Big splash

The world's greatest swim sprinter is knock-kneed, rusty-haired Alan Robert Ford. During the past month, his last at Yale, he has taken a final fling at rewriting the record books. Result: eleven new American free-style and backstroke marks. Last week, in the midst of his final Navy (V12) exams, he made the biggest splash of all. Keeping his stroke long and easy (extra effort generates power but not speed, like an automobile in second), Ford couldn't help feeling that he was loafing. Three official A.A.U. watches contradicted him : he had traveled 100 yards in 49.4 seconds, faster than any human ever swam before. It shattered Johnny Weissmuller's 17-year-old (20-yd. pool) record by four-tenths of a second.

Ford laid the foundation for his record-snapping stroke in Balboa, Canal Zone, improved it at Mercersburg Academy. When he entered Yale three years ago, he was ready for squatty Bob Kiphuth's swimming course for advanced students. A fanatic on physical condition, Coach Kiphuth put Ford through the usual ten weeks of exercises to build belly, back and chest muscles, other exercises to strengthen arm depressors, hip-joint flexors and extensors. Then Kiphuth got to work on Ford's form. After three years of bringing his stroke close to perfection, Ford has one final problem : the necessity of breathing. If he did not have to turn his head now & then, there would not be that slight, rhythm-breaking drop of the left shoulder.

Ford began breaking Weissmuller's records two years ago. He edged the 100-yard world's record of 51 seconds (over the international 25-yd. course), pounded it toward the magic 50 mark (50.7, 50.6, 50.1), finally did a nonpareil 49.7 last March. Last week's 49.4 was the end of the line.

Alan Ford finishes his mechanical engineering studies at Yale this week, begins an intensive midshipman course next month. After 16 years of painstaking practice, he is pretty well fed up with swimming. Said he before his final record-breaking dash: "My mind is on other things. I got engaged last week. I want to get my Navy commission. I would like to find a nice quiet spot and drink lots of beer."

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