Diving Info > Diving Stars of the Past > Bob Webster

  Bob Webster
Bob Webster (US Olympian 1960-1964)
 

  Bob Webster - Diving Star
 Bob Webster - His Story in His Own Words 
 
Back then
Born 1938, Berkely, California
Hometown Moved to southern California in 4th grade and call hometown Santa Ana, lived there until I went to the University of Michigan. I am now retired and live in Carmel, California.
Coaches: Sammy Lee and Dick Kimball
Education: - Santa Ana Junior College but trained in Sammy Lee's backyard since his school did not have a pool
- University of Michigan
Retired from Competition 1964 after the Tokyo, Japan Olympic Games
Family: Three grown children and two grandchildren
Diving Accomplishments
College 1960 Big Ten Conference Champion on the 3m board
National Diving Titles and Accomplishments
 
  • 1960 AAU National Champion in the platform event
  • 1961 AAU National Champion in the platform event
  • 1962 AAU National Champion in the platform event and the 1m event
  • 1963 AAU National Champion in the platform event
  • 1964 AAU National Champion in the platform event
International Diving Accomplishments
 

1963 Pan Am Games in Sao Paulo, Brazil, 1st Place in the 10m Platform event (First US Diver to do so)

Olympic Games
 

Special Awards
 
  • 1970 Inducted in the National Swimming Hall of Fame
Coaching Accomplishments
 
Insights on Bob Webster's life
   
What other divers and coaches have you kept in touch with throughout the years?
  Sammy Lee, Frank Gorman, Tom Gompf, Steve McFarland, Bobby Clotworthy, Bernie Wrightson, Ellen Owen (Mcgrath) Wayne Chester, Cindy Riddell, Holt Maness, John Candler and various other divers from Princeton University and University of Alabama.
At what age did you start diving?
  Started diving as a junior in high school. The reason for such a late start is that I was involved in gymnastics at the Santa Ana YMCA. Would have remained a gymnast and never gotten into diving, but the gymnastics coach left the area and we had no one take his place.
We then started "playing around" on the diving boards because it was so closely related to gymnastics. I dived throughout high school without a coach. We divers coached one another.
What was your favorite dive?
  Inward two and a half from any height.
What was your hardest dive?
  Reverse two and a half (tuck) from 10 meter. It was not difficult to
make, but I had too much room after the kickout and I had difficulty controlling the entry. At that time the back, reverse, inward three and a halfs were not in the books. At that time you could only perform dives that were listed in the diving table. It took a long time to get a new dive accepted by the diving committee. A diver had to "show" a new dive before a panel of judges and they would vote on whether to accept the new dive or not. If I remember correctly the panel did not meet every year.
I would have loved to do the three and a halfs because I would have been able to go for it.
Who was your favorite Coach?
  I was fortunate to have two outstanding coaches.
 
  • My first coach was Dr. Sammy Lee. The summer after graduating from Santa Ana High School, Dr. Lee moved to Santa Ana and set up his medical practice. How fortunate for me. He watched me dive one afternoon during his lunch hour and said, Bob, "I think you can win the Olympics. I will be happy to coach you if you are willing to dedicate yourself to the sport." Sammy is responsible for getting me to believe in myself.
    What a wonderful gift he gave to me. Sammy was my inspiration.
 
  • I had another outstanding coach in college at the University of Michigan, Dick Kimball. Dick was the hardest working, most dedicated coach I had worked with--he was there for me anytime, anyplace.
  I dived with Dick Kimball during the school year and dived with Sammy Lee during the summers. I enjoyed having two coaches. It worked for me.
What is your favorite part of diving as a sport?
  Of course, the people, the divers, coaches...But most sports have that comaraderie.
What I still love about diving today and will always love is watching a diver do a beautiful dive and "nail" it. I love watching good diving, I don't like watching "mediocre" diving.
In those days, did divers receive any money or compensation after winning a big meet?
  None. Except for college scholarships.
I dived for the pure love of the sport.
I went to the University of Michigan as a "walk-on", no scholarship.
By my senior year at Michigan I was on a "tuition" scholarship. That is not the reason I dived for Michigan.
Back then, what was better in the sport of diving?
  I have not been involved in diving since I retired from coaching at the University of Alabama in 1985. So I don't feel qualified to compare "back then" with "now". All I can say is that I loved to train, I loved to dive, we had lots of fun, lots of hard work, lots of disappointments, but in the end I loved it. I imagine the same is true for present day divers.
What do you think is better now?
  Two things stand out in my mind.
 
  • Coaching
    Coaching is better now because the coaches understand the biomechanics of a dive better. There is more emphasis on strength training, flexiblility, nutrition, mental focus, etc.. than when I was diving.
 
  • Innovation, expanding the diving table.
    Dick Kimball for years, actually for decades, had been pushing for doing back handstand dives from 10 mtr. He was always trying to "push the envelope" in getting new dives accepted. Dick was an innovator.
    Now days if a diver can do a five and a half then he/she can compete with it.
  I must mention with the advent of the Duraflex diving boards the sport was changed on springboard. HOWEVER, the 10 mtr tower is still the same height and still doesn't have any "spring" to it. Yet the difficulty of the dives being done on tower has increased just like on springboard, yet the equipment has not basically changed on tower. Why?
Innovation, encouraging the divers to look "outside the box"!! Better coaching and techniques.
What did you miss the most when you retired from the sport of diving?
  I retired as a competitor 3 seconds after my last dive in Tokyo. However, I stayed connected with the sport for another 20 years, coaching diving at the University of Minnesota (1 year), Princeton University (8 years) and the University of Alabama (11 years).
  Quite frankly, I got "burned out" as a college coach. I was tired of the recruiting, tired of dealing with "whiny" athletes, tired of partisan judging, tired of "pushy" parents, tired of the tension of competition, just basically burned out. So I was more than ready to leave the sport.
It is only in the last few years, starting with the Olympic Tryouts in St. Louis that I got my interest in the sport back. I have attended a few meets since that time and once again I love to watch good diving.
I have reconnected with some of the coaches and divers of my era and that is what I have missed.
Did you attend any Olympic Games after retiring?
  Only one, the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. My feeling was one of what a huge spectacle the Olympics have become. When I dived in the 1960 Olympics in Rome, the Games were not televised in the United States.
The one feeling I remember from watching the 1996 Games was I kept thinking about how much tension the athletes must be feeling competing in such a huge event. I was nervous for them.
What could or should be improved in the Diving World as we know it today?
  I have been away from the sport for such a long time that I am really not qualified to answer this. Two things do come to mind and they are:
A. judging and B. Grass roots approach to developing the sport.
 
  • A. Judging. I wish our sport wasn't so subjective, but it is a fact of life that it is. When I was judging I always wanted the best diver to win the contest no matter what country or college they were from.
    I still think judges do not differentiate enough between a good dive and a poor dive.
 
  • B. Grass roots develop........
    I applaud the efforts of US Diving to develop grass roots participation.
    Rather than developing from the top down, we need to develop from the bottom up and the "cream will rise to the top". And there will be a lot more cream at the top with this approach.
What is your best memory about your years in diving?
  Other than the friendships, winning the Gold in Rome, 1960.
This was the first time I had ever been out of the country. Meeting all the athletes from different countries, the whole spectacle of the Olympics was overwhelming.
Did you get to travel internationally, and do you think that travelling is important to young divers?
 
  • The only international travel was basically the Olympic and Pan American Games. Rome, 1960, Sao Paulo, 1963, and Tokyo, 1964.
    Absolutely, I think that it is vert important for young divers to travel, it is a big world out there. We need to see what the rest of the world is doing and the rest of the world needs to see what we are doing.
If you had the chance to “do it all, all over again”, would you? What would you do different?
  In a heart beat I would do it all over again. It is difficult to answer whether I would do anything differently because this is a different time a different era.
What is the most important “feature” a diver needs in order to “make the Olympic Team”
  Provided they have the athletic talent, divers need two things:
A . be willing to take a "risk", and B . the ability to compete.
  A. Willing to take a "risk".
This means laying it on the line and not holding back in your approach to training and working out. Too many times I have heard divers say "I could have been better if I had just done this or that" which is basically a "cop-out". You have to be willing to risk working as hard as you can and yet still not reach your goal. You have to lay it all on the line and say there isn't anything else I can do to make myself better, if I don't win then I wasn't good enough, it wasn't because I didn't try. Are you willing to take that risk? If you are, you may not win the Olympics, but I guarantee you will be a better diver than if you don't take that risk!!!!
  B. Ability to compete
You have to be able to compete. Perform under pressure. Some of the best dives I have seen from divers are in warmup right before the meet.
Something happens to some when the judges are in place.
You try your hardest no matter the situation. You never give up.
When you don't perform well it hurts for a while, but you don't dwell on it, you get back up and you work harder.
What would be the best advise you could give young divers today?
  Divers, it is YOUR responsiblility to be the best you can be. Yes, your parents and your coaches are important. But, you have to have the "inner drive" to want to be the best, and not because you may win a medal or prize money but because you love the sport.
   
   
Bob answered your questions. Click here