BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — In the lead-up to the Olympic Games in Tokyo, the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) is looking back at athletes who made their mark on amateur sports’ biggest stage and excelled at their collegiate institutions.
Next up in the series is University of Illinois’ alumnus Perry McGillivray.
A charter member/1976 inductee to the United States Water Polo Hall of Fame, McGillivray was born on August 5, 1893, in Chicago. A member of the Illinois Athletic Club, a graduate of Oak Park High School in Chicago and active as an athlete on the international stage from 1912-to-1924, he made his mark in the water and on the pool deck as both a competitor and a coach.
A swimmer at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden (the United States did not compete in water polo at the 1912 games) and the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium, McGillivray was also part of the 1920 U.S. men’s water polo team which placed fourth.
In the 1912 Olympics, he competed in the 100-meter freestyle and reached the semifinal. Further, he also was a member of the United States’ 4×200-meter freestyle relay team, which won a silver medal.
Eight years later in 1920, he was fourth in the 100-meter backstroke and won a gold medal as a member of the world-record establishing United States’ 4×200-meter freestyle relay team. He also played for the United States water polo team, which finished fourth as team USA defeated Greece (7-0 W) and Spain (5-0 W), but fell to Gold Medalist Great Britain (7-2 L), Silver Medalist Belgium (7-2 L) and Sweden (5-0 L) in the Bronze Medal game.
The 1920 Olympics are noteworthy for one other occurrence – two Dutch women’s teams competed during the event in an exhibition match marking the inaugural women’s water polo game at the Olympics.
A seven-time AAU Senior National Champion Indoors (1914, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1921, 1923, 1924), he returned to the Olympic game in 1928 in Amsterdam to lead the United States to a Seventh Place finish as head coach. He stands as one of four men to play and coach the United States Olympic team joining Austin Clapp (Athlete: 1932; Coach: 1948), Terry Schroeder (Athlete: 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992; Coach: 2008, 2012) and John Vargas (Athlete: 1992; Coach: 2000).
Between 1908 and 1927, he won 36 U.S. National AAU titles (swimming and water polo) and gave back by joining with 1908 (swimming), 1912 (swimming) and 1920 (swimming/water polo) Olympian Harry Hebner to invent the lob shot and deflection shot, while also developing the aerial passing game which revolutionized water polo to the modern sport.
His brother Edward continued the family tradition in swimming and water polo as the head coach of both sports at the University of Chicago.
A 1981 Honor Swimmer inductee to the International Swimming Hall of Fame, McGillivray passed away at the age of 50 on July 27, 1944, in Maywood, Illinois.
