J. SCOTT LEARY (1881–1958) was a champion swimmer and a lifetime member of The Olympic Club. He was born in Shasta County, near Redding, CA. He attended Polytechnic High School in San Francisco, where he was on the cycling team and won the swimming championship of the Academic Athletic League. He joined The Olympic Club to continue cycling; he wanted to strengthen his leg that had been crippled by polio when he was a child. Swim instructor and fellow OC Hall of Famer Sid Cavill convinced him that swimming would be a better sport for him. Under Cavill’s tutelage, Leary became one of the preeminent swimmers of his age.
After Cavill introduced Leary to the “Australian” crawl, he began winning events and then championship titles. On a eastern swimming exhibition trip in 1902, Leary won 16 out of 17 short distance races, and lost the 17th by one-fifth of a second. He swam 20 yards in 10 seconds, a world record. In 1904, the Olympic Club sent four competitors, including Leary, to the St. Louis Olympic Games. In a controversial decision, Leary finished second in the 50 yard freestyle, losing to Hungary’s Zoltan von Halmay in a swim-off. Leary won the bronze in the 100 yard freestyle.
On July 18, 1904, at the Lewis & Clark Exposition in Portland, OR, Leary broke the world record in the 100 yard freestyle, swimming the distance in a minute flat. He swam a time that many believed could not be swum. The record held for 10 years.
Beginning in 1906, Leary stopped competing as frequently to focus on his business. At the behest of the San Francisco Bulletin, he participated in a campaign to improve water safety on the Bay. He could be persuaded back into the pool, but, by 1908, many other swimmers used his once-novel crawl stroke. His speed was no longer unparalleled.
He lived at the Club for many years and swam every day.
