Jack Cody

A diver who developed his diving technique at the Multnomah Athletic Club in Portland, Oregon, by 1913 Cody began to coach divers and swimmers at the Club and brought national prominence to diver Constance Meyer. He was the first coach of Norman Ross, a swimming world record setter and multiple gold medal winner at the 1920 Summer Olympics, who later became a sportscaster.{{cite web|url=https://oregonsportshall.org/timeline/jack-cody-swimming/|title=Jack Cody, Oregon Sports Hall of Fame|publisher=Oregon Sports Hall of Fame|access-date=2023-10-08}}

Ross at top of Mermen.; Rated Highest by Experts Because of Work at Meet. The New York Times, July 27, 1919. p. 21. In those same Olympics, his diving students Thelma Payne, Hap Kuehn, and Louis Balbach all medaled in diving.{{cite web|url=http://www.ishof.org/honorees/70/70jcody.html|title=Jack Cody|publisher=International Swimming Hall of Fame|accessdate=2007-10-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120813084022/http://www.ishof.org/Honorees/70/70jcody.html|archive-date=2012-08-13|url-status=dead}}Buker, Paul. MAC Club's history rich in diving glory. The Oregonian, April 20, 1990. Cody was one of the earlier proponents of the use of weight training for his divers.

File:Suzanne Zimmerman 1948.jpg

His greatest fame came from 1939 to 1949 with the emergence of a group of his students who came to be known as "Cody's Kids": Nancy Merki, Brenda Helser, Suzanne Zimmerman, Joyce Macrae, Geneva Klaus, and Mary Anne Hansen, who dominated U.S. girls amateur swimming, winning three national Amateur Athletic Union swimming titles (in 1943, 1944, and 1949),{{cite news|url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F60B10F8345D167B93C0A8178FD85F478485F9|title=Multnomah Team of Four Gains U.S. Swimming Title as W.S.A. Places Third|date=April 12, 1943|work=New York Times|accessdate=2008-01-16}}{{cite news|url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F40A11F93A58157A93C5A8178FD85F408485F9|title=Swim Title Goes to Miss Sinclair|date=April 17, 1944|work=New York Times|accessdate=2008-01-16}}{{cite news|url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F20614FE3B58177B93C7AB178FD85F4D8485F9|title=Miss Olson First in 3-Meter Diving|date=April 25, 1949|work=New York Times|accessdate=2008-01-16}} 42 individual championships, and 16 relay championships, setting numerous records along the way.{{cite news|title=Swimmers Reunited at Coach's Induction into State Sports Hall|last=Schneidermann|first=Floyd|date=August 19, 1990|work=The Oregonian}}

Though greater recognition came in later years, many swimming analysts have noted the core of Cody's greatest national team consisting of Helser, Zimmerman, and Merki, were already swimming for Cody by 1938 but were quite young. Brenda Helser, only turning 14 in 1938, would soon emerge as an American freestyle champion, and Suzanne Zimmerman, barely 13, would be recognized as a national backstroke champion.

File:Nancy Merki.jpg

Nancy Merki, though only turning 12 in 1938, would become an exceptional middle distance freestyle swimmer, set 19 individual records in her swimming career, and go 17 seconds under the prior 1,500-meter freestyle record at the 1941 AAU championships. Later, at 22 she would qualify for the 1948 Olympics in the 400 meter freestyle. Showing unusual versatility, she won swimming competitions at every distance and in every stroke."Jack Cody Swim Coach Dies at 79", The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, California, pg. 36, 12 April 1963{{cite news|url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F10D10FE3B5C16738DDDAF0994D0405B8188F1D3|title=Miss Merki sets U.S. swim record|work=The New York Times|date=August 16, 1941|accessdate=January 17, 2008}}{{cite web|url=http://www.usaswimming.org/USASWeb/_Rainbow/Documents/4ea093e1-bfb9-4dda-8400-3a0447473612/Media%20Guide_web.pdf |title=National Title Leaders |work=USA Swimming Media Guide |page=20 |publisher=USA Swimming |accessdate=January 17, 2008 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071107205648/http://www.usaswimming.org/USASWeb/_Rainbow/Documents/4ea093e1-bfb9-4dda-8400-3a0447473612/Media%20Guide_web.pdf |archivedate=November 7, 2007 |url-status=dead }} Mary Anne Hanson who swam for Cody a bit after 1938 would help win four senior national indoor titles in Chicago in 1943.Hoffman, Jeanne, "Olympic Coaching Job Surprises Jack Cody", The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, California, pg. 35, 13 December 1955

File:Brenda Helser 1948.jpg

The cancellation of the 1940 and 1944 Summer Olympics due to World War II prevented several of Cody's swimmers from having a chance to appear in the Olympics at the peak of their careers, though Zimmerman and Helser did win medals in the 1948 games which Cody did not coach. Zimmerman won a Silver medal in the 100-meter backstroke with a time of 1:16.0, and Helser took a Gold medal, swimming the third leg in America's winning 4x100 Meter freestyle relay team in an Olympic Record time of 4:20.2.{{cite web |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1948/SWI/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417054533/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1948/SWI/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 April 2020 |title=Swimming at the 1948 London Summer Games |access-date=15 September 2016 |work=Sports Reference}} Nancy Merki, then known as Nancy Lees{{cite news|url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F10D1FFD345A107A93C4A9178FD85F4C8485F9|title=Swimmer who took new title|work=The New York Times|date=April 6, 1948|accessdate=January 17, 2008}} reached the finals of the 400 women's 400-meter freestyle, but finished in eighth place. Brenda Helser did a bit better, finishing fifth with a time of 5:26.0.{{cite web|url=http://www.todor66.com/olim/1948/Swimming/Women_400m_Freestyle.html|title=Women 400m Freestyle London (GBR) 1948 - 07.08|accessdate=January 17, 2008}}

Cody was the head coach for the American Women's Olympic team at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia."Deaths Elsewhere, Jack Cody", The Akron Beacon Journal, Akron, Ohio, pg. 23, 13 April 1963 At the Melbourne Olympics, American swimmers finished second to Australia in the medal count with a combined 11 medals. The women's team accounted for six of the U.S. team's 11 metals, winning all three medals in the butterfly competition.{{cite web |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1956/SWI/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417045622/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1956/SWI/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 April 2020 |title=Swimming at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games |access-date=1 October 2016 |work=Sports Reference}} Though he served as head coach of only one Olympics, around fifteen of his swimmers from Portland's Multnomah Club competed in Olympic competition."Obituarys, Jack Cody", The San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco, California, pg. 36, 13 April 1963

Cody retired from the MAC in 1949 and moved to Los Angeles, where he continued teaching and coaching. He is a member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame, the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame,{{cite web|url=http://www.oregonsportshall.org/inductee-members.html |publisher=Oregon Sports Hall of Fame |title=Hall of Fame Roll of Honor Members |accessdate=February 25, 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727152755/http://www.oregonsportshall.org/inductee-members.html |archivedate=July 27, 2011 }} and the American Swimming Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2002.{{cite web|url=http://www.swimmingcoach.org/hof/coaches/cody.swf|title=Jack Cody|publisher=American Swim Coaches Association|accessdate=2008-01-14}}

At 78, he died at Saltair Convalescent Hospital in Santa Monica, California on April 10, 1963. He had been living on Veteran Avenue in Los Angeles, and had been stricken in his home a few days earlier."Jack Cody, Swim Coach Dies at 79", The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, California, pg. 36, 12 April 1963

• List of members of the International Swimming Hall of Fame

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Category:1885 births

Category:1963 deaths

Category:Sportspeople from Portland, Oregon

Category:American swimming coaches

Category:Swimming in Oregon