Off on the Right Foot

Before he went to war, pint-sized Miller Anderson was the best twist diver in the U.S. Over Italy, 13 months ago, Captain Anderson bailed out of his P-47, smashed his left leg against the tail of the plane. He fell behind the Nazi lines, and the Germans, too busy retreating to tend to him, let his bad leg get worse. When U.S. Army doctors reached him, they screwed a three-inch silver plate in just above the knee, and patched him up so that he didn't limp. But when he got back to college last January, Ohio State's swimming coach Mike Peppe told him he would never dive the way he used to--taking off from the left foot. Anderson decided to become right-footed.

At first, it was as awkward as a righthander trying to pitch lefthanded. The trick was to thump the board hard enough with his 135 lbs. to get up high in the air. His weak leg limited him to an hour and a half's practice a day; he used to practice three hours.

But in the past three months, 23-year-old Sophomore Anderson became right-footed enough to win the Big Ten and National Collegiate diving championships.

Last week, in practice, Anderson thumped the big board at Bainbridge (Md.) Naval Training Station, sailed up and into a perfect double twisting forward one-&-a-half somersault--a dive he had invented himself. After that, it was no trouble to win the National A.A.U. high & low-board championships with comparatively easy jackknives and gainers. Said Anderson: "My sense of balance still isn't what it should be."

With the help of two other ex-G.I.s (onetime Navy Pilot Jack Hill, the 440-yard free-style champ and Sprinter Halo Hirose of the famed 100th Nisei Battalion) Ohio State swam off with the team championship. The Buckeyes won even though Navy Specialist 2/c Joe Verdeur, swimming for the Philadelphia Turner Club, set two new world breast stroke records in the 200-yards (2:19.5) and 200-meters (2:35.6).

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