# Tom McBreen

Thomas Sean McBreen (born August 31, 1952) is an American former freestyle swimmer for the University of Southern California and a 1972 Olympic gold medalist in the 4x200-meter freestyle relay. After receiving a bachelors and medical degree from USC, he would work as a physician specializing in family medicine in Ventura, California.

## Serra High School

Born August 31, 1952 in Spokane, Washington, he began swimming around the age of six, and later attended and swam for Junípero Serra High School, an all male Catholic College Preparatory School in San Mateo, California, coached by Gus DeGara. Under Coach DeGara, a 1956 Olympic Gold Medalist for Hungary, the dominant Serra High swimming team would receive a ranking of second in the nation and win the Catholic Athletic League Championship eight times consecutively from 1967-1974. While a student, McBreen would earn All American honors in both swimming and water polo and graduate Serra in 1970. On May 13, 1967, McBreen won both the 200 IM in 2:10.2, and the 100 freestyle in 50.6, at the Catholic Athletic League (CAL) Swimming Championships helping to lead Serra High to an easy team victory in the CAL Swimming Championships. Serra would repeat as CAL Champions. At the Central Coast Section Championships at Foothill College on May 10, 1969, McBreen won the 400 freestyle, a signature event, with a time of 3:42.0 leading Serra High to second place behind the powerful Santa Clara team.
McBreen also swam for the Golden Gate Aquatic Club, taking fourth place with a 4:14.5 in the 500-meter freestyle behind first place Olympian Hans Fassnacht of West Germany and Long Beach State at the Santa Clara Invitational on July 11, 1969.
In stiff competition in July, 1970, a month after graduating Serra High, McBreen announced his arrival by finishing ahead of Hall of Fame Olympian Hans Fassnacht and winning the 200 freestyle at the Santa Clara Invitational Meet with a time of 1:56.98, though Mark Spitz had been scratched from the event. Competing with a disability, McBreen was legally blind in both eyes.
Swimming in the summer after his High School Senior year on Sunday, August 2, 1970, McBreen defeated Han Fassnacht by 12 meters, winning the 1500-meter swim with a meet record time of 16:31.82 at the Los Angeles Invitational and in non-record time won the 200-meter freestyle in 1:58.13.

## University of Southern California

Beginning in the Fall of 1970, McBreen swam for the University of Southern California Trojans under Hall of Fame Coach Peter Daland. At the late March 1972 NCAA Championship at West Point, McBreen, swimming third leg, helped his relay team set a record of 6:38.635 in the 4x200-meter freestyle with fellow Trojan swimmers Ed McCleskey, Steve Tyrrell, and Jim McConica. Their win helped the Trojans place second to Indiana in the team standings. After recovering from a case of pneumonia in May, he finished only fifth in the 400-meter freestyle at the Los Angeles Invitational in July, 1972 while at USC, but after recovering qualified at that year's Olympic trials in August.
Having captured a silver medal in the 1,500-meter freestyle at the Pan American Games in 1971, McBreen become known for setting a world record in the 400-meter freestyle later that summer. He won the 400-meter freestyle at the AAU outdoor Championship in both 1971 and 1972.

## 1972 Olympic medals

At the 1972 Olympic trials in Portage Park, Chicago, McBreen qualified in the 400-meter freestyle, but still recovering from pneumonia was unable to qualify in another event.
At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany, McBreen earned the bronze medal in the men's 400-meter freestyle in a time of 4:02.64. Actually however, McBreen originally finished fourth in the event, having still not fully recovered from his Spring bout with pneumonia. Because American Rick DeMont, who won the gold, became disqualified when it was ruled his asthma medication was unauthorized, McBreen moved up a place and was awarded the bronze medal.
He earned a gold medal as a member of the winning U.S. team in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay. Though McBreen swam in the preliminary heat for the 4x100, his team swam the fastest preliminary time, finishing ahead of the second-place Australian team. In the 4x100-meter freestyle relay finals, the U.S. team trailed after the first leg with John Kinsella touching behind the Soviet swimmer by half a body length. At the end of the second leg, however, American Fred Tyler took a body length lead, which third leg swimmer Steve Genter, and then anchor Steve Spitz widened finishing in a World Record time of 7:35.38. The 1972 Olympic Team Men's Head Coach was McBreen's coach at USC, Peter Daland.

### Honors

McBreen was a 1990 inductee into the Serra High School Athletics Hall of Fame and a 2002 inductee into the Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame.
Despite obstacles, McBreen eventually fulfilled his lifelong goals of making the Olympic team, and completing medical school. He attended University of Southern California's Medical School, performing his residency at Ventura's County General Hospital and specializing in family medicine. He and his wife Denise had two children and lived in Ventura during his residency in 1981 where he was continuing to practice in 2000.