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Bill Goll’s Rare Double Above, Below And In The Water

Bill Goll’s Rare Double Avoe, Below And In The Water

Photo courtesy of Getty Images shows William ‘Bill’ Goll after finishing second to Marvin Nelson in the Canadian National Exhibition. Nelson won US$5,000 for first and Goll won US$1,500 for second in the 15-mile world championship on September 1st 1934.

Bill Goll of New York was born about 1908 and ultimately became a member of the World Professional Marathon Swimming Federation.

Swimming in the open water for long distances was his passion. Besides finishing second in the 1930 Manhattan Island Marathon Swim and over the course of his three-decade career, Goll participated in nine Canadian National Exhibition swims, one of the most prestigious marathon swims of its era. Between 1931 and 1954 he had many top five finishes.

In the later stages of his career, Goll participated in at least five 22.5-mile Atlantic City Around the Island Swims in New Jersey between 1954 and 1959, always finishing in the top 10 despite being between 47 and 51 years old.

In order to make ends meet, the professional marathon swimmer doubled as a high diver and traveled with a carnival during the Great Depression years between 1935 and 1939.

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