ISHOF FEATURE: AQUATOTS MURDER CASE—THE KATHY

AQUATOTS MURDER CASE: THE KATHY TONGAY STORY

PART ONE

BY BRUCE WIGO | PHOTOS BY I NTERNATIONAL SWIMMING HALL OF FAME

We all want the best for our children—to see them grow up to become healthy, happy and successful adults. For many of us, teaching our children to swim well and love the water through competitive aquatics is an important part of the good parenting formula. But there are some parents— whether pushed by their own dreams or pulled by their child’s talent—who step over the line of having a positive, supportive and encouraging relationship with their children. In the extreme, this “support” can morph into emotional and even physical abuse that may not even be recognized at the time. But I doubt that in the annals of aquatic history, there has ever been an example of abusive parents like the story of “little Kathy Tongay.”

Ihad never heard of Kathy Tongay until early last month, when I received a call from Gail Roper, a 1952 U.S. Olympian and longtime ISHOF supporter. She called to tell me that upon seeing the spectacular 27-meters-high diving tower being built at the Hall of Fame pool in Fort Lauderdale, she couldn’t help but think of “little Kathy Tongay.”

“Kathy who?” I asked.

“Oh, surely you’ve heard of Kathy Tongay,” said Gail.

When I sheepishly confessed my lack of recognition, Gail filled in the gap of my historical ignorance, and now I’m able to share it with you.

“THE WATER BABIES”

But before getting to Kathy, we need to go back many years before she was born in 1947—back to 1863 and the publication of a Victorian children’s novel and fairy tale, “The Water Babies” by Charles Kingsley.

At the time of its publication, the idea of small European children learning to swim was pure fantasy. The book’s appearance also coincided with the publication of Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species,” and Kingsley’s book was meant be a satire on the theory of evolution. For as Darwin’s theory proclaimed that land animals evolved from water animals, one of Kingsley’s characters asks, “Why should not a land animal sometimes change into a water animal?” And, one wonders, how would this “strange

>> “The Water Babies” by Charles Kingsley was intended to be a satire of Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species.”

transformation from a land baby to a water baby” occur?

As his book was also a polemic against child labor, Kingsley’s protagonist was a young, overworked chimney sweep named Tom. One day, exhausted and all covered with soot, Tom fell into a river and disappeared. When his clothes were found wrapped around “a black thing in the water” a few days later, those who found it concluded that it was poor Tom’s body and that he had drowned. But they were mistaken. A fairy had found Tom underwater, split open his filthy “husk and shell,” and “the pretty little real Tom was washed out of the inside of it, and swam away.” Tom had been transformed into an amphibious water baby who was cleaner, healthier and happier than he had ever been before—living among other water babies who inhabited the aquatic world.

By the 1920s, scientists, physicians and physical education experts were proclaiming that babies were “naturally amphibious” and took “to the water like ducks,” if given the chance. They pointed to the mental and physical development of a number of young boys and girls in Australia and California who had learned “to swim like fishes” at an early age. Many of the children studied had never been sick a day in their lives, and it was noted that bathing and swimming was almost a panacea for childhood ailments like rickets and even “temper tantrums.”

“(Swimming) hardens the muscles,” they said, “increases weight, tones up the appetite, stimulates circulation, improves the skin, develops the chest and quickens the faculties.”

>> The “Miami Water Babies”: (from left) Helen, Mary and Ruth Hoerger

AQUATIC PRODIGIES

These claims created a demand for aquatic prodigies to perform in the water shows that were so popular in the first half of the 20th century. Among the first of these baby performers was Rhoda Cavill, the granddaughter of Syd Cavill, who has been credited with popularizing the Australian crawl.

Little Rhoda was a popular star of the Cavil Water Circus that toured all across the USA. As a 3-year old, Rhoda was proclaimed by her father as “Baby Swimming Champion of the World” after swimming the Australian crawl over a 440-yard course at the Neptune Baths in Alameda, Calif., in 1921.

Then there was “Baby Bianca,” the 3-year old swimming prodigy of Hall of Fame coach Fred Cady of the Los Angeles Athletic Club, and Virgina Stamme, the 5 year-old diving prodigy. But the most celebrated child star of the era was Jackie Ott, “the Miami Marvel,” the “Perfect Child” nicknamed “Aquatot.”

Like Rhoda and Bianca, Jackie literally learned to swim before he could walk, and started performing for his father in “Alexander Ott’s Water Follies” when he was just 18 months old. By the age of 5, he was performing Houdini-like escape routines, diving from the 10-foot board with his hands and feet tied together. He shared top billing with Hall of Famers Johnny Weissmuller, Stubby Kruger and Peter Desjardins, and is believed to be the first diver in the world to complete a 3-1/2 somersault.

Following Jackie Ott were the “Miami Beach Water Babies,” as Ruth, Mary and Helen Hoerger were christened by the Roman Pools, where they performed. They were the children of Francis Billsbarrow, a swimmer and diver from St. Louis, who having failed in her dream to become an Olympic champion, retained a burning desire to realize her dream through her children. The oldest, Ruth, made her first splash in 1924 at 26 months of age, when she dove off a diving board to “rescue” her little dolly in the middle of the pool. Mary began performing in shows at the age of 1-1/2, and as an 8-year-old who stood 3 feet, 10 inches tall and weighed 60 pounds, just missed qualifying for the 1932 U.S. Olympic diving team. She finished fourth by less than a full point...but the Hoerger family story is for a future article.

MOST FAMOUS JUVENILE AQUATIC STARS OF ALL

At last we come to little Kathy Tongay, who along with her older brother, Russell “Bubber” Tongay Jr., became—for a short time—the most famous juvenile aquatic stars of them all.

Like Francis Billsbarrow, Kathy’s and Bubber’s father, Russell Tongay, was a swimming champion in St. Louis. He had hopes of becoming another Johnny Weissmuller, but never made it. After some success as a swimming instructor and serving a stint in the Coast Guard, Russell married, started a family and moved to Miami with the idea of making his children aquatic stars.

Almost from birth, Russel began dunking his kids in the water and had them swimming laps by their first year. On a visit to St. Louis in 1949, Bubber and Kathy made national headlines for swimming 4.6 miles in the Mississippi River with their father. Bubber was 3-1/2 years old and Kathy was 2.

In 1950, Bubber swam 22 miles in the open water and could swim 200 feet underwater holding his breath, while Kathy smashed the distance record for 3-year-olds with a 12-mile swim. Then, when their father/manager announced that Sir Billy Butlin, the millionaire sponsor of the annual English Channel Race, would cover all expenses of the “sensational aquatots” for their participation in his professional race the next summer, the Tongays became international celebrities.

>> While America celebrated the achievements of the Tongays, the British and French thought the parents were exploitative and abusive. (Pictured: the Tongays arriving in London in 1951)

In early June of 1951, the Tongays began their highly publicized summer tour. The first stop was at the Illinois Research Laboratory of Dr. Thomas Cureton (the ISHOF honor contributor/physiologist), who put the children through the same 100 tests and measurements he had given to Olympic champions in 1948. Cureton called them “the most phenomenal swimmers of the their age in the world today.” He added: “The results of the tests definitely show that children of less than 6 years of age can be trained for endurance. The idea that young children cannot do exercises because their hearts fail to develop as fast as their bodies is rejected by test data.”

The tour was off to a great start, but when their plane landed in London, immigration officials refused to allow them to enter the country. The refusal came after a debate in Parliament, led by women’s organizations who wanted the parents barred from

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>> Bubber and Kathy Tongay with Esther Williams (center) on the set of Skirts Ahoy

>> Climactic scene with (from left) Kathy, Esther Williams and Bubber in the MGM feature film, Skirts Ahoy. film of 1951(in March of 1952). Then, MGM Studios announced that “the most amazing youngsters to ever dip the drink” would star alongside Esther Williams in her next film, Skirts Ahoy.

Released in 1952, the Tongay kids shared five minutes of screen time with Esther with a dazzling display of diving, swimming and underwater games and ballet. Even by today’s standards, the kids were remarkable.

In order to prepare his kids for their next yet-to-be-determined film, Russell intensified his kids’ training and watershow performance schedules. Bubber perfected a “trick swimming routine” that carried with it a $1,000 bonus for anyone who could duplicate it, as Kathy honed her skills from the 33-foot tower.

Sadly, on May 6, 1953, after a training session, Kathy went into convulsions and died on the way to the hospital. She was two weeks shy of her sixth birthday. The next day, her father, Russell Tongay, was arrested for murder.

The story—with its sensational trial, its outcome and impact on age group swimming—will be continued next month. v

exploiting and commercializing the youngsters. Not to be deterred, Russell flew the kids to Paris, hoping they could return to England by water. But they were only allowed to remain in France upon the father’s promise that the children would not try to swim the English Channel from “the French shore.”

MORE FAME FOR THE “TONGAY AQUATOTS”

The refusal by English and French authorities only made the “Tongay Aquatots” even more famous. After their return from Europe, the children toured the United States, giving swimming exhibitions, and were featured in the Warner Brothers’ film, “The World of Kids,” which would win the Oscar for best “one-reel” Bruce Wigo, historian and consultant at the International Swimming Hall of Fame, served as president/CEO of ISHOF from 2005-17.