History of Water Polo in Minnesota
Water Polo has a long history in Minnesota going back even further than World War II. Sources suggest that University of Minnesota Swimming Coach (from 1920-1957), Niels Thorpe, was the first to organize a team and Big 10 water polo games were played after swimming meets. In the 1950s, Chuck Hines, a water polo legend from Minnesota, started coaching dedicated Men's and Women's water polo teams at the University of Minnesota who played games against Detroit, St. Louis, and Winnipeg. Eventually Chuck Hines moved down to Des Moines, Iowa, to establish a new team, which led to legendary rivalries with the Minnesota team he fostered back home. In the 1960s, noteworthy players from California found their way to Minnesota, including Doyle Britton (Chemistry Professor at the U and former starting goalie for UCLA) and Miles Chedekel (who also played for UCLA). Later came All-American Bob Likins from San Jose State. The University of Minnesota team placed in the top eight at the National Water Polo Championships held at Cleveland State and in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
In the early 1970s, Cooper High School hired Al Goodwin as swim coach. Al came from California and had coached high school and junior college water polo on the west coast. Minnesota high school water polo began to flourish under his leadership with 20 teams and a state high school championship by 1973. Al Goodwin's Cooper High School was unsurprisingly among the most dominant teams alongside Phillips, coached by John Trepp, and DeLaSalle, coached by John Wendt. Al Goodwin also developed a fantastic summer program at Crystal Aquatic Center.
Unfortunately, pool time became more competitive in part because of the rapid growth of Girl's High School Swimming and Diving. Most of the water polo teams were cut and high school water polo died out a few years later, but the University of Minnesota's water polo club kept going strong. John Wendt arranged for pool time four days a week followed by team gatherings reportedly at Stub and Herbs bar on campus many nights after practice. In the summers, the team would play outdoors at Crystal Aquatic Center. By the mid-1980s, Minnesota's Club was regularly traveling to Winnipeg for the prestigious Prairie Cup, the Clayton Invitation in St. Louis, and the annual Des Moines tournament as well as other competitions around the country. The Club team was branded as Nordic and included players from all around the world, including Croatian Roko Andričević who was a member of the Yugoslavia National Team that came to the University of Minnesota to complete his PhD in groundwater research. One of the strongest players to emerge from Minnesota was Tom Duxbury. Tom was the first and only Minnesotan to twice be named to the USA Olympic Festival Selection Team and has not stopped playing water polo on a national and international level since. Tom fondly remembers loving the sport as a 12 year old and playing from 9 to 11 PM on summer nights at the Crystal pool. He credits Roko with taking the Minnesota team to the next level and turning him into the player that he became.
Minnesota water polo continues to exist and thrive today under the leadership of Minnesota Water Polo Club, the state's only non-profit organization dedicated to water polo, and other community and university-led organizations. There is still a Club team at the University of Minnesota for students. And Tom Duxbury still comes by Minnesota Water Polo Club practices for a history lesson (and a lob shot).
March 22, 2021. Thanks to John Wendt and Tom Duxbury for helping capture and write this history.