REGIONAL— The late Robert “Bob” Gawboy was inducted last month into the North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame for his remarkable achievements in the sport of swimming.
While swimming is not a sport in which Native Americans have typically excelled, Gawboy, born June 28, 1932 on the Vermilion Reservation, was an exception.
Gawboy, whose family moved to Ely when he was 14, got his start in competitive swimming at the Ely High School. He joined the swim team because it practiced at noon, rather than after school, which meant he could still catch the bus home, rather than walk ten miles.
In 1949, Gawboy helped lead Ely to a state swimming championship, placing first in the 100-breaststroke. The following year, Gawboy broke a state record in the 200-freestyle and set national high school records in two individual medley events.
Gawboy, by then a swimming sensation, went on to swim for Perdue, where he placed first in the 150-IM at the East-West collegiate competition. In 1952, at the NCAA Nationals, he took second in the 150-IM.
But Gawboy’s most remarkable achievements came in the wake of surgery to repair a congenital arterial condition in his left leg, which forced him to stop swimming for a time. After surgery to repair the condition, Gawboy eventually returned to swimming in early 1955 while on a scholarship at the University of Minnesota. Just two months later, after a two-year hiatus from swimming, Gawboy shocked the sports world on April 1, 1955 at the AAU Indoor National Championship at Yale. That’s where he swam the 220-breaststroke in 2:38.0, cracking what was then the world record.
Gawboy, who later reported that the pain in his leg was excruciating during the race, was emotional after his win, and he erupted in whoops and hollers in celebration, antics that the press later referred to as “war whoops.”
Despite his athletic prowess, Gawboy’s life was relatively short. He died on July 15, 1987, at the age of 55, due to complications from multiple sclerosis. Prior to his death, Gawboy was inducted into the American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame in Lawrence, Kan. as the sole swimmer.
Information for this story came from the North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame.