View source for Fred Tyler

{{Short description|American swimmer and coach}}
{{Redirect|Frederick Tyler|the fictional character|The Dark Forest}}
{{for|the baseball player of the same name|Fred Tyler (baseball)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox swimmer
| name           = Freddie Tyler
| image          = Freddie Tyler.jpg
| alt            =
| caption        = 
| fullname       = Frederick Daniel Tyler
| nicknames      = "Freddie"
| national_team  = United States
| strokes        = [[Freestyle swimming|Freestyle]]
| club           = Canada Dry JETS Swim Team
| collegeteam    = [[Indiana Hoosiers|Indiana University]]
| birth_date     = {{Birth date and age|1954|3|15|mf=y}}
| birth_place    = [[Orlando, Florida]], U.S.
| death_date     = 
| death_place    = 
| height         = {{convert|5|ft|11|in|m|abbr=on}}
| weight         = {{convert|165|lb|kg|abbr=on}}
| medaltemplates = 
{{MedalSport | Men's swimming}}
{{MedalCountry | the United States}}
{{MedalCompetition | [[Swimming at the Summer Olympics|Olympic Games]]}}
[[File:Olympic rings.svg|center|80px]]
{{MedalGold | [[1972 Summer Olympics|1972 Munich]] | [[Swimming at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay|4x200 m freestyle relay]]}}
}}

'''Frederick Daniel Tyler''' (born March 15, 1954) is an American competitive [[swimming (sport)|swimmer]] and aquatics coach, winner of several high school and college championships and a gold medal in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay at the [[1972 Summer Olympics]] and author.

==High school and Indiana University==
Tyler began his high school swimming at St. Andrews School, in Boca Raton, Florida, where in 1969 and 1970 he won the 400-yard freestyle and 200-yard [[medley swimming|individual medley]] (IM) at the state high school championships.  He then attended [[The Bolles School]], a prep school in Jacksonville, Florida, where he swam for the Bolles high school swim team.<ref name=bolles>The Bolles School, Athletics, [http://www.bolles.org/page.cfm?p=915  Bolles Olympic Medalists] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160326105612/http://www.bolles.org/page.cfm?p=915 |date=2016-03-26 }}.  Retrieved March 6, 2015.</ref>  At the 1971 state championship meet, he was first in the 200- and 400-yard freestyle, and in 1972 won the 100-yard freestyle and 200-yard individual medley.  Tyler remains one of only seven swimmers to win the Florida state swim championship in two different events for three separate years.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.fhsaa.org/records/rec_swb.pdf |title=FHSAA Records |access-date=2006-05-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101124100422/http://fhsaa.org/records/rec_swb.pdf |archive-date=2010-11-24 |url-status=dead }}</ref>  He graduated from The Bolles School in 1972.<ref name=bolles/> Tyler was the first swimmer to earn All American honors in every individual event. He achieves this feat 3 straight years.{{cn|date=February 2025}}

Tyler, along with [[John Kinsella (swimmer)|John Kinsella]], [[Mark Spitz]] and [[Gary Hall, Sr.]], was a member of coach [[James Counsilman]]'s standout [[Indiana Hoosiers]] swim team at [[Indiana University]], which dominated men's college swimming in the early 1970s. During his college career, Tyler's Indiana teams were [[Big Ten Conference]] champions for four consecutive years and NCAA national champions in 1972 and 1973.  In 1975, Tyler was the NCAA individual national champion in the 200-yard individual medley (time of 1:50:658), and his 800-yard freestyle relay finished first in the NCAA finals in 1973, 1974 and 1975. He closed out his time as a Hoosier swimmer as one of the best swimmers in the history of the program, receiving 14 career [[All-America]] honors. Freddie was inducted into the Indiana University Athletic Hall of Fame on October 28, 2016.{{cn|date=February 2025}}

==Munich Olympics==

In spite of the terrorist attacks against the Israeli athletes, some of the most spectacular events at the [[1972 Summer Olympics]] in Munich were in swimming, where Mark Spitz won seven Olympic titles with seven world records.  On August 29, 1972, Tyler finished 5th in finals of 200 meter freestyle, missing Indiana teammate Mark Spitz's world record time by 2.18 seconds. On August 31, 1972, the American 4 × 200 meter freestyle relay of John Kinsella, Fred Tyler, [[Steve Genter]] and Mark Spitz set a World & Olympic record at 7:35:78, eclipsing the record set earlier that day by the USA team in the semifinal heat, and winning the Olympic gold medal. The victory was all the more remarkable in that Spitz swam in the 4x200 relay only one hour after his world record victory in the 100 meter butterfly, and Genter had been released from the hospital only a few days before, following surgery for a collapsed lung.

==Coaching==
[[Image:coachtyler.jpg|thumb|Tyler coaching water polo]]

Tyler began coaching [[swimming (sport)|swimming]] and [[water polo]] at [[West Orange High School, Winter Garden|West Orange High School]] in [[Winter Garden, Florida]], from 1980 to 1985. He coached at [[Mount Dora High School]] from 1986 through 1989.  He was head aquatics coach at [[Lake Mary High School]] in [[Lake Mary, Florida]], from 1990 until his retirement in 2015.  He coached the Lake Mary Rams to a second-place finish in 2004 and fourth place in 2005 at Florida state swimming championships.  Tyler's boys' water polo team reached the 2005 state quarter finals, and the girls' the state 2005 semis and the 2007 quarter finals.<ref>[http://www.scps.k12.fl.us/community_involvement/_doc/Chalkboardpg4_5.pdf National & State School Recognitions] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060518074509/http://www.scps.k12.fl.us/community_involvement/_doc/Chalkboardpg4_5.pdf |date=2006-05-18 }}</ref>  In 2004-05, Fred Tyler was recognized as both the Seminole Athletic Conference and Florida State 3A Coach of Year.  Tyler coached gold medal winner [[Brad Bridgewater]] (200-meter [[backstroke]] at 1996 Summer Games), who attended Lake Mary High School from 1987 to 1990.  Tyler taught social studies and mathematics to [[Special education|exceptional education]] students and Algebra and Geometry to Regular education students during his time at Lake Mary.

==Author==
Published Homesick - The Novel in March 2018

==See also==
* [[List of Indiana University (Bloomington) people]]
* [[List of Olympic medalists in swimming (men)]]
* [[World record progression 4 × 200 metres freestyle relay]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.olympic.org/uk/games/past/index_uk.asp?OLGT=1&OLGY=1972 1972 Olympics Official Site]
*[http://static.espn.go.com/oly/summer00/almanac/swim/m4x200frelay.html Olympic winners, Men's 4x200 freestyle relay]
*[http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/nationworld/orl-localolympians,0,4212123.htmlstory?coll=orl-business-utility#summer Central Florida Olympians]

{{Footer USA Swimming 1972 Summer Olympics}}
{{Olympic Champions Swimming 4x200 m Men Freestyle Relay}}
{{Footer NCAA Division I men's swimming and diving championships – men's 200 y individual medley champions}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tyler, Fred}}
[[Category:1954 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:American male freestyle swimmers]]
[[Category:American swimming coaches]]
[[Category:World record setters in swimming]]
[[Category:Indiana Hoosiers men's swimmers]]
[[Category:Olympic gold medalists for the United States in swimming]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Winter Park, Florida]]
[[Category:Swimmers at the 1972 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:People from Lake Mary, Florida]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Seminole County, Florida]]
[[Category:Bolles School alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century American sportsmen]]