Chet Jastremski

Chester Andrew Jastremski (January 12, 1941 – May 3, 2014) was an American competition swimmer, who competed for Indiana University, and was both a 1964 Olympic bronze medalist in breaststroke and an American and world record-holder. Exceptional as a breaststroker, in his career, he set 21 national and 12 world records, and was considered by Sports Illustrated in 1961 as one of the greatest swimmers of his era. Jastremski was the first swimmer to go under one minute for the 100-yard breaststroke. He would later graduate medical school at the Indiana University in 1968 and practice medicine in Bloomington, Indiana, also serving as a swim coach for local teams. Chet later attended and swam for Toledo's Catholic all male college preparatory school St. Francis de Sales, graduating in June 1959. By 1957, Jastremski represented Toledo's Glass City Aquatic Club in a few meets. At the April 10-11, 1958, National YMCA Championships, he broke a National YMCA record in the 200-yard butterfly with a YMCA meet record time of 2:14.7, and swam the 200-yard Individual Medley with a meet record time of 2:12. Representing St. Francis de Sales, Jastremski was an All American swimmer in High School and was a National Catholic High School Champion. In his High School Junior and Senior years, Jastremski represented Cincinnati Coca-Colas Swim Club, coached by Paul Hartlaub, and trained with the team during the summers of 1958 and 1959, but continued to attend Toledo's St. Francis de Sales High. Hartlaub also coached the University of Cincinnati men's team.

In his Senior year, Jastremski was widely recruited by a number of schools for his swimming skills including Yale, Notre Dame, Michigan State, Michigan and Ohio State. He initially accepted an invitation to enroll at the University of Cincinnati to swim under his former coach Paul Hartlaub, but decided before the Fall, 1959 semester to swim for Indiana University. An exceptionally strong program, in February 1962, the Indiana swim team had five swimmers who collectively had set eight world records. They included 200 meter backstroke record holder Tom Stock, individual medley swimmer Ted Stickles, and medley relay swimmers Larry Shulholf, and Pete Sintz.

Jastremski may have benefited from Counsilman's own collegiate swimming experiences, as Counsilman competed in both breaststroke and individual medley during his own noteworthy college swimming career at Ohio State. Jastremski swam on the Indiana varsity swim team from 1961-1963, serving as a co-captain in 1963, and in his career won a remarkable total of seventeen American Athletic Union titles in the breaststroke, including both individual and medley relay events. Jastremski may have performed well in NCAA competition considering his breaststroke times, but during his tenure as a swimming competitor with Indiana, the team was banned from NCAA national championships due to several recruiting violations by the Indiana football team.

His most exceptional year was 1961, when he established new world records in four breaststroke events, resetting his own records a few times in the process.

He qualified for the early August 1972 U.S. Olympic swimming trials in Chicago, but did not make the team nor attend the Olympics.

He died on May 3, 2014, aged 73, at Indiana University's Hospice in Bloomington, after battling cancer, arthritis, and Parkinson's disease. His survivors included wife Connie Jastremski, children Kelly, Andrea and Ted Jastremski, step children, and numerous grandchildren.