2025 Iowa Athletics Hall of Fame Spotlight: Tom Williams

BY JOHN BOHNENKAMP

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Tom Williams (87BGS) was one of the nation’s fastest swimmers in one of the sport’s shortest races.

Williams was a five-time All-American during his career at Iowa, with three of those coming in the 50-meter freestyle.

Iowa, Williams says, was a place where “they allowed me to be me.” In the 1980s, most collegiate teams were built around 100- and 200-meter swimmers who could contribute to multiple relays, says Williams.

“So to spend money and time on a guy who could only really win one or two races for you wasn’t something a lot of schools did,” Williams says. “But Iowa did. They didn’t try to shove me into a package that was going to work for the team. They allowed me to be a 50 freestyler and to really flourish in an event that doesn’t bring a lot of points to the team.”

And flourish he did. Williams became a nine-time Big Ten champion, including three titles in the 50 freestyle. He went on to represent the United States at the 1987 Pan American Games and the World University Games, winning gold medals in the 50 freestyle at both. He was also a member of two record-setting 200 freestyle relay teams.

Williams could go longer distances — he was an All-American in the 400 freestyle relay twice and won three Big Ten titles in the 400 medley relay and two in the 400 freestyle relay — but he appreciated the speed of the 50 freestyle.

“You have to be extremely fast,” he says. “And it all has to come together in a very short moment. I like to tell people I won a national championship in a hundredth of second. I lost one by two-hundredths of a second, and a human being blinks at about eight-hundredths of a second. So that’s how close it gets.”

For Williams, being inducted into the UI Athletics Hall of Fame is more than a milestone.

“It’s not just going to be some plaque on the wall,” he says. “It means so much to me to be part of that. It was once said that a person dies twice in their life ­­— once when their physical life goes and once when someone utters their name for the last time. And so maybe I won’t die for a long time.”

Tom Williams (Men’s Swimming and Diving)
Five-time All-American -- 1984 (50 free), 1985 (50 free, 400-free relay); 1986 (50 free, 400-free Relay)… nine-time Big Ten champion -- 1983 (400-free relay, 400-medley relay); 1984 (50 free, 400- medley relay); 1985 (50 free, 400-medley relay), 1986 (50 free, 100 free, 400-free relay)… three-time first-team All-Big Ten selection (1984, 1985, 1986)… recipient of the Jim Marshall Award in 1986… member of Team USA, winning a gold medal with a record time at the 1987 Pan American Games… 1987 World University Games gold medalist in the 50 free… 1988 gold medalist at the U.S. Open… member of two Team USA World record-setting 200-freestyle relays… competed in the 1988 Olympic Trials.