Barry Weitzenberg

Charles Barry Weitzenberg (born September 30, 1946, in Palo Alto, California) is a former water polo player from the United States, who competed for the University of California at Berkeley, and was a member of the U.S. Olympic men's Water Polo team that won the bronze medal at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. After graduating as an Industrial Engineer from Berkeley in 1969, and receiving an MBA from Santa Clara University, Weitzenberg worked with California technology companies, eventually serving as President of SOLA optical in 2000. At the time of his birth, Barry's father, who attended San Jose State, worked as an inspector at Hendy Ironworks in Sunnyvale, California. Barry grew up in the family home in Los Altos, and first attended Blach Junior High School, then Awalt High School in greater Mountainview, California, beginning around 1960 and graduating in 1964. From an athletic family, Weitzenberg's twin brother William "Bart" Barton was a standout on Awalt High's football team. At Awalt High, Barry was trained and coached by Art Lambert, an accomplished coach in both swimming and water polo, who trained and managed the team from 1961–66, and would serve as an Assistant Olympic coach. In addition to playing water polo, Weitzenberg competed for Awalt swimming where he was part of a record-setting freestyle relay team. By his Senior year around 1964, Weitzenberg had been named to the High School Prep All-American team for two years, and was a critical player in leading the Awalt Water Polo team to the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League and Northern California Championships. Weitzenberg was on the All-SCVAL and All-North Coast Tournament teams, was a member of the California Scholastic Federation, and served as his High School's Junior Class President.

University of California Berkeley Weitzenberg attended the University of California Berkeley on a swimming and water polo scholarship from around 1965-1969, where he played water polo under Cal Head Coach, and USA Water Polo Hall of Fame Coach Pete Cutino, who led Cal teams to eight national championships during his twenty-five year coaching tenure. At Cal, Weitzenberg received NCAA All-American honors in 1966, and earned varsity letters in successive years from 1965-1967. He graduated Berkeley in 1969 with a degree in Industrial Engineering, and was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. Pre-game favorites Yugoslavia took the gold, the Soviet Union took the silver, and Hungary took the bronze medal. Weitzenberg's former Awalt High School Coach, Adam Lambert, was the U.S. Water Polo Team's head coach for pre-Olympic training and at the Olympics in Mexico City. Facing stiff competition in early rounds, the U.S. beat the team from Brazil by a score of 10-5, later reaching a 6-6 tie with Cuba, though they outshot the Cuban team 19-0. In later rounds, the American team lost to pre-game favorites Hungary and the Soviet Union, but beat the East German team by a score of 6-4 in their final rounds to receive their fifth place finish.

Shortly after graduating U. Cal Berkeley, on June 21, 1969, Barry married Michele Smith at the Presbyterian Church in Concord, California. The couple met while students at Berkeley, and Michele worked as a computer programmer at the time of their marriage. At this early stage of his career, Weitzenberg worked as an industrial engineer at FMC Corporation, likely in San Jose. Ushers at the wedding included fellow Olympians Peter Asch, and Gary Scheerer. The couple honeymooned in Hawaii, and planned to live in San Jose.

72 Bronze Olympic medal As a participant at the 1972 Munich Olympic Water polo competition, Weitzenberg was one of America's most experienced team members. The U.S. team was managed by Hall of Fame Head Coach Monte Nitzkowski, a former competitor for Long Beach City College, and assisted by Art Lambert, who had coached Weitzenberg at Awalt High School and would serve as his coach with the water polo team at both the DeAnza Athletic Club and Foothills Athletic Club. The 1972 U.S. men's Olympic water polo team included James Ferguson, Peter Asch, Russel Webb, John Parker, Bruce Bradley, Steven Barnett, James Slatton, Gary Sheerer, and Stanley Cole.

Like Weitzenberg, two other U.S. Water Polo players, Jim Ferguson and Gary Sheerer, had formerly attended Awalt High School. Peter Asch, who also attended the University of California Berkeley, was a 1972 Olympic team mate, and James Slatton and Steve Barnett of Long Beach State played goalkeeper. In his earlier career, in 1982 he worked as a corporate level Vice-President of Manufacturing at Santa Rosa's National Control Inc., a manufacturer of electronic control systems, and supervised the Operations of W.C. Dillon, Inc. He had begun work at National Control by 1980. In 1997, he worked as an Executive Vice-President of Operations for SOLA, a major manufacturer of eyeglass lenses in Petaluma, California, during a time of growth. In 2000, Weitzenberg served as the President of SOLA optical in Petaluma, California, producing such products as very hard thin plastic lenses, where he oversaw a period of lay-offs. Prior to serving as President of SOLA Optical, he served as President of the Optics Division of JDS Uniphase, a manufacturer of thin customized film optics.

Honors In 1984, Weitzenberg was inducted into the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame and the California Athletic Hall of Fame in 1987.