1920
Bronze Medal, 100-Meter Freestyle
1920 Olympic Games
Antwerp, Belgium
William White Harris Jr. returned to Hawaii in December 1918 at the age of 21 after living for six years in the Philippines where he won numerous swimming titles and held freestyle records for every distance from the 50-yard to the mile.
Bill joined the Outrigger in early 1919 and trained with “Dad” Center. He competed in local meets and turned in impressive performances in the Centennial Swimming Meet in Honolulu in April 1920, holding his own against established competitors who included Duke Kahanamoku, Harold Kruger and Ludy Langer. He earned a place on the Hawaii team for the Olympic trials in California. The Hawaiians did well on the West Coast with Bill finishing third behind Duke and Pua Kealoha in the 100 free, and the 4 x 200-meter relay team which won and set a meet record.
The Hawaii team moved to the final pre-Olympic round of competition in Chicago. All the Hawaiian male swimmers qualified for the 1920 U.S. Men’s Olympic Swimming team.
At the Olympic Games in Antwerp, Bill won his preliminary heat in the 100-meter freestyle in a time of 1:04.4. He finished second to Duke in the semifinals with a time of 1:04.2, completing a sweep for the Hawaii team by finishing third in the finals with a time of 1:03.2 behind Duke and Pua Kealoha, earning a Bronze medal.
Bill was given an Honorary/Life membership in the Club in 1920 after the Olympics for his outstanding performance representing the Club.
Bill returned to the Philippines in 1922. He came back to Hawaii after World War II after retiring from swimming.
Bill was inducted into the Hawaii Swimming Hall of Fame in 2002.