Ronald Crawford

Ronald "Ron" Emerson Crawford (December 6, 1939 – December 20, 2015) was an American water polo player who competed for Long Beach State University and participated in the 1959 Pan American Games, the 1960 Summer Olympics, the 1964 Summer Olympics, and the 1968 Summer Olympics.

College years He attended and competed for the water polo programs at Long Beach City College from 1957 to 1958 under Monte Nitzkowski, a Water Polo Hall of Fame inductee, and US Olympic Coach. He completed his education at Long Beach State from 1961 to 1963. At Long Beach State, he played on Water Polo teams that placed first in championships and in both 1962 and 1963, he received All-American honors in water polo.

Olympics 1960 Rome Olympics Crawford participated with the U.S. team that finished seventh among sixteen competing countries at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome in the Men's water polo tournament. He played six matches and scored five goals. The US polo team played under Olympic Coaches Neal Kohlhase and Urho Saari, both inductees of the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame.

1964 Tokyo Olympics Four years later, he participated with the U.S. team under Olympic Head Coach Urho Saari that was eliminated in the first round of the 1964 Olympic tournament in Tokyo, finishing in ninth place overall among thirteen competing countries. Crawford played three matches and scored four goals. Members of the team included the brothers Paul, Ned and Chick McIlroy, Ralph Whitney, and Urho Saari's son Bob Saari. In their first game, the Americans lost to a strong, tall and dominant team from Yugoslavia 2-1, where water polo was a major sport. The U.S. team was tied 1–1 with the team from Yugoslavia throughout the first half, with the Yugoslavians not taking the winning shot until the last four minutes of play in the second half. In their next game, the American team defeated the team from Brazil 7-1, but were subsequently defeated 4–6 by the team from the Netherlands, losing their chance to advance to the semi-finals. In an unusual twist, in the losing game against the Netherlands American goalie Tony Van Dorp, played against his brother Fred van Dorp. Tony Van Dorp had played for the Dutch Team before coming to America and gaining citizenship in 1957. After semi-final play, pre-games and perennial favorite Hungary took the gold medal, Yugoslavia took the silver, and the Soviet Union took the bronze.

1968 Mexico City Olympics Crawford competed at the 1968 Olympic water polo tournament under Head Olympic water polo coach Art Lambert. The U.S. team finished fifth overall among the fifteen countries competing. Crawford played all eight matches but did not score a goal. The 1968 Olympics were similar to the previous four Olympics in that the dominant teams from Hungary, Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union, and Italy made the semi-finals. In the end, Yugoslavia won the gold, the Soviet Union the silver, and Hungary took the bronze. In 1983 he became the first American water polo player to be inducted into the international water polo Hall of Fame.

Death Crawford, who lived in Manhattan Beach just over 50 years, died on December 20, 2015. Memorial services were planned to be held at the Manhattan Beach waterfront on January 31, 2016, with a memorial reception at the Manhattan Beach Mariott at mid-day January 31. Crawford was survived by his wife Lynn, two children and three step-children.