JACK BECKNER JOHN CARDEN MURRAY COCKBURN DICK CONNOR JOSEPH DEUTSCH DEVANEY CONN FINDLAY ROBERT HUGHES JAMES LEA MIKLOS “NICK” MARTIN GABOR NAGY PARRY O’BRIEN PAULA JEAN MEYERS-POPE JANICE-LEE YORK ROMARY WILLIAM ROSS RONALD SEVERA MARLEY LYNN SHRIVER CHARLES SIMMS LAIRD SLOAN ATTILA TAKACS GARY TOBIAN WALLACE WOLF TSUYOSHI YAMANAKA JACK BECKNER JOHN CARDEN MURRAY COCKBURN DICK CONNOR JACK DAVIS JOSEPH DEUTSCH DEVANEY CHARLES DUMAS CONN FINDLAY USC AT THE 1956 OLYMPICS • 9 GOLD 5 SILVER 3 BRONZE FORTUNE GORDIEN JON HENRICKS ROBERT HUGHES DES KOCH JAMES LEA MIKLOS “NICK” MARTIN GABOR NAGY PARRY O’BRIEN PAULA JEAN MEYERS-POPE JANICE-LEE YORK ROMARY MURRAY ROSE WILLIAM ROSS

MELBOURNE Several members of the International Olympic Committee doubted that Melbourne was a suitable site for the 1956 . Among other issues, the reversal of seasons in the Southern Hemisphere meant the Games would take place during the northern winter, potentially adversely affecting athletes from the Northern Hemisphere, whose training schedules called for rest over the winter months. Nevertheless, Melbourne was selected over Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Montreal and six American cities: Chicago, Detroit, , Minneapolis, Philadelphia and San Francisco. Other difficulties surfaced almost immediately. First, ’s equine quarantine laws prohibited the timely entry of horses from abroad. As a result, Stockholm was selected as the alternative site for equestrian competitions, which were held in June — more than five months before the official start of the Games and half a world away. Then conflict arose among Australian organizers related to financing and venues, raising doubts about Melbourne’s ability to host. International tension around the Suez Canal crisis and the Hungarian Revolution and subsequent Soviet invasion prompted several countries to boycott. Finally, just before the Games began, the People’s Republic of China withdrew due to the inclusion of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Even in the face of these challenges, 67 countries sent teams to Melbourne (counting Stockholm,

After an ear infection kept the total rose to 72), with Ethiopia, Fiji, Kenya, Liberia, the Federation of Malaya, North him off Australia’s 1952 Borneo and Uganda making their Olympic debuts. Twenty-nine athletes with ties to USC Olympic team, Jon Henricks ’61 (right) won gold in the competed as well, taking home 17 medals, including nine golds. In the end, the Melbourne 100-meter freestyle and Olympics became known as the “Friendly Games.” According to the official report: “On the the 4x200-meter freestyle relay at the first day [the athletes] had all marched as competitors in their national teams, preserving 1956 Melbourne Games. their national identity, headed by their national flags. On the last day they went around the arena as men and women who had learned to be friends, who had broken down some of the barriers of language, of strangeness, of private prejudices.”

74 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA JACK BECKNER JOHN CARDEN MURRAY COCKBURN DICK CONNOR JACK DAVIS JOSEPH DEUTSCH DEVANEY CHARLES DUMAS CONN FINDLAY FORTUNE GORDIEN JON HENRICKS ROBERT HUGHES DES KOCH JAMES LEA MIKLOS “NICK” MARTIN GABOR NAGY PARRY O’BRIEN PAULA JEAN MEYERS-POPE JANICE-LEE YORK ROMARY MURRAY ROSE WILLIAM ROSS RONALD SEVERA MARLEY LYNN SHRIVER CHARLES SIMMS LAIRD SLOAN ATTILA TAKACS GARY TOBIAN MAX TRUEX WALLACE WOLF TSUYOSHI YAMANAKA JACK BECKNER JOHN CARDEN MURRAY COCKBURN DICK CONNOR JACK DAVIS JOSEPH DEUTSCH DEVANEY CHARLES DUMAS CONN FINDLAY USC AT THE 1956 OLYMPICS • 9 GOLD 5 SILVER 3 BRONZE FORTUNE GORDIEN JON HENRICKS ROBERT HUGHES DES KOCH JAMES LEA MIKLOS “NICK” MARTIN GABOR NAGY PARRY O’BRIEN PAULA JEAN MEYERS-POPE JANICE-LEE YORK ROMARY MURRAY ROSE WILLIAM ROSS

MELBOURNE 1956 MIKLOS “NICK” MARTIN

The Hungarian Communist party omitted his The - match began name from the record books because he defected with Hungarian players taunting the Russians in to the United States shortly after the 1956 their own language. Soon kicks and punches flew. Summer Games in Melbourne, but history shows Prodigy Ervin Zádor scored two goals to stake that Miklos Martin ’59 appeared in one of the Hungary to a lead, much to the delight of the most contentious contests in Olympic history: packed arena. With Hungary ahead 4-0, tensions the “Blood in the Water” match. boiled over. Zádor was marking Russia’s Valentin Prokopov when Prokopov punched him in the After winning three gold medals in water polo face, splitting Zádor’s cheek and forcing him out in the previous four Olympic Games, Hungary of the pool. Angry spectators stormed the pool was widely regarded as the world’s great water deck, threatening and even spitting at the Soviet polo powerhouse. The Soviets, in comparison, team. The referee stopped the match, and police finished seventh at those Helsinki Games. As the entered the area to quell the potential riot. 1956 Olympics neared, the Soviet Union sent its water polo team to Hungary (which it politically Hungary was declared the winner, moving on to controlled) so that its players could copy the defeat Yugoslavia in the final. That victory earned Hungarian training methods. the team its fourth Olympic gold medal in water polo. Pictures of Zádor with blood streaming At the same time, hostilities between the two down his face circulated around the world, countries were growing. Hungarians began to leading to the “Blood in the Water” moniker. rise up against Soviet governance, and from late October through early November, protestors As the sole English speaker on the Hungarian clashed with police and Soviet troops, leaving team, Martin was quoted frequently by thousands dead across Hungary. the international press. Afraid of possible repercussions if he returned to Hungary, he opted The Hungarian water polo team had been to defect, as did several other Hungarian athletes. training just outside Budapest. With the Melbourne Olympics imminent, the athletes Although he had already earned a master’s degree were whisked to Australia. Martin, who in art history from the University of Budapest, understood English, read an account in an Martin went to USC, where he majored in Australian newspaper and relayed the horrible French and received USC’s first water polo news to his anxious teammates. scholarship. After graduating from USC in 1959, he went on to earn a Ph.D. in romance languages By the time the Games began, the uprising from Princeton and eventually became a French was over, and the Hungarians wanted to exact professor and men’s water polo head coach at revenge. In Melbourne, they found support from Pasadena (Calif.) City College. many Australian and American sympathizers.

76 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

MURRAY ROSE

Shortly after World War II began, the Rose family moved with their infant son, Murray, from to Australia. It was there that Murray Rose ’62 would develop into one of the greatest stars in the world.

Rose’s mother took him swimming with her every day from the time he was 18 months old. By age 3, Rose could paddle 50 yards across a pool unassisted. Within two years Rose was attracting the attention of swim coaches.

His parents raised him on a vegan diet that excluded anything containing bleached flour or refined sugar. At the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Rose’s parents rented an apartment near the Olympic Village so that his mother could continue to prepare all of his meals.

His “odd” diet certainly raised eyebrows. But the Olympic success of the 17-year-old “Seaweed Streak,” as Rose came to be called, left many In between his two individual events, Rose people wondering whether their own eating teamed with Kevin O’Halloran, and habits might need fine-tuning. Trojan Jon Henricks to win gold in the 4x200- meter freestyle relay in world-record time. The Rose won his first Olympic gold medal in victories made Rose the youngest man to win the 400-meter freestyle, beating future USC three Olympic gold medals — and a star in his teammate Tsuyoshi Yamanaka of Japan by 3 home country. seconds. In the 1500-meter freestyle, Rose and Yamanaka were tied for most of the race before After the Melbourne Games, Rose moved to Rose surged to a 6-meter lead with 100 meters to the United States and attended USC, where he go. An all-out sprint pulled Yamanaka to within competed for the Trojan swim team. He won a yard, but Australian spectators urged Rose on. three NCAA freestyle titles for USC in 1961 With the encouragement, Rose swam to another and two more in 1962, the year he captained the gold medal. team. He also won eight Pacific Coast titles for the university.

78 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA Before graduating in 1962, Rose had another including one in which he played a drowning opportunity to compete at the Olympics. At victim. He later admitted that he lacked the 1960 Games in Rome, he repeated as the dedication to acting, and he eventually became 400-meter freestyle champion and won silver a businessman, sports marketer and television in the 1500-meter freestyle and bronze in the announcer. He was also active with philanthropic 4x200-meter freestyle relay. In addition to his six organizations, including a charity that provided Olympic medals, Rose captured four gold medals swimming lessons to children with disabilities at the 1962 in Perth, and special needs. Australia, and set 15 world records, including one in the 800-meter freestyle that stood from USC inducted Rose into its Athletic Hall 1962 to 1966. He was also the first to break the of Fame in 2003. He died of leukemia in 2012 18-minute barrier in the 1500-meter freestyle. in Australia.

After college, Rose had a brief Hollywood career, starring in several television shows and films,

AN OLYMPIC HERITAGE 79 CONN FINDLAY ’54 Conn Findlay won his first Olympic medal at the 1956 Melbourne Games, where he teamed with Arthur Ayrault and coxswain Kurt Seiffert to FIRST IN THE win gold. Findlay went SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE on to win another gold and a bronze in rowing and a bronze BOLDLY GOING WHERE NO OLYMPICS in yachting in subsequent HAD GONE BEFORE, THE 1956 MELBOURNE GAMES Olympics. At the time, he was WERE THE FIRST FOR THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE. the only athlete to compete THE ONE EXCEPTION WAS THE EQUESTRIAN EVENTS, in four Olympics and win a WHICH WERE HELD IN STOCKHOLM medal each time out. DUE TO AUSTRALIAN QUARANTINE LAWS. TROJAN VICTORIES

RICHARD “DICK” CONNOR ’59 AND HIGHLIGHTS OF After winning bronze for the United States in platform diving THE 1956 MELBOURNE GAMES at the 1956 Games in Melbourne, Dick Connor starred for USC. usc olympians: 29 gold: 9 silver: 5 bronze: 3

DES KOCH ’55 Des Koch, who won the NCAA discus title for USC in 1955, took bronze as the United States swept the medals in discus at the 1956 Melbourne Games. Olympic glory notwithstanding, Koch is probably ONE OLYMPIC NATION better known at USC for being ALTHOUGH THE 1956 GAMES WERE HELD AT THE HEIGHT a star punter on the Trojan OF THE COLD WAR, THEY MARKED THE BEGINNING football team. OF A NEW TRADITION SYMBOLIZING WORLD UNITY THROUGH SPORT. THE CLOSING CEREMONY WAS MODIFIED SO THAT THE ATHLETES ENTERED THE STADIUM IN ONE LARGE GROUP, RATHER THAN MARCHING AS INDIVIDUAL TEAMS. THE PRACTICE CONTINUES TO THIS DAY.

80 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA JON HENRICKS ’61 At the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, Jon Henricks won gold medals in swimming in the 100-meter freestyle and the 4x200-meter freestyle relay. The following year, he followed Australian teammate Murray Rose ’62 to USC, where they led the Trojans to four consecutive AAU titles and an NCAA championship.

TSUYOSHI YAMANAKA Tsuyoshi Yamanaka’s birthday fell 12 days after that of USC teammate IN ONE OF THE GREAT OLYMPIC HOAXES, Murray Rose ’62, who used to tease Yamanaka that he should respect his AUSTRALIAN VETERINARY STUDENT BARRY LARKIN elders and let Rose finish first. At the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, Yamanaka FOOLED THE MAYOR OF DURING THE TORCH did just that. He won silver medals in the 400-meter and 1500-meter RELAY BY CARRYING A FAKE OLYMPIC FLAME CREATED freestyle events, while Rose took the gold. Yamanaka won two more silver USING A PAIR OF UNDERPANTS, A PUDDING CAN medals in Rome in 1960. TROJAN VICTORIES AND THE LEG OF A CHAIR. AND HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 1956 MELBOURNE GAMES usc olympians: 29 gold: 9 silver: 5 bronze: 3

GARY TOBIAN ’61 CHARLES DUMAS ’61 Gary Tobian won the first of his three Olympic At the 1956 Olympic Trials, USC’s Charles medals when he claimed silver in platform Dumas became the first man ever to clear diving. Four years later, he captured gold in 7 feet in the . He went on to win springboard and a second silver in platform gold at the Melbourne Olympics, setting an diving in Rome. In 1978, he entered the Olympic record, and won consecutive AAU International Swimming Hall of Fame. titles from 1955 to 1959.

MAN OF MANY SPORTS AFTER COMPETING IN WATER POLO IN THE 1952 OLYMPICS IN HELSINKI, ROBERT “BOB” HUGHES HELPED THE U.S. WATER POLO TEAM TO A FIFTH-PLACE FINISH IN THE 1956 MELBOURNE OLYMPICS, WHILE ALSO PARTICIPATING IN THE 200-METER BREASTSTROKE. HUGHES, WHO ATTENDED USC FROM 1954 TO 1957, WAS THE FIRST AMERICAN ATHLETE TO COMPETE IN TWO DIFFERENT SPORTS DURING THE SAME OLYMPICS SINCE , WALLY O’CONNOR AND AILEEN RIGGIN DID SO IN 1924.

AN OLYMPIC HERITAGE 81