Ken Huszagh

Kenneth Arthur Huszagh (September 3, 1891 – January 11, 1950) was an American competition swimmer who represented the United States at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden in the 100-meter freestyle and the 4x200 freestyle relay. He later worked in the oil and chemical field in New England for the Hygrade Oil Company and the American Mineral Spirits Company while living in Stamford, Connecticut

Early life and swimming Huszagh was born in Chicago to Rudolph Daniel Huszagh and Henrietta Robinson on September 3, 1891 and grew up in a home on Chicago's Washington Boulevard. He was the second son of a family that would include three older and one younger brother, several of whom were also skilled swimmers. His brother Victor was a Chicago area competitor, who would swim for Amherst College beginning in 1909. His paternal immigrant ancestor came from the Austria-Hungary Empire (now Slovakia).

Excelling early as a sprinter, Huszagh represented Chicago's Lewis Institute in High School, where he set an early Illinois Interscholastic State record for the 100-yard swim of 1:06.2, and a record for the 40-yard swim of 21.2 seconds. At 18, he represented Lewis Institute at the Chicago Interscholastic meet at the Illinois Athletic Club on February 12, 1910, where he lowered the 40-yard swim mark to 19.4 seconds, considered at the time a world mark by the Chicago Tribune.

Huszagh trained and competed for the Chicago Athletic Association by 1909 and through most of his swimming career would have Alex Meffert, swimming director for the Chicago Athletic Association, as his primary mentor and coach. Meffert coached both competitive swimming and hockey and would mentor swimmers that would become both Olympic swimming and hockey participants. He had formerly coached the Missouri Athletic Club. His focus with Huszagh was to further develop his use of the Australian crawl, known as the front crawl, which had become fully accepted since its adoption in American competition around 1905.

Northwestern University He attended Northwestern University, where he competed as a swimmer on their Wildcats team.

He held a record in the 50-yard freestyle of 23.6 seconds which he set at the Illinois Athletic Club pool on March 12, 1912.

1912 Stockholm Olympics Representing the Illinois Athletic Club, Huszagh made the 1912 US Olympics team competition in Stockholm and competed in the 100-meter freestyle, in which he won a bronze medal with a time of 1:05.6. In a typically close finish, Duke Kohanamoku of the United States took the gold with a 1:03.4, and Cecil Healey of Australasia took the silver with a 1:04.6. The swimming events were held from July 6-July 12 in a course constructed in Stockholm harbor.

Competing in the 4x200 freestyle relay, Huszagh's American relay team briefly held a world record with their preliminary time of 10:26.4, soundly beating the old record established in the 1908 Olympics by nearly 30 seconds. In the final of Hszazgh's 4×200-meter freestyle relay, though they outperformed their briefly held world record, Huszagh's team finished second, taking the silver medal, with a combined time of 10:20.2. Huszagh swam lead-off and was followed by U.S. teammates Perry McGillivray, Harry Hebner, and Duke Kahanamoku.

Later life Huszagh married Frances Kleinsteuber at her home in St. Joseph Township, Michigan, on April 29, 1916. The couple met at a Northern Wisconsin Lake, where Huszagh was impressed that Frances could not swim, and did not discuss his background as a championship swimmer. Frances was the daughter of the head of the combined police and fire alarm system of her city. The couple would have one child. One week earlier, Huszagh, while representing the Chicago Athletic Association, had swum in a meet against the Yale University swim team in Chicago where the Chicago Club won soundly.

Huszagh was later involved in the founding of the town of Kildeer, Illinois, along with the help of his family. He worked as a Director for the Hygrade Oil Company while living in Stamford, Connecticut, and later as an executive with New York's American Mineral Spirits Company, serving as president before retiring. Stamford is 34 miles outside of New York City, and Huszagh may have commuted to New York City area positions from his home in Stamford.

He died on January 11, 1950 at his winter home in Delray Beach, Florida of an apparent heart attack, after arriving there in December.