Charles Keating - Early Life and Military Service

Early Life and Military Service

Keating was born on December 4, 1923 in Cincinnati, Ohio and grew up in the Avondale and Clifton neighborhoods of that city. His brother William was born in 1927. Keating's father, Charles Humphrey Keating, came from Kentucky and managed a dairy. His father had lost one leg in a hunting accident, and then fell into a long decline from Parkinson's disease, beginning when Keating was seven, and was nursed by his mother Adelle until his father's death in 1964.

Keating began swimming at a Catholic summer camp and became passionately involved in the sport. He attended St. Xavier High School, where he was a good student, was on the swim team all four years, and also ran track and played football. In swimming he led the team to three Greater Catholic League championships, set several school records, was named all-state, and was captain of the team in his senior year. Keating graduated from St. Xavier in 1941.

After one semester at the University of Cincinnati in fall 1941, Keating left because of poor grades, although he advanced to the NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships in 1942, finishing sixth in the 200 yard breaststroke. He enlisted in the United States Navy, where he would spend four years. He trained in the Naval Air Corps to become a carrier-based night fighter pilot flying F6F Hellcats. During World War II he was stationed in the U.S., sometimes at Banana Creek in Florida, and flew Hellcats to armed services swimming meets. He narrowly escaped serious injury one night at Naval Air Station Vero Beach when he neglected to lower the landing gear on his Hellcat and wrecked the plane in an unexpected belly landing. Due to additional training on new intercept methods and the vagaries of squadron transfers, the war ended before he was deployed to any combat theater.