Historic Long Beach water polo Olympians uncovered

It is well known that Long Beach has placed more players on the U.S. Olympic water polo team than any other city. Few know, however, how far back the city’s contributions go.

As the president of the Aquatic Capital of America Foundation, I was researching candidates for induction into the Long Beach Aquatic Hall of Fame, and came across two water polo players with unique and impressive stories. Their names are Ed Knox and Dixon Fiske. While their stories have largely been forgotten, they were indeed very special athletes and their accomplishments need to be shared and remembered.

Knox and Fiske were water polo stars in the 1930s and 1940s. Both were Poly High School grads, which at the time was the most powerful aquatic school in the city. Wilson opened in 1926, and its domination of local high school water polo wouldn’t come until decades later. Knox also played at Long Beach City College before transferring to UCLA, where he joined Fiske, a fellow Bruin.

Knox and Fiske were selected to the United States Olympic water polo team in 1936. Back then, players were selected to the team out of the Olympic Water Polo Trials. The club team winning the Trials would get to place seven players on the team and four more would be added from the other teams by a selection committee, Knox and Fiske played for the Califoia Collegiate All-Stars, which was comprised of Cal, Stanford and UCLA polo players. That team took third place, so Knox and Fiske must have played impressively to be noticed by the selection committee. I’m sure both eagerly anticipated traveling to Berlin for the Olympic Games.

Unfortunately, Knox was injured in practice just prior to the 1936 Olympics and couldn’t participate. In an elimination game against Belgium, the U.S. squad lost a hard-fought match by a 4-3 score. Belgium was a very tough water polo country at the time, having won medals in five of the six previous Olympics. In the closing minutes of play, the U.S. team dominated play, but couldn’t get the ball in the goal, so Fiske came home without a medal.

Adolph Hitler watched the final day of competition, as Hungary won the gold medal, Germany the silver, and Belgium the bronze.

Still in their prime, Knox and Fiske looked forward to the chance to make the 1940 Olympic team, but the Olympics were canceled due to the outbreak World War II on Sept. 1, 1939. The war wouldn’t end until September of 1945, so the 1944 Olympics were cancelled as well.

Here is where their stories get unique. In 1948, Knox and Fiske were still playing competitive water polo. At the 1948 Olympic Trials, Knox and Fiske suited up for the Los Angeles Athletic Club, both as starters. LAAC dominated the Trials, defeating a club from Missouri in the final by an 8-2 score. With the victory, Knox and Fiske both eaed spots on the Olympic team, a full 12 years after they were first selected to be Olympians.

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In the first game of the 1948 Olympics in London, Knox and Fiske led the United States team to a 7-0 victory over Uruguay. In the next game, the U.S. faced a formidable foe in Belgium. It was a very rough and brutal game, which ended in a 4-4 tie. News reports indicate that the members of the U.S. team all agreed that this was the roughest match in which they had ever played. The tie and win advanced the United States to the second round with Belgium and Sweden. The 4-4 tie with Belgium in Group A play carried over. After Sweden and Belgium tied, the U.S. squad was faced with a must-win game against Sweden. The Yanks were no match for the Swedes, losing 7-0, and eliminating them from the Olympic competition.

Including Knox and Fiske, only seven players in U.S. Olympic water polo history have been Olympians for a time spanning four Olympic games and remember, water polo has been an Olympic sport since 1900; it is the oldest team sport in the Olympics. Two other Long Beach players are part of that select group. One is Ryan Bailey, who played in four Olympic Games, and the other is Tony Azevedo, who set a record in 2016 with his fifth Olympic Games. It is telling that four out of seven players on this short list are from Long Beach.

Arguably, had the war not caused the cancellation of the 1940 and 1944 Olympics, Knox and Fiske could have been four-time Olympians. For their accomplishments, Knox and Fiske will be inducted, with 13 other aquatic stars, into the Long Beach Aquatic Hall of Fame on Sept. 21.

Both men passed away decades ago, and we presently have no family contacts. We are hoping that a family member or friend will see this article and contact us. We’d love them to accept the awards on behalf of Knox and Fiske. Send any clues to [email protected].

Rich Foster is the former president of USA Water Polo and a former vice president of FINA, the inteational goveing body for aquatic sports. Foster was a standout water polo player at Wilson High, LBCC and Long Beach State.

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