Steve Wyatt, Millennium Hall of Fame

Richard Dunn

In the short span of 50 yards, swimming’s fastest race, every

hundredth of a second is worth a million.

When former sprint freestyler Steve Wyatt was the Pacific-10 Conference

champion for the University of Arizona, it was a breathless work of

precision and art.

For a two-lap burst, Wyatt would never take his head out of the water,

even on the turn.

“That’s the hundredth of a second that could cost you at the end,” said

Wyatt, who developed the technique at Arizona under Coach Bob Davis,

becoming one of the few in the Wildcat program to execute the

lung-challenging procedure.

“It was the 20 seconds of hell,” added Wyatt, a two-time NCAA

All-American in the 50 free who, at one point in 1980, was ranked seventh

in the world.

An Estancia High and Orange Coast College product, Wyatt set a school

record in the 50 free (20.12) at Arizona that stood for 13 years.

A former Newport Beach lifeguard, Wyatt was also an NCAA All-American in

the 100 free in 1979 and OCC’s Athlete of the Year in 1977, following an

outstanding aquatics career, which included a state championship in the

50 free -- the best community college time in the nation that year

(21.13). The mark also stood as an OCC record for a dozen years.

But in 1980, Wyatt never got his shot at the Summer Olympics because of

the President Carter-invoked boycott of the Moscow Games that year.

“For swimming, that’s the ultimate goal,” Wyatt said of the Olympics.

“That’s the Super Bowl of swimming ... it was pretty tough on me, because

my college career was over and it was time to enter the real world.

“I did have a good chance (of qualifying for the ’80 Games). The door was

open there. It was just a matter of having a good swim on that day (at

the U.S. Olympic Trials). Nothing’s a given, but when you look at the

competition at that time, I definitely had a shot at it. But I don’t have

any bad feelings toward President Carter or anything.”

At the 1980 Pac 10 Championships, Wyatt defeated UCLA’s Robin Leamy, who

would later be listed as the fastest swimmer in the world. Wyatt and

Leamy knew each other and talked before the meet, but afterward the UCLA

coach complained that Wyatt had “psyched out” his swimmer.

After the boycotted Olympic Games, Wyatt was invited to participate on a

U.S. team that toured Japan for three weeks, an eventful time of swim

demonstrations and “instant celebrity” status for the “tall” Americans.

A couple other elite sprint swimmers, including Florida’s Rowdy Gaines,

continued to train after 1980 for another chance at the Olympics. But

Wyatt “knew that my only shot” had passed.

“(Gaines) became the fastest 50-, 100- and 200-meter freestyler in the

world, and, although he won (the 1984 Olympic gold medal) in the 100

free, who knows what he could’ve done if he had gone in his prime?” Wyatt

said. “It could’ve been something spectacular (in 1980). It was the same

thing for me. I was in my prime (that year).

“In our event, it’s so close, you don’t know whose day it’s going to be.

You’re separated by hundredths of seconds in first, second and third

place. It just goes to show how close and precise you have to be during a

race, where you have to make no mistakes in order to be competitive.”

Even though there was no 50-meter free competition at the ’80 Olympics,

the latest honoree in the Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Fame had a solid

chance in the 100.

“I was really lucky, because swimming isn’t anything to go professional

with, but it opened a lot of doors for me,” said Wyatt, referring to his

scholarship to Arizona and traveling opportunities throughout his

collegiate career, which included a stint in Yugoslavia, East Germany and

West Germany while with the Orange Coast water polo team under Coach Jack

Fullerton.

A high school All-American in the 50 free, Wyatt still holds the Estancia

record in the event. He graduated in 1975.

Wyatt, a highway patrolman for 18 years in Sonoma County, still swims

occasionally in the Police & Fire Olympics. One year, he won six gold

medals.

Never a club swimmer and only a part-timer in high school because his

main focus was water polo, the 6-foot-4 Wyatt said working as a lifeguard

in Newport Beach “is where my swimming career paid off at its best.”

Wyatt lives in Santa Rosa with his wife, Nancy, and three children:

Jacqueline, 16, Maegan, 11, and James, 10.