Redlands Connection is a concoction of sports memories emanating from a city that once numbered less than 20,000 people. From the Super Bowl to the World Series, from the World Cup to golf’s U.S. Open and the Olympics, plus NCAA Final Four connections, NASCAR, the Kentucky Derby and Indianapolis 500, Tour de France cycling, major tennis, NBA and a little NHL, aquatics and quite a bit more, that sparkling little city sits between Los Angeles and Palm Springs along Interstate 10 has its share of sports connections. If anyone recalls brilliant 1972 Olympian Mark Spitz, there was a key figure from Redlands who swam against him. – Obrey Brown
That day, August 28 back in 2018, was the 45th anniversary of an Olympic moment. So much history was locked from that 1972 Olympic Games. Held in Munich, located in West Germany, who could forget the slaughter of Israeli athletes by Palestinians in one of the world’s greatest divides?
Brilliant memories showcased that Olympics berth — good or bad.
U.S. men’s basketball team, for instance, lost a gold medal that led to an international incident.
On the plus side, there was wrestler Dan Gable and gymnast Olga Korbut, marathoner Frank Shorter and half-miler Dave Wottle, who came from behind to win the 800.
Meanwhile, American sprinters Rey Robinson and Eddie Hart, nowhere to be found in the 100 and 200 finals, missed their preliminary heats when they received the wrong starting times.
Swimming comes huge among most Olympic followers.
There were prime headlines coming from that Schwimmhalle, the Olympic swim center at the Munich Olympic Park. An American swimmer was re-writing the record books.
A Redlands swimmer, Robin Backhaus, was hot on his trail.
Mark Spitz. Seven gold medals. An American legend.
Robin Backhaus, a 17-year-old swimmer at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, won a bronze medal in the butterfly (photo by Wikipedia Commons).Backhaus! Born in Nebraska. Attended Redlands High. His swim club was in Riverside. Following the Games, he’d wind up in Hawaii. Or Alabama. Even in Washington, the U.S. northwest.
On that Aug. 28, 1972, Backhaus notched that bronze medal off a brilliant third-place performance in the men’s 200-meter butterfly. His time, 2:03.23, finished behind Spitz’s world record 2:00.70, with Gary Hall, Sr. (2:02.86) and Backhaus completing the USA’s sweep.
Imagine that for a Redlands Connection! A Redlands swimmer was beaten only by a world record. In that 200-fly finale, Backhaus outlasted South America’s Ecuador’s Jose Delgado, Jr., fourth place, by over a second to grab that bronze medal.
A sharp performing pathway to the championship race was littered with challenges.
Truthfully, Backhaus posted the fastest time in those climbing heats which led to the finals. That 17-year-old from Redlands won, in 2:03.11, past West Germany’s Folkert Meeuw. By heat four in that 200-meter butterfly, Spitz won his race and stole away, however briefly Backhaus’ Olympic record’s swim.
Spitz, who surpassed Backhaus’ 2:03.11 clocking with a 2:02.11 of his own, claimed the record in that semifinal heat. The top two finishers from each heat qualified for the finals.
It took that world record swim from Spitz, his 2:00.70 outdueling Hall and Backhaus.
Delgado, West Germany’s Hans Fassnacht, Hungary’s Andras Hargitay, East Germany’s Hartmut Flockner and Meeuw took fourth through eighth place in the overall outcome. Even Meeuw’s last place clocking, 2:05.57, was world class.
Backhaus was surrounded by brilliant talent on his U.S. Olympic team:
- Jerry Heidenreich, two relay gold medals, part of six world records
- John Murphy, a relay gold and bronze in the 100-back
- Mike Stamm, silver medals in two backstroke events, plus a relay gold
- Tom Bruce, former world record holder in 4 x 100 free
- Steve Furniss, bronze, 100-individual medley
- Gary Hall, Sr. – Two years before Munich, Hall set a world record in 200-fly
- Mike Burton (3-time Olympic champion, former world record holder)
- Steve Genter, gold medalist (silver in 100-free)
- John Hencken, 13 world records, 21 American records
- Doug Northway, like Backhaus, was 17, capturing bronze in the 1500-free
- Tim McKee (3-time silver medalist)
A footnote to McKee: Swimming observers will recall a close finish – losing to Sweden’s Gunnar Larsson by two one-thousandths of a second in the 400-IM – in which the scoreboard reflected a dead heat at 4:31.98. In a controversial decision, event judges named Larsson the winner with a 4:31.981 to McKee’s 4:31.983.
Under new federation rules, timing to the thousandths of a second are now prohibited. It was that race which led to the change in rules.
That year’s U.S. swim side copped 43 medals, seven of its 17 gold medals won by Spitz, two shared in pair of relays.
Spitz, meanwhile, might’ve been caught up in the explosive nature of The Games. As a Jewish American, Spitz was asked to leave Germany before the closing ceremonies. The historically upsetting deaths of those Israeli athletes had left a trickle-down effect for the remainder of The Games.
POST-OLYMPIC CAREER
Domestically, Backhaus won three Amateur Athletic Union titles, at the indoor 200-yard butterfly in 1974, plus the 100-fly in 1973. He also won NCAA title in the 200-fly in 1975.
His club was based in Riverside. One of his coaches was Chuck Riggs, who would help develop several future champions, including Cynthia “Sippy” Woodhead. Riggs, eventually shifting to the Redlands Swim Team, was voted into the Swim Coaches Hall of Fame in 2018.
While a Redlands resident, Backhaus performed plenty of celebratory swimming. In 1970, at the Pacific Southwest YMCA Swimming and Diving Championships, he set an age group record of 57.1 in a 100-yard butterfly chase, plus a 23.2 in 50-yard freestyle, merely fractions of a second off an age group record.
Sure, there were changes after The Games of 1972. Backhaus swam his senior season at San Rafael High School — north of San Francisco — after he transferred from Redlands High.
Backhaus’ college choice was Washington, later transferring to Alabama, which is where he graduated.
Backhaus, a teacher and swimming coach at Konawaena (Hawaii) High School, eventually surfaced as a swimming trainer in Texas and California for over 20 years.
A year after his Olympic exploits, Backhaus won a pair of gold medals, plus a bronze medal at the 1973 World Aquatics Championships in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
There was a win in his specialty, the 200-fly, plus his part in the 4 x 200 freestyle relay. In the 100-fly, Backhaus took third.
Born on Feb. 12, 1955, Backhaus never swam competitively at Redlands High. He’s a Terrier Hall of Famer, though, easily a portion of that school’s growing history of top-level athletes that includes sharp-achieving athletes from almost any sport.
Backhaus’ only other hope for another Olympic event came in the 100-fly, but he was unable to qualify at the Trials.
Think of it this way: For a brief time, Backhaus held the Olympic record in that 200-meter butterfly. It took a world record swim, from Spitz of all people, to edge the Redlands teenager for the gold medal.
After retiring from competition, Backhaus worked as a teacher and coach at Konawaena High School in Kealakekua on a four-year service, then training swimmers in Texas and California for over 20 years.
There would no Olympic Games for Backhaus in Montreal 1976.
