Born into a family of famous swimmers, Sidney Cavill (1881–1945) traveled the world for competition before moving to San Francisco to take on the job of swimming instructor at The Olympic Club in 1899.
He taught the “Australian Crawl” – what we now just call the crawl and Olympians like J. Scott Leary were among the first to compete using the stroke. It was powerful tool; Leary won seventeen consecutive sprint races in 1902. Leary also became the first American to swim 100 yards in 60 seconds in July 1905. Under his tutelage, Olympians won national and international titles throughout the early 20th century.
Cavill also coached the Club’s water polo teams. The Club won its first national AAU title in 1920. After the championship, the commissioner wrote, “Sid worked days and nights and overtime to keep the team up to its maximum playing ability. His coaching was just the sort that was needed, and his experience rendered him capable of giving the nice balance that was necessary to the development of the Club team’s famous play.” He retired from coaching at the Club in 1923.
In 1970, “The Cavill Family,” including Sidney, was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
