A BRIEF HISTORY

Unlike the other strokes, whose origins go back hundreds and even thousands of years, the butterfly is a creation of the twentieth century. There is some controversy over who deserves the title of father of the butterfly—several American, German, and British swimmers of half a century ago appear to have valid claims.

The butterfly was conceived about 1930, when breaststroke swimmers Erich Rademacher of Germany and Henry Myers of the United States realized there was nothing in the rules to prevent them from recovering their arms over instead of under the water. They combined this over-the-water arm recovery with the breaststroke kick and soon discovered that, though it was tiring, they could go faster with it than they could with the conventional breaststroke—at least for short distances. The new technique caught on quickly and by the 1940s threatened the breaststroke with extinction.

Shortly after Myers popularized the new arm stroke, Coach Dave Armbruster of the University of Iowa began having his swimmers experiment with a novel leg action—the fishtail, or dolphin kick. One kick per stroke. Although it was illegal in competition, Armbruster found it was even faster than the new butterfly-breaststroke. Coincidentally, Jack Hale—whose remarkable international swimming career spanned the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s and who now is one of England’s top Masters swimmers—was experimenting with the same kick at the time.

By the early fifties many breaststroke swimmers were trying to find ways to incorporate the faster dolphin motion into the end of their kick. But how to do so legally? Under the rules, a swimmer was not allowed to break the horizontal plane with his feet. Adding a dolphin motion at the end of the breaststroke kick clearly broke the horizontal plane.

The issue finally came to a head at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki. As the competitors filed past the spectators for the 200-meter breaststroke final, all eyes were on the world-record holder, Germany’s Herbert Klein. The sentimental favorite, Klein was a German Jew who had somehow survived the horrors of a Nazi concentration camp and was now reaching for Olympic glory.

A tall, muscular man in his late twenties, Klein stood on the starting block, all concentration, the blue number tattooed on his arm a poignant symbol of the painful obstacles he had had to overcome. The gun went off. As the race progressed, it was obvious that most of the competitors were using some version of the dolphin kick. But Klein was doing so most conspicuously. “Clunk, clunk, clunk, clunk.” With each stroke Klein’s feet made a heavy “clunk” sound as they broke the surface of the water.

Klein finished third. Despite his illegal kick, the judges refused to disqualify him or any of the other competitors.

After the Olympics, the pressure to legitimize the dolphin technique became so great that the butterfly and breaststroke were officially designated as distinct strokes. The breaststroke was redefined to permit only an underwater arm recovery (although this was modified in 1989). The new butterfly technique called for an over-the-water arm recovery combined with an up-and-down leg action. The only similarities remaining between the two strokes were that both prohibited swimming under the water and both called for simultaneous movements of the arms and legs. The separation was now complete; the modern butterfly had been born.

At about the time Klein was making waves in Helsinki, the final stage in the development of the butterfly was unfolding 3,000 miles away. One warm autumn day in 1952, a muscular sixteen-year-old freshman decided to try out for the Springfield (Massachusetts) College swim team. It was a decision that would eventually land him in swimming’s International Hall of Fame. William Yorzyk had been a nonswimmer throughout high school, but Coach “Red” Silvia quickly sized the boy up as a potential champion. Under Silvia’s tutelage, Yorzyk began experimenting with a “double-dolphin” kick—two kicks for each arm cycle. It worked.

At the U.S. national championships in 1956, Yorzyk burst upon the international swimming scene with his double-dolphin, setting four world records. He went on to win a gold medal at the Melbourne Olympics that summer, outstroking the field in the 200-meter butterfly by an incredible four seconds. Dr. Bill Yorzyk is now in his early sixties. A teammate of mine in the New England Masters Swim Club, he can still swim the butterfly in times many collegians would envy. Among his peers, he remains far and away the fastest flyer in the world.