Ross, Norman

Norman Ross, (born May 2, 1896, Portland, Oregon, U.S.—died June 19, 1953, Evanston, Illinois), American swimmer who won three gold medals at the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp and set more than 10 world records.

Ross attended Stanford University and later received a degree in law from Northwestern University. He served in the U.S. Army during World War I and was decorated for valour by Gen. John J. Pershing. In 1916 Ross set his first world swimming record in the 220-yard freestyle. The next year he was the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) national outdoor champion in the 440-yard race; he won it again, along with the AAU one-mile outdoor championship, in 1920. Ross also won four indoor AAU championships. When the 1920 U.S. Olympic team sailed to Belgium in an overcrowded funeral ship and was given makeshift housing in an Antwerp school, he led the athletes’ rebellion against the American Olympic committee. Despite the difficult conditions, he won the 400-metre and 1,500-metre freestyle races and then swam on the victorious 4 × 200-metre relay team; he also competed for the U.S. water polo team, which won a bronze medal.

Noted for his stamina, Ross set individual world records in the 400- and 800-metre freestyle races, as well as in the subsequently discontinued 220-, 300-, 440-, 500-, and 880-yard and 300- and 500-metre freestyle races. During World War II, he was an aide to James H. Doolittle, a U.S. Army Air Force general. He later became the first classical music disc jockey in America, broadcasting for years on a Chicago radio station.