Swimming
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Boy's High School
State Champions 1922 N/A
1923 Hope - City 1924 Technical - City 1925 Moses Brown 1926 Pawtucket East 1927 Moses Brown 1928 Pawtucket East 1929 Pawtucket East 1930 Pawtucket East 1931 Pawtucket East 1932 Pawtucket East 1933 Pawtucket East 1934 Central 1935 Central 1936 La Salle 1934 Central 1935 Central 1936 La Salle 1937 Hope & Lockwood 1938 Central 1939 Pawtucket East 1940 Pawtucket East 1941 Pawtucket East 1942 Pawtucket East 1943 Pawtucket East 1944 Pawtucket East 1945 Pawtucket East 1946 Pawtucket East 1947 N/A 1948 N/A 1949 Pawtucket East All-State
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Swimming in the United States began competitively in the 1880s. The first nationally recognized swimming organization was the Amateur Athletic Union in 1888. Swimming at Brown University began with the construction of the Colgate Hoyt Pool in 1903. The first meet in the new pool was held with Yale on February 4, 1903. Trainer Charlie Huggins organized intercollegiate swimming at Brown in 1905-1906 and was its unofficial coach until his death in 1924. Soon public swimming pools in Rhode Isalnd became more accessible to the general public and interscholastic competition began. The Brown Interscholastic Meet in the Colgate-Hoyt Pool and the Lt. George R. Meehan Memorial Meet in the Metcalf Pool at the Wanskuck Boy's Club in Providence were long running programs for high school swimming teams. Pawtucket East High School was a powerhouse winning several state championships. For the first time in 1948 All-State men's and woman's teams were chosen by the Rhode Island Swimming coaches and Officials Association. Buster Crabbe, 1932 Olympic swimming champion and movie star, was a principal speaker on occasion at the testimonial dinners for the All-Star swimmers. Rhode Island also was represented on the Olympic stage. Aileen Riggin-Soule of Newport was the first female Olympic diving champion in 1920. She won the gold medal in woman's 3 meter springboard diving at the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp. Riggin competed at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris in both diving and swimming, winning a silver medal in the 3 meter springboard diving and a bronze medal in the 100 meter backstroke swimming event. In doing so she became the first female Olympian to win medals in two different sports at the same Olympic Games and widely credited as being the only female competitor ever to do so. She went down in history as America's shortest Olympic champion at only 4 feet 8 inches and weighing just 65 pounds. She was the United States national springboard diving champion three straight years (1923-25). Clara Lamore Walker of Providence was a 1948 Olympian in the breaststroke. She won five United States Championships and was an All-American at Providence College. She was also inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame. Doris Brennan Weir of Providence captured five national swimming championships, set a world record for the 300-yard medley swim and was a member of the 1940 US Olympic Team.
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