Superfans

Swimming World and Junior Swimmer, Mar 1999 by Lydersen, Kari

When it comes to college swimming, two professors at Stanford and the University of Southern California take the term, "fan," to a new dimension.

Professors of Operations Research - the science of mathematical techniques to make predictions - might teach students about opinion polls or stocks or gambling.

Not Fred Hillier, a professor emeritus at Stanford University. lie teaches his students about swimming.

Now retired from teaching to focus on textbook writing, it was an in-class example involving swimming that led Hillier to become a renowned "superfan" of the Stanford men's team.

Cardinal swimmer Sean Murphy, who would later become a Canadian Olympian and three-time NCAA champion, happened to be in the class where Hillier was using relay line-ups and dual meet match-ups as a way to understand operations research. After the class, Murphy introduced himself to Hillier.

"Of course, he didn't have to - I knew perfectly well who he was," says Hillier, 62, who became a big swimming fan through his three sons' participation in the sport from age group through college. Throughout the years, Hillier even served as team president and meet director

"Murphy started getting me integrated with the team, inviting me to meets and events. In 1987, I went to NCAAs and sat with Sean's parents. From then on, I've gone to all but two NCAAs." And the two he missed were when he was studying in New Zealand and England.

Hillier goes to every home meet as well as several road trips, and he's taken it upon himself to predict the results of each event at NCAAs. He also helps Coaches Skip Kenney and Ted Knapp by predicting results with different relay members and by making projections with swimmers in different events.

Two years ago when Stanford finished second to Auburn University, the Cardinal finished only one point off Hillier's NCAA prediction. His top 15 teams were also close to perfect.

"I like to do the projections event by event and hand them out to the parents so they can see how the meet should evolve. Sometimes it's really close; sometimes it isn't necessarily right."

Each year, Hillier and his wife invite the freshmen swimmers to their home for dinner and show old NCAA videos.

"Every time after they leave, we look at each other and say, `What a fantastic group of young people,'8 says Hillier. "It's a privilege to be able to be associated with them."

Hillier was "introduced to water at an early age," as he says, growing up in rainy Washington state. But he never swam much himself - "I can get from one end of the pool to the other, and that's about it."

Hillier is now working on the seventh edition of a book he co-authored, entitled, "Intro to Operations Research." There are two lessons in the book that use swimming as examples - one about assembling the optimal medley relay and one about using game theory to determine in which events to place a star swimmer.

He s also collaborating on a new textbook with his son Mark, 31, who set school records in the 200 IM and relays at Swarthmore College.

JOEL GREENWALD

Professor Joel Greenwald is to the University of Southern California (USC) what Hillier is to Stanford. He never misses a home meet - men's or women's - and also attends several meets on the road as well as most of the NCAA Championships.

Early on, he volunteered his marketing skills to then coach Peter Daland for team fund raising.

"I contributed money to the team one year, and I wasn't even solicited the next year," remembers Greenwald. "So I called Peter and offered to help the team with fund raising."

He also takes a leading role in cheering, preparing 16inch vinyl placards bearing letters for fans to spell out every team member's name.

"The great thing about swimming is that you're competing against the clock and yourself as well as other people," says Greenwald, 55, who got his Masters degree and doctorate at USC and teaches marketing at nearby California State University at Dominguez Hills. "So even if someone's not a superstar, he can challenge himself and improve."

Greenwald swam in high school in Yonkers, N.Y., and in his freshman year at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Eventually, though, he realized he had to spend more time studying and less time swimming or else he would fail his classes.

An active USC swimming fan for 25 years, he felt especially close to the 1974-1977 teams, which won four consecutive NCAA championships. The USC swimmers from that era included :John Naber and Bruce Furniss, and Greenwald still keeps in touch.

"They all sent me a signed postcard from fie Olympics. That's one of my prized possessions."

Despite their busy academic lives, both superfans expect to be on the deck at every home meet and future NCAAs for years to come.

"It's a blast," says Greenwald.

About the Author

Kari Lydersen, a former junior national champion, is a contributing editor of Swimming World and writes for The Washington Post.