Matthew Mann

Early swimming and emigration Mann learned to swim at eight in his hometown of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, at the public bath house. He had the money to swim there once a week, on 'dirty water days', as the cost was only a penny. Otherwise, he swam in the outdoor sluiceways that drained from the wool mills. At nine, he was England's boy champion and became a senior champion at 14.

At 16, he became the British Empire Champion in swimming. He was one of the only coaches to have coached at both Harvard and Yale. After he was forced to retire at the University of Michigan because of mandatory retirement age rules,

'52 Olympic Coach He was head coach of the U.S. Men's Swimming Team at the 1952 Summer Olympics. His University of Michigan swimmer John Davies took a gold medal, winning the 200-meter men's breaststroke in an Olympic record time of 2:34.4. The team took an additional three gold, two silver and a bronze medal.

Death in 1962 On August 6, 1962, Mann died at Camp Chikopi, which he founded in 1920 in Northern Ontario, Canada near Burk's Falls. A cause of death remained undetermined, but he had felt well that day, and the prior day. He collapsed in his bathroom after telling his family he felt tired, and several press reports speculated a heart attack as cause of death. He was a member of the Ann Arbor Rotary Club, the First Church of Christ Scientist, and Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity. His funeral was on August 9 at Muehlig Funeral Chapel in Ann Arbor, Michigan.