Charles Keating - Education and Swimming

Education and Swimming

Keating was ready to return to college after finishing his Navy service in 1945. His abilities as a swimmer made him an attractive recruit, despite his having dropped out earlier. He cut a deal with University of Cincinnati wherein they would accept for academic credit much of his Navy service, then he would take six months of liberal arts courses before entering their law school.

In 1945, Keating won the 200 yard breaststroke at the Ohio Intercollegiate Conference championship. On March 30, 1946, Keating competed in the 200 yard breakstroke at the NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships, before a packed house of 2,500 spectators at Yale University's Payne Whitney Gymnasium. In an exciting, back-and-forth contest with Paul Murray of Cornell University and future coaching legend James Counsilman of Ohio State University, Keating prevailed by a foot to win the championship with a time of 2:26.2. (The event was later reclassified as the butterfly in NCAA records due to a definitional evolution involving the two strokes.) This was the first ever national championship in any sport for the University of Cincinnati. He and teammate Roy Lagaly also become the first-ever Bearcats to be named All-Americans. Keating was an imposing 6 foot 5 inches, a natural leader and co-captain of the team with Lagaly. Of Keating, Lagaly later said, "You could tell even then he was going to be very successful. He was very ambitious. Whatever he did, he did all the way."

Keating followed this by, swimming for Cincinnati Gym, finishing second to future Olympic gold medalist Joseph Verdeur in the 220 yard breaststroke at the April 1946 national AAU championships.

In 1948, Keating received his law degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Law. Keating would later be named a member of the University of Cincinnati's Athletic Hall of Fame.

His son, Charles Keating III, swam in the 1976 Olympics, finishing fifth in the 200 meter breaststroke. His grandson Gary Hall Jr. competed in three Olympics as a swimmer and won 10 medals.

Charles Keating has been a long-time supporter of U.S. swimming and beginning in 1969 he and his brother William donated $600,000 to St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati to build a state-of-the-art competition pool. The school's swim team went on to win many state titles. St. Xavier named the Keating Natatorium after the brothers' father, and inducted Charles Keating into its initial Athletic Hall of Fame class in 1985. The University of Cincinnati's 2006 athletic building is named the Keating Aquatic Center, in honor of Keating's brother William and the donations from the Keating family used to construct it. He also funded Cincinnati's Marlins swim club; six swimmers on the 1980 Olympic squad were from its roster, including future Olympic champion Mary T. Meagher. When he later moved to Phoenix, he built the Phoenix Swim Club, where Hall Jr. trained.