1928
Bronze Medal, 1500-Meter Freestyle
4th Place, 400-Meter Freestyle
1932
5th Place, 1500-Meter Freestyle
Gold Medal, 400-Meter Freestyle
1928 Olympic Games
Amsterdam, Holland
Five Outrigger swimmers were considered candidates for the 1928 Olympic team: Buster Crabbe, Duke Kahanamoku, Mariechen Wehselau, Helen Moses and Lily Bowmer. The women were outswum in the Olympic trials and Duke pulled out of the trials to take an acting role in a movie with Ronald Colman.
Twenty-year-old Buster Crabbe, who was coached by “Dad” Center, earned his place on the Olympic team. Unfortunately, “Dad” had to return to Honolulu after the trials and was unable to accompany Buster to Amsterdam. Buster got sick on the voyage to Europe and had lost ten pounds by the start of the Olympics.
Buster’s best events were the 300-meter medley in which he held the world record, and the 800 and 1,500-meter freestyles. The first two were not Olympic events at that time.
Buster swam in two events, the 400 and 1,500-meter freestyle. He held the World record in the mile swim and was expected to win the 1,500.
In the first heat, he finished third in 20:17.8 and just qualified for the semifinals. He won his semifinal heat in 20:55.4. In the Olympic finals, he finished third in 20:28.8 for the Bronze medal. In the 400-meter freestyle, he won his first heat in 5:09.8. He was second in the semifinals in 5:06.2 and swam a 5:05.4 in the finals to finish in fourth place.
Not deterred, Buster returned to USC to finish his college degree, added 20 pounds, continued to set records and train for the 1932 Olympic Games.
1932 Olympic Games
Los Angeles, California
The United States’ great swimming hope for the 1932 Olympic Games was Buster Crabbe. Crabbe was training in Los Angeles after graduating from USC and awaiting his entry into law school. At the Olympic trials, he continued to outswim his competitors in the 400-meter freestyle and the 1,500-meter freestyle.
Hawaii-born and raised, Buster was considered the best American swimmer at the 1932 Olympic Games. In the four years since the 1928 Games, he had grown and matured into the champion he had become.
Buster was the favorite for the 1,500-meter freestyle and was also planning to swim the 400-meter event.
In the 400-meters, he won his preliminary heat in 4:59.8. He won his semifinal in 4:52.7 and set an Olympic record in the finals of 4:48.4 earning his first Gold medal.
In the 1,500-meters, he was second in his heat in 20:01.0, second in the semifinals in 19:51.8, and finished fifth in the Olympic finals in 20:02.7.
Crabbe finished his swimming career at the 1932 Olympics and began a new career in the movies where he played action heroes Tarzan, Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers.
When he visited the islands, he always looked up his swimming hero and inspiration Duke Kahanamoku and his old coach Dad Center.
In his later years he was a masters swimmer and competed in the U.S. National Masters Championships.
He was inducted in the International Swimming Hall of Fame, the Hawaii Swimming Hall of Fame, and Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame.
Buster was given an Honorary/Life Membership in the Outrigger Canoe Club in 1928 and remained a member until 1955.
World Records*
300 -Meter Medley Swim, 4:12.2, San Francisco, CA April 24, 1929
300-Meter Medley Swim, 4:08.4, Honolulu, HI June 19, 1930
300-Meter Medley Swim, 4:06.8, Long Beach, CA July 4, 1930
300-Yard Medley Swim, 3:38.6, Long Beach, CA July 19, 1930
880 Yards Freestyle, 10:20.4, Long Beach, 7/6/1930
1-Mile Freestyle Swim, 21:35.6, San Francisco, CA June 7, 1928
1 Mile Freestyle Swim, 21:27.0, Long Beach, CA July 3, 1930
800-Meter Relay, 9:28.0, U.S. third leg Tokyo, Japan October 2, 1927
*World records provided by ISHOF 2019. According to the International Swimming Hall of Fame, Crabbe set 14 world swimming records from 1927-1932. Unfortunately, the verification for six of these records could not be found, so are not included.