Solo Swims of Ontario Inc.Solo Swims of Ontario Inc.
William (Bill) J. Sadlo, Jr. |
On 23rd August 1957, William (Bill) Sadlo became the first American, and, at age 57 years and 116
days, the oldest person to cross Lake Ontario. His accomplishment as the oldest conqueror of the lake
still stands in 2004 - i.e. 47 years later. The longevity of his record further emphasizes the magnitude
of his achievement back in 1957. He completed his swim from south to north in a time of 25 hours 10
minutes and attributed much of the success in his crossing to his Canadian swimming coach, Pat
Roach.
Prior to his Lake Ontario crossing, Bill had established a long and significant history of swimming, both as a sprinter and as a marathon swimmer. Born in the state of New York, Bill appears to have spent most of his life in that state. On his letterhead and in many of the swimming programmes, his name appeared as Bill Sadlo, Jr. From those documents, his name is associated with Jackson Heights LI, Corona NY, Whitestone NY, and Coney Island NY. |
|
 |
On 23rd August 1957, William (Bill) Sadlo became the first American, and, at age 57
years and 116 days, the oldest person to cross Lake Ontario. His accomplishment as the
oldest conqueror of the lake still stands in 2004 - i.e. 47 years later. The longevity of his
record further emphasizes the magnitude of his achievement back in 1957. He completed
his swim from south to north in a time of 25 hours 10 minutes and attributed much of
the success in his crossing to his Canadian swimming coach, Pat Roach.
Prior to his Lake Ontario crossing, Bill had established a long and significant history of swimming, both as a sprinter and as a marathon swimmer. Born in the state of New York, Bill appears to have spent most of his life in that state. On his letterhead and in many of the swimming programmes, his name appeared as Bill Sadlo, Jr. From those documents, his name is associated with Jackson Heights LI, Corona NY, Whitestone NY, and Coney Island NY. Bill died in August 1959 at age 59; however, in the previous year, he placed third out of
10 competitors where only seven finished in the second annual, 13.5 mile, Lake
Hopatcong swim in New Jersey. Bill's time of 8 hours 11 minutes compared with Alfred
Geurke (Irvington, NJ) who finished in 7 hours 5 minutes. At the time of the Lake
Hopatcong swim, Bill was still working as a Swimming Instructor for the Whitestone
Board of Education. |
|
| Statistics Taken from Wind, Waves and Sunburn and Bill's letterhead: Atlantic City, New Jersey, 22 mile (35.2 km) Professional Swim: Canadian National Exhibition Professional Swims, Toronto: Around Manhattan Island Battery to Coney Island, 1930 Battery to Statue of Liberty, 1930 Liberty Pool, NY Bill also listed the following titles: The stimulus for this web page was provided by Bill's proud granddaughter, Jeannine Sadlo, who also provided photographs, news clippings, and Bill's letterhead. |
SSO Home Page | Lake Ontario Swim List | Contact WebMaster
Created: 7th March 2004
Last Updated: 22nd March 2011
