Bowen Dow Stassforth is an American former competition swimmer and Olympic medalist. Stassforth was an eight-time All-American in swimming at the University of Iowa. Over the course of his career, he set 16 national breaststroke records in distances from 200 yards to 500 yards and one world record in the 200-yard breaststroke in 1952. Bowen was also Iowa AAU Athlete of the Year in 1952. In his early life, Bowen had an intense fear of water, which was the result of having his head put under water by the family maid. After his parents discovered this, swimming lessons commenced and his athletic career as a swimmer began at Los Angeles High School. In August 1944, while still in high school, Bowen joined the U.S. Navy. During his service in the Navy, he taught swimming and water survival skills to enlisted sailors on North Island in San Diego. Bowen swam in the era when the accepted arm motion of the breaststroke was optional with either the underwater breaststroke as we know it today or the over the water arm motion now known as the butterfly. The leg movement was the frog kick. 

August 7th, 1926 in Los Angeles as Bowen Dow Stassforth  /  Died:   Nov 22nd, 2019 - aged 93