George Harrison (swimmer)

American swimmer (1939–2011)

George Harrison

Harrison in 1960

Personal information
Full name| George Prifold Harrison
National team| United States
Born| (1939-04-09)April 9, 1939
Berkeley, California, U.S.[1]
Died| 3 October 2011(2011-10-03) (aged 72)
Moraga, California
Height| 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight| 179 lb (81 kg)
Spouse| Susan Jean Murray
Sport
Sport| Swimming
Strokes| Freestyle
Club| Santa Clara Swim Club
College team| Stanford University
Coach| George Haines (Santa Clara)
James Gaughran (Stanford)

Medal record

Representing the United States
Olympic Games
| 1960 Rome | 4×200 m freestyle
Pan American Games
| 1959 Chicago | 400 m freestyle

George Prifold Harrison (April 9, 1939 – October 3, 2011) was an American competition swimmer, who competed for Stanford University, a 1960 Rome Olympic champion in the 4x200 freestyle relay, and a former world record-holder in three events. After ending his swimming career, he would work for Lee & Associates in Pleasanton, California, as an investment and industrial broker.[2]

Harrison was born in Berkeley, California on April 9, 1939 to Robert Darlington and Caroline Harrison and attended Lafayette's Acalanes High School. Prior to college, he competed and trained with the exceptional program offered by the Santa Clara Swim Club under Hall of Fame Coach George Haines. In 1965, he graduated from Stanford University, where he swam under Hall of Fame Coach James Gaughran and was a member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity. [3][4]

## 1960 Rome Olympic gold

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Harrison won the 200-meter freestyle event at the 1960 Olympic trials to qualify for the U.S. team.[5]

He competed at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, where he received a gold medal as the lead-off swimmer of the winning U.S. team in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay. Harrison, together with his American relay teammates Dick Blick, Mike Troy and Jeff Farrell, set a new world record of 8:10.2 in the event final.[6] At the Olympics, Harrison was managed by head U.S. Coach Gus Stager.[7]

Harrison married Susan Jean Murray at her parents' home on the afternoon of July 1, 1961 at St. Stephens Episcopal Church. After a honeymoon in Carmel, the couple planned to reside in Carmel. Both were former graduates of Acalanes High School, where they met.[8] He would remain married to Susan throughout his life, and the couple would have two daughters, a son, and two grand-daughters.[3]

From 1958-1960, Harrison took first place in the AAU individual medley for successive years, setting an American record in short course each time.[5] Individually, Harrison won a silver medal in the 400-meter freestyle at the 1959 Pan American Games. He also held the world record in 200-meter individual medley (long course) from August 24, 1956, to July 19, 1958, and the world record in the 400-meter individual medley (long course) from June 24 to July 22, 1960.

## Post-swimming career

[edit]

He spent most of his career with Lee & Associates at Pleasanton, California, working in investment and industrial brokerage.[1] At the time of his death, on October 3, 2011, from complications during surgery, he lived in Moraga, California.[9][3]

## Honors

[edit]

Harrison was inducted into the Stanford University Hall of Fame.[3]

## See also

[edit]

* List of Olympic medalists in swimming (men)
* List of Stanford University people
* World record progression 200 metres individual medley
* World record progression 400 metres individual medley
* World record progression 4 × 200 metres freestyle relay

## References

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to George Harrison (swimmer).

1. ^ a b Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "George Harrison". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2012-12-11.
2. ^ George Harrison's obituary. legacy.com
3. ^ a b c d "Legacy Obituary, George Harrison". legacy.com. Retrieved May 2, 2025.
4. ^ "Olympic Medalist George Harrison Dies". patch.com. Retrieved May 2, 2025.
5. ^ a b "Olympedia Biography, George Harrison". olympedia.org. Retrieved May 2, 2025.
6. ^ "1960 Summer Olympics – Rome, Italy– Swimming" Archived 2007-09-04 at the Wayback Machine – databaseOlympics.com (Retrieved on April 30, 2008)
7. ^ "Historic U.S. Men's Head Olympic Swimming and Diving Team Coaches" (PDF). usaswimming.org. Retrieved May 2, 2025.
8. ^ "Nuptials Wed Susan Murray, George Harrison", Walnut Creek Sun, July 14, 1961, pg. 9
9. ^ George Harrison Obituary. Walnut Creek, CA, East Bay Times.

## External links

[edit]

* George Harrison at Olympedia

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1960 USA Olympic swimming team

Men's team|

* Bob Bennett
* Dick Blick
* George Breen
* Steve Clark
* Bill Darnton
* Jeff Farrell
* Dave Gillanders
* Paul Hait
* George Harrison
* Bruce Hunter
* Lance Larson
* Gene Lenz
* Frank McKinney
* Bill Mulliken
* Alan Somers
* Mike Troy
* Thomas Winters

Women's team|

* Molly Botkin
* Lynn Burke
* Donna de Varona
* Susan Doerr
* Nina Harmer
* Carolyn House
* Patty Kempner
* Sylvia Ruuska
* Carolyn Schuler
* Joan Spillane
* Shirley Stobs
* Chris von Saltza
* Anne Warner
* Carolyn Wood

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Olympic champions in men's 4 × 200 m freestyle relay

* 1908:  John Derbyshire, Paul Radmilovic, William Foster, Henry Taylor (GBR)
* 1912:  Cecil Healy, Malcolm Champion, Leslie Boardman, Harold Hardwick (ANZ)
* 1920:  Perry McGillivray, Pua Kealoha, Norman Ross, Duke Kahanamoku (USA)
* 1924:  Johnny Weissmuller, Wally O'Connor, Harry Glancy, Ralph Breyer (USA)
* 1928:  Johnny Weissmuller, Austin Clapp, Walter Laufer, George Kojac (USA)
* 1932:  Masanori Yusa, Yasuji Miyazaki, Takashi Yokoyama, Hisakichi Toyoda (JPN)
* 1936:  Masanori Yusa, Shigeo Sugiura, Shigeo Arai, Masaharu Taguchi (JPN)
* 1948:  Wally Ris, Jimmy McLane, Wally Wolf, Bill Smith (USA)
* 1952:  Wayne Moore, Bill Woolsey, Ford Konno, Jimmy McLane (USA)
* 1956:  Kevin O'Halloran, John Devitt, Murray Rose, Jon Henricks (AUS)
* 1960:  George Harrison, Dick Blick, Mike Troy, Jeff Farrell (USA)
* 1964:  Don Schollander, Steve Clark, Roy Saari, Gary Ilman (USA)
* 1968:  Don Schollander, Mark Spitz, John Nelson, Stephen Rerych (USA)
* 1972:  Mark Spitz, John Kinsella, Fred Tyler, Steve Genter (USA)
* 1976:  Mike Bruner, Bruce Furniss, John Naber, Jim Montgomery (USA)
* 1980:  Sergey Koplyakov, Vladimir Salnikov, Ivar Stukolkin, Andrey Krylov (URS)
* 1984:  Mike Heath, David Larson, Jeff Float, Bruce Hayes (USA)
* 1988:  Troy Dalbey, Matt Cetlinski, Doug Gjertsen, Matt Biondi (USA)
* 1992:  Dmitry Lepikov, Vladimir Pyshnenko, Veniamin Tayanovich, Yevgeny Sadovyi, Aleksey Kudryavtsev, Yury Mukhin (EUN)
* 1996:  Josh Davis, Joe Hudepohl, Brad Schumacher, Ryan Berube, Jon Olsen (USA)
* 2000:  Ian Thorpe, Michael Klim, Todd Pearson, Bill Kirby, Grant Hackett, Daniel Kowalski (AUS)
* 2004:  Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Peter Vanderkaay, Klete Keller, Dan Ketchum, Scott Goldblatt (USA)
* 2008:  Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Ricky Berens, Peter Vanderkaay, David Walters, Erik Vendt, Klete Keller (USA)
* 2012:  Ryan Lochte, Conor Dwyer, Ricky Berens, Michael Phelps, Charlie Houchin, Matt McLean, Davis Tarwater (USA)
* 2016:  Conor Dwyer, Townley Haas, Ryan Lochte, Michael Phelps, Clark Smith, Jack Conger, Gunnar Bentz (USA)
* 2020:  Tom Dean, James Guy, Matt Richards, Duncan Scott, Calum Jarvis (GBR)
* 2024:  James Guy, Tom Dean, Matt Richards, Duncan Scott, Jack McMillan, Kieran Bird (GBR)

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NCAA Champions in Men's 200 y Individual Medley

* 1956: Albert Wiggins (Ohio State)
* 1957: Timothy Jecko (Yale)
* 1958: Joe Hunsaker (Illinois)
* 1959: George Harrison (Stanford)
* 1960: Lance Larson (USC)
* 1961: John Kelso (Denver)
* 1962: Harley Mull (Ohio State)
* 1963: Harley Mull (Ohio State)
* 1964: Roy Saari (USC)
* 1965: Robert Hopper (Ohio State)
* 1966: Bill Utley (Indiana)
* 1967: Dick Roth (Stanford)
* 1968: Charlie Hickcox (Indiana)
* 1969: Charlie Hickcox (Indiana)
* 1970: Frank Heckl (USC)
* 1971: Gary Hall Sr. (Indiana)
* 1972: Gary Hall Sr. (Indiana)
* 1973: Steve Furniss (USC)
* 1974: Steve Furniss (USC)
* 1975: Fred Tyler (Indiana)
* 1976: Leroy Engstrand (Tennessee)
* 1977: Scott Spann Sr. (Auburn)
* 1978: Scott Spann Sr. (Auburn)
* 1979: D. Graham Smith (California)
* 1980: Bill Barrett (UCLA)
* 1981: Bill Barrett (UCLA)
* 1982: Bill Barrett (UCLA)
* 1983: Steve Lundquist (SMU)
* 1984: Ricardo Prado (SMU)
* 1985: Pablo Morales (Stanford)
* 1986: Pablo Morales (Stanford)
* 1987: Pablo Morales (Stanford)
* 1988: David Wharton (USC)
* 1989: David Wharton (USC)
* 1990: David Wharton (USC)
* 1991: Martín López-Zubero (Florida)
* 1992: Jeff Rouse (Stanford)
* 1993: Greg Burgess (Florida)
* 1994: Greg Burgess (Florida)
* 1995: Kurt Jachimowski (Auburn)
* 1996: Ryan Berube (SMU)
* 1997: Kris Babylon (Georgia)
* 1998: Tom Wilkens (Stanford)
* 1999: Lionel Moreau (Auburn)
* 2001: Nate Dusing (Texas)
* 2002: Markus Rogan (Stanford)
* 2003: George Bovell (Auburn)
* 2005: Ryan Lochte (Florida)
* 2006: Ryan Lochte (Florida)
* 2007: Adam Ritter (Arizona)
* 2008: Darian Townsend (Arizona)
* 2009: Bradley Ally (Florida)
* 2010: Austin Surhoff (Texas)
* 2011: Austin Staab (Stanford)
* 2012: Marcin Tarczyński (California)
* 2013: David Nolan (Stanford)
* 2014: Marcin Cieślak (Florida)
* 2015: David Nolan (Stanford)
* 2016: Will Licon (Texas)
* 2017: Will Licon (Texas)
2017: Mark Szaranek (Florida)
* 2018: Jan Świtkowski (Florida)
* 2019: Andrew Seliskar (California)
* ~~2020~~ : Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
* 2021: Shaine Casas (Texas A&M)
* 2022: Léon Marchand (Arizona State)
* 2023: Léon Marchand (Arizona State)
* 2024: Destin Lasco (California)
* 2025: Hubert Kós (Texas)

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