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Charlie Sava
Charles Sava (June 6, 1910 – May 1, 1983) was a Hall of Fame American swimming coach, who led the women's team of San Francisco's Crystal Plunge Swim Club to 10 consecutive National AAU championships between 1944-1948. Sava's best known Olympic swimmers included 1948 two-time gold medalist Ann Curtis Cuneo, 1948 London Olympic diver Vicki Draves, 1948 London Olympic backstroker Barbara Jensen, 1968 Mexico City Olympic Silver medalist Lynn Vidali, and 1952 Helsinki Olympic freestyler Delia Meulenkamp Dooly. 1964 Tokyo Gold Medalist Donna de Varona, and 1972 Munich Olympic gold medalist Mark Spitz did some training with Sava, but also received essential training from Coach George Haines at the Santa Clara Swim Club.
Sava was born on June 10, 1900 to Portuguese parents, in the Western Mediterranean's Balearic Islands off the coast of Spain. The family emigrated to Brooklyn, New York when he was three. Legend has it that he began swimming when he fell into Long Island Sound as a youngster, and enjoyed the experience of swimming. His birth date is taken from his last known driver's license and San Francisco city records, though he was highly secretive about his age, and some sources quote other dates. Sava swam for San Francisco's Dolphin Swim Club and held several records for swimming across San Francisco Bay.
Around the age of 25 in 1925, Sava was a student at the inaugural Red Cross Aquatic School under fabled instructor Commodore Wilbert Longfellow, superintendent of the U.S. Volunteer Life Saving Corps.
Sava worked as a swimming and physical education instructor while in the Army in France, and at San Francisco's Presidio at the Southern end of Golden Gate Bridge.
In his early career, Sava worked with Hall of Famer Beth Kaufman, a renowned swim coach and public safety official, to address the problems with early age group swimming and created rules and policies that have stood the test of time with little need for change. Kaufman gained recognition for being the major force in starting the Amateur Athletic Union's age-group swimming program, which would train most of America's future Olympians in the 50's and 60's, and continue for decades in that role. It was a long and difficult process gaining approval for the age-group program in 1951, but Sava was instrumental in the process and worked closely with Kaufman.
An accomplished athlete himself, Sava is reputed to have swum daily for up to an hour in San Francisco Bay for 30 years.
A full-time swim instructor at San Francisco's Crystal Plunge Swimming pool by 1928, Sava led the Crystal Plunge Swim Club women's team to 10 consecutive National AAU championships for four consecutive years between 1944-1948. Originally founded as a salt water pool known as the Crystal Palace in 1924, the Crystal Plunge featured a very wide 50-yard pool at Lombard and Taylor Streets in downtown San Francisco.
Sava continued coaching at the indoor Crystal Plunge Pool on Lombard in downtown San Francisco until it was demolished in 1958. In the late 1940's, future Hall of Famer Coach George Haines, who was then serving at the military base in Alameda, was a frequent visitor to the Crystal Plunge pool while Sava was training Ann Curtis for the 1948 Olympics. For much of its use, the Crystal Plunge pool was large but not luxurious, in a basement, had mechanical issues, sometimes lacked warm water and featured the occasional cockroach. During his peak period between 1944-1948, Coach Sava’s women's teams just over 40 individual national titles. Coach Sava’s single greatest swimmer, Ann Curtis, won 35 National Championship gold medals.
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Charlie Sava
Charles Sava (June 6, 1910 – May 1, 1983) was a Hall of Fame American swimming coach, who led the women's team of San Francisco's Crystal Plunge Swim Club to 10 consecutive National AAU championships between 1944-1948. Sava's best known Olympic swimmers included 1948 two-time gold medalist Ann Curtis Cuneo, 1948 London Olympic diver Vicki Draves, 1948 London Olympic backstroker Barbara Jensen, 1968 Mexico City Olympic Silver medalist Lynn Vidali, and 1952 Helsinki Olympic freestyler Delia Meulenkamp Dooly. 1964 Tokyo Gold Medalist Donna de Varona, and 1972 Munich Olympic gold medalist Mark Spitz did some training with Sava, but also received essential training from Coach George Haines at the Santa Clara Swim Club.
Sava was born on June 10, 1900 to Portuguese parents, in the Western Mediterranean's Balearic Islands off the coast of Spain. The family emigrated to Brooklyn, New York when he was three. Legend has it that he began swimming when he fell into Long Island Sound as a youngster, and enjoyed the experience of swimming. His birth date is taken from his last known driver's license and San Francisco city records, though he was highly secretive about his age, and some sources quote other dates. Sava swam for San Francisco's Dolphin Swim Club and held several records for swimming across San Francisco Bay.
Around the age of 25 in 1925, Sava was a student at the inaugural Red Cross Aquatic School under fabled instructor Commodore Wilbert Longfellow, superintendent of the U.S. Volunteer Life Saving Corps.
Sava worked as a swimming and physical education instructor while in the Army in France, and at San Francisco's Presidio at the Southern end of Golden Gate Bridge.
In his early career, Sava worked with Hall of Famer Beth Kaufman, a renowned swim coach and public safety official, to address the problems with early age group swimming and created rules and policies that have stood the test of time with little need for change. Kaufman gained recognition for being the major force in starting the Amateur Athletic Union's age-group swimming program, which would train most of America's future Olympians in the 50's and 60's, and continue for decades in that role. It was a long and difficult process gaining approval for the age-group program in 1951, but Sava was instrumental in the process and worked closely with Kaufman.
An accomplished athlete himself, Sava is reputed to have swum daily for up to an hour in San Francisco Bay for 30 years.
A full-time swim instructor at San Francisco's Crystal Plunge Swimming pool by 1928, Sava led the Crystal Plunge Swim Club women's team to 10 consecutive National AAU championships for four consecutive years between 1944-1948. Originally founded as a salt water pool known as the Crystal Palace in 1924, the Crystal Plunge featured a very wide 50-yard pool at Lombard and Taylor Streets in downtown San Francisco.
Sava continued coaching at the indoor Crystal Plunge Pool on Lombard in downtown San Francisco until it was demolished in 1958. In the late 1940's, future Hall of Famer Coach George Haines, who was then serving at the military base in Alameda, was a frequent visitor to the Crystal Plunge pool while Sava was training Ann Curtis for the 1948 Olympics. For much of its use, the Crystal Plunge pool was large but not luxurious, in a basement, had mechanical issues, sometimes lacked warm water and featured the occasional cockroach. During his peak period between 1944-1948, Coach Sava’s women's teams just over 40 individual national titles. Coach Sava’s single greatest swimmer, Ann Curtis, won 35 National Championship gold medals.