Burt Kanner

U.S. Masters National records In 1974, around age 35, he set seven American Masters National records which included the 100, 200, 400, and 1500 meter freestyle events, as well as the 100 and 200-meter butterfly.

Continuing to swim into later life, at the Eel Lake Open Water Swim in August, 2004, Kanner placed first in his 65-69 age group in both the 3000 and 1500 meter competitions. He swam in several National meets with Oregon Masters, frequently placing in the top ten in his age group.

Southern California swim coaching With all the opportunities in Los Angeles, Kanner was able to gain coaching experience while still attending college at Occidental. He coached the swim team at Eagle Rock High School from 1959-1962, and spent one year as Head Coach for his Alma Mater Occidental in 1963.

Prior to 1966, Kanner was busy obtaining his Master's Degree. One of Kanner's earlier coaching experiences was with Caltech's Pasadena AAU team from 1966-1973, where he led the team to four Southern California League Championships. He coached for one year at Pasadena's John Muir High School in 1969, where he served as a math teacher for six years.

San Marino High School coach Kanner is probably best known for coaching the swim team at San Marino High School for eighteen years from 1970–82, and 1985-1991, taking off the years 83-84. At San Marino, he led the team to eight California Interscholastic Federation Championships. He worked as a Math Teacher at San Marino for twenty-three years from around 1969-1992, and served as Chair of the Department of Mathematics.

By 1976, two of his San Marino High School swimmers had broken all of the School records, Mike Elleman, and Ron Kehrmann, a 6' 2" Israeli swimmer who held a National Record in his native country. When Burt retired from coaching swimming at San Marino in 1992, the High School's swimming pool was named the Kanner Pool to recognize his achievements.

Public address announcer Kanner began his career as a public address announcer primarily for swimming competitions in 1976, and continued through 2001. He served as a swimming announcer for the Pacific-10 conference, California junior college championships, the U.S. short and long-course swimming championships, the World University Games and most impressively for the 1984 summer olympics in Los Angeles. He spent 20 years announcing PAC-10 conference meets, and 8 years announcing NCAA Division I meets. As a highlight to his career, in 1996 he served as the public address announcer for swimming at the 1996 summer Olympics in Atlanta.

Honors Kanner had broad recognition as a swim coach. In 1991, he was awarded the California Coaches Association High School Boys Swimming Coach of the Year. and was inducted into the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

Kanner was a Region 8 Swimming Coach of the Year, and a 1991 National High School Athletic Coaches Association (NHSACA) Swimming Coach of the Year. In a more recent honor in 2023, Kanner was inducted into the Los Angeles Unified School District's Alumni Hall of Fame.

Author He published Don Gambril: A Coach with a Heart in 2022, a biography about the long serving University of Alabama Swim Coach, and U.S. Head swim coach for the 1984 Summer Olympics. Kanner was mentored by Gambril, while serving as his Assistant coach at the Los Angeles Athletic Club in 1966-67.