mann is plainly doing his bit to keep the family strain pure.
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