On Sunday afternoon, Aug. 13, 1972, 1952 Olympic gold medal champion swimmer and former Waimea High School teacher Ford Konno was honored by friends and admirers at Kikiaola Boat Harbor, Kauai. Take Yamamoto, who headed the testimonial banquet festivities, said
On Sunday afternoon, Aug. 13, 1972, 1952 Olympic gold medal champion swimmer and former Waimea High School teacher Ford Konno was honored by friends and admirers at Kikiaola Boat Harbor, Kauai.
Take Yamamoto, who headed the testimonial banquet festivities, said that Kauai was proud to have had the Honolulu- born Konno as a Kauai resident and teacher from 1959 to 1963.
Assisting Yamamoto were: Sadao Shintani, publicity; George Crowell, Hisa Munechika and Yoshito Okazaki, food; Sam Tanita, tickets; Muggs Morikawa, setting; and Ed Ho and Mutt Miyake, cleanup.
Konno would be inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame a few months later, in December 1972, joining previous inductees Esther Williams, Eleanor Holm, Johnny Weismuller, Buster Crabbe, Adolf Keifer, Don Schollander and other swimming greats.
He was not big for a swimmer at 5 feet, 6 inches and 150 pounds, but he was blessed early on with outstanding natural swimming ability. In 1950, while still a student at McKinley High School, he broke the world record in the 440-yard freestyle.
At the 1952 Helsinki Summer Olympics, Konno won a gold medal in the 1,500- meter freestyle, a gold medal as a member of the winning United States 4 x 200-meter freestyle relay team, a silver medal in the 400-meter freestyle event.
Four years later, at the 1956 Olympic Games held in Melbourne, Australia, he won another silver medal as a member of the U. S. 4 x 200-meter freestyle relay team.
During Konno’s 10 years of competitive swimming, the Ohio State University graduate held two Olympic records, seven world records, seven American records, six NCAA records, 10 Big Ten records and numerous Hawaii AAU records at distances from 200 meters to 1,500 meters.
Ford Konno married his Helsinki teammate Evelyn Kawamoto, who was also born in Honolulu and who won two bronze medals at the 1952 Summer Olympics, the first in the 4×100 women’s freestyle relay and the second in the women’s 400-meter freestyle.
