Diving Info > Diving Stars of the Past > Bob Clotworthy

  Bob Clotworthy Olympian
Bob Clotworthy (US Olympian 1952-1956)
 

  Bob Clotworthy
 Bob Clotworthy - His Story in His Own Words 

Back then
Born: On  May 8, 1931 in Newark, NJ 
Hometown:  Westfield, NJ  
Club Diving: While in HS the Plainfield Swim Club and the Westfield YMCA.  When competing for the Olympics, the New York Athletic Club
Coaches: Before college, Ed Gillen and Stan Dudeck.  At Ohio State Mike Peppe.  Others who helped me during my career, Hobie Billingsley, Phil Moriarty, Charlie Batterman, Glenn and Pat McCormick.
Elementary School: Grant School, Westfield, NJ
High School: Westfield High School
Major: Physical Education
College Education: Ohio State University 
Graduated: 1954
Retired from Competition From diving, 1956. from coaching August 2006.
Family: Cynthia, wife of 48 years.  Susan, Bruce, Jodi, Erin and seven grandchildren.
Spouse: Cynthia Gill (Pan American bronze medal swimmer in the 100-meter backstroke) who I met in 1955, at the Pan Am Games.  Believe it or not, we met on the ten-meter platform while watching swimming races.  Pat McCormick introduced us.
Diving Accomplishments
College
  • 1953 NCAA National Champion  on the 3m event
National Diving Titles and Accomplishments
 
  • 1951 AAU Outdoor Nationals  3 meter champion
  • 1953 AAU Indoor Nationals 1 meter champion
  • 1953 AAU Outdoor Nationals 3 meter champion
  • 1956 AAU Indoor Nationals 1 meter champion
  • 1956 AAU Outdoor Nationals 3 meter champion
International Diving Accomplishments
 
  • 1955 Pan Am Games, in Mexico City, Mexico: 3rd place 3 meter springboard
  • 1955 Pan Am Games, in Mexico City, Mexico: 2nd place Platform event

Olympic Games

 

Special Awards
 
  • 1980 Inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fall
  • 1980 Inducted into the Ohio State University Sports Hall of Fame
  • 1998 Inducted into the Blugold Hall of Fame - University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
  • 1992 Inducted into the New York Athletic Club Sports Hall of Fame
  • 1980 Inducted into The Ohio State University Sports Hall of Fame
Coaching Accomplishments
 
  • I was a diver but turned into a Swimming coach and coached three NCAA Champions, two of whom competed in the Olympics, Jed Graef, Gold in the 200-meter Backstroke, Tokyo in 1964 and Ross Wales,  bronze in the 100-meter butterfly, Mexico City in 1968
  • 1955-56 Coached diving at West Point
  • 1958 Coached diving at Dartmouth College
  • 1858-70 Coached swimming and diving at Princeton University
  • 1970-71 Coached diving at the Arizona State University
  • 1972-76 Coached diving at the University of Texas
  • 1980 -1984 - Coached diving at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire

  • 1984 -1996 - Coached diving at Albuquerque Academy, New Mexico

  • 1997- 2006 - Coached Age Group Swimming - Taos Swim Club, Taos, New Mexico
Bob Clotworthy''s Story in his own words
   
What other divers and coaches have you kept in touch with throughout the years?
  Many. Sammy Lee, Pat McCormick, Hobie Billingsley, Phil Moriarty, Charlie Batterman, Bob Webster, Tom Gompf to name a few.
At what age did you start diving?
  I started diving at 10
What was your favorite dive?
  Two dives, the back dive pike and the double twisting 1 1/2.   I don't ever remember missing either one of them.
What was your hardest dive?
  3 1/2 pike 10-meter platform and the triple twisting 1/1/2 - three-meter springboard, this dive from old clunkeer boards and before it was in the book.
Who was your favorite Coach?
  I don't have a favorite.  All of the people mentioned above contributed to my success as a competitive diver.
What is your favorite part of diving as a sport?
  Its grace, its beauty - the appearance at one point of a dive of defying gravity.
In those days, did divers receive any money or compensation after winning a big meet?
  NO.
If so, do you think it is better to be paid to train like the top divers in the US and some other countries are now, or is the Prize money a better incentive?
  The  divers should get enough money so that they can live and train comfortably.  Money should not be the incentive.  The fierce desire to win, or at a minimum to achieve your best should be goal.
Back then, what was better in the sport of diving?
  I think we may have had more fun and we all coached each other.  The rivalries  were friendly.
What do you think is better now?
  The equipment and the conditions for competition.
What did you miss the most when you retired from the sport of diving?
  Practicing with other elite divers.
Did you attend any Olympic Games after retiring?
  Yes. The Atlanta Olympic Games.  The Games are so much bigger, but wonderful.  I'm sad that so much security is necessary now.
What could or should be improved in the Diving World as we know it today?
  I think it would make it fun for the divers to more frequently have different formats for the competition, more often competing in such formats as the Swedish Cup.
What is your best memory about your years in diving?
  Travel and Friendships.
Did you get to travel internationally?
  Yes. I traveled internationally for ten years and international travel was one of the great motivating factors.
Do you think that travelling is important to young divers?
 

Yes.  They must learn to compete away from home - sometimes in a hostile atmosphere.

If you had the chance to “do it all, all over again”, would you? What would you do different?
   Yes.   I'd change nothing.  I loved my whole career.
What is the most important “feature” a diver needs in order to “make the Olympic Team”
  If the diver has the body and the talent, then the diver must learn to compete in extraordinarily high pressure situations.
What would be the best advise you could give young divers today?
  Work as hard as you can.  Enjoy the sport.  Have Fun!