Author's Introduction Johnny Weissmuller Twice the Hero
The name, Johnny Weissmuller, has a magic ring to it. Many people around the
world think of the tall young man who couldn’t be defeated in a swimming contest, including winning five gold medals in the Olympics
of 1924 and 1928. Millions of movie fans are reminded of the jungle king Tarzan, whom Johnny portrayed on the big screen for seventeen
years (1932-1948). We all remember the handsome man with the high-pitched voice and infectious laugh, who loved people and made friends
wherever he went on his journey through life.
Johnny Weissmuller was an undefeated swimming champion and American
hero as a five-time Olympic gold medal winner, and then continued his own brand of heroism on the silver screen — first as Tarzan
and then later as Jungle Jim. He was even a true-life hero in 1927, and was credited with saving the lives of eleven people after
the tragic capsize of the Lake Michigan excursion boat, Favorite.
Johnny was also an exemplary role model to his
adoring fans, who spent more than three decades worshiping his every move in the pool and on the screen. Johnny’s squeaky clean image
resulted in his being chosen as a central figure in the first Wheaties ad campaigns in 1933, along with Babe Ruth and Jack Dempsey.
His adoring public — men and women alike — would always forgive any minor sins he might commit in his lifetime because of his genuine
purity of heart and kindness of soul.
Chicago in the 1920s had two of the most talked about and written about “celebrities”
in America. Johnny Weissmuller was a hero for his swimming exploits, while gangster Al Capone was infamous for his mob rule of Chicago.
Johnny was Chicago’s hero of the 1920s — all of America, really. Meanwhile, Al Capone was America’s shame. And these two diametrically
opposed people, one good and one evil, both called Chicago “home.”
The city of Chicago after the turn of the century
was a slice of Americana — this was where the American dream was coming true for many immigrants. Many millions of people had lost
all hope of happiness in their homelands, and braved the arduous journey by boat to the United States for the opportunity to be part
of the greatest country in the world. Johnny Weissmuller was one of these myriad immigrants, coming to the United States as an infant
and becoming one of America’s most beloved and enduring celebrities and heroes.
The “Roaring ‘20s” represented
an era of giants in American sports, and home run slugger Babe Ruth of the New York Yankees was perhaps the biggest “giant” of them
all. Some of the other sports heroes of the decade included Jack Dempsey, heavyweight boxing champion from 1919 to 1926; former Olympic
decathlon winner Jim Thorpe, a pioneer in the early days of football; Bobby Jones, the world’s greatest amateur golfer; and Bill Tilden,
seven-time winner of the U.S. Open in tennis. In the swimming world, the name of Gertrude Ederle would be etched in sports history
in 1926 when she became the first woman to swim the English Channel, and in a time that was two hours faster than the men’s record.
And then there was the six-foot three-inch Adonis of swimming, Johnny Weissmuller. An American legend before his
20th birthday, Johnny was the darling of the printed media in the 1920s, earning nicknames like “Human Hydroplane,” “Prince of the
Waves,” “Flying Fish,” “Aquatic Wonder,” “King of Swimmers,” “America’s Greatest Waterman,” and “the Illinois Flash.”
Chicago has always been one of the greatest sports towns, and this was the beginning of an era of sports history in the “City by the
Lake.” Comiskey Park, home of the White Sox, came into existence in 1910, and Wrigley Field, home of the Cubs, opened in 1916. The
Chicago Staleys, coached by George Halas, became the Bears in 1922 and also played their home games at Wrigley Field. In 1927 heavyweight
boxers Gene Tunney and Jack Dempsey fought for the championship at Soldier Field before a crowd of 105,000 people, as Dempsey failed
to recapture his crown from Tunney.
The “Black Sox” scandal of 1919 made an indelible black mark on the city of
Chicago and the sport of baseball itself, when eight White Sox ballplayers, including “Shoeless Joe” Jackson, were bribed by gamblers
to lose the 1919 World Series. A year later, Jackson departed the courthouse in Chicago after admitting his guilt in the bloody affair,
his eyes downcast and unable to return the disbelieving gaze of his fans. Legend recalls that a small boy with tears in his eyes,
tugged at his sleeve and pleaded of his hero, “Say it ain’t so, Joe.”