About Adolph Kiefer
Adolph Gustav Kiefer (June 27, 1918 – May 5, 2017) was an American competition swimmer who swam for the University of Texas, a 100-meter gold medalist in the 1936 Summer Olympics, and a former world record-holder in numerous backstroke events. He was the first person in the world to break the one-minute mark in the 100-yard backstroke. Kiefer was also an inventor of new products related to aquatics competition and a founder of Adolph Kiefer and Associates, a swimming equipment company, in 1947. == Early life and education == Kiefer was born as a son of German immigrants in Chicago, Illinois. His father had been a swim instructor in the German army and had worked as a candy vendor. He did some of his earliest swimming at one of the Sister Lakes in Michigan at the age of ten. While still a youth in Chicago, he swam with the Wilson Avenue YMCA, participating the well-known Gold Medallion swimming contest, where he swam the one mile event. He received some of his earliest swimming instruction at the Wilson YMCA. The following year, he enrolled at Von Steuben Junior High School on Chicago's North Side, where he had access to the school's indoor swimming pool, a coach, and a swim team. Kiefer attended Chicago's Roosevelt High School, graduating in June, 1936. According to family and newspaper sources, around 16 Kiefer worked as a lifeguard during the summer at the Baby Ruth Pool during the 1933 Chicago's World's Fair where he first met Tex Robertson.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.