Sport: Unfinished Business

The world’s best springboard diver is a carrot-topped, 21-year-old University of Texas senior named David (“Skippy”) Browning. Skippy has won four Amateur Athletic Union National Indoor diving titles and four National Collegiate Indoor titles, and in Helsinki this summer he led the U.S. to a 1-2-3 sweep of Olympic springboard diving (TIME, Aug. 11).

In Newark’s Hays Park East pool last week, Skippy had one item of unfinished business to take up: the A.A.U.’s National Outdoor championship. Browning won this title in 1949, but he was a runner-up the next two years. To complete his unparalleled one-man sweep, he had to retake it.

Springboard divers are graded by an intricate point system that takes into account: 1) the run, 2) the takeoff, 3) technique and grace in the air, 4) entry into the water. Complicated acrobatics can win high point credit—but they also risk a bellyflop and an irretrievable point loss. To qualify with seven rivals in the finals last week, Skippy performed six dives including a half gainer, a back jackknife and a cutaway 1½ somersault.

Then Skippy went into his repertory of dazzling dives. For a climax, he sprang one of his “inventions” that would not have been officially recognized in the Olympics. Taking off from the board, he soared and began twisting and spinning. By the time he slithered into the pool, he had executed an astonishing running double-twisting forward 1½ somersault. The five judges were properly impressed, and Skippy Browning had finished his business: he copped the title, with 202.82 points over Ohio State’s Runner-Up Bob Clotworthy, with 198.83.