Portland's "Aquatic Pied Piper": Arthur Cavill and Swimming Promotion in Oregon

Abstract:Arthur "Tums" Cavill was an Australian swimmer and swimming instructor who lived in Portland, Oregon, from 1909 to 1913, where he influenced local sport and recreation in various ways. The scion of an aquatic dynasty that was honored by the International Swimming Hall of Fame as swimming's most influential family, he was one of several siblings who had illustrious careers in the United States. Although he was an employee of the Multnomah Amateur Athletic Club (now Multnomah Athletic Club), his significance in Oregon extended beyond the sphere of this elite, private institution. His initiatives and activities in encouraging swimming, organizing public events, and attracting women to the water were widely reported, and supported, in Portland. This article analyzes Cavill's contributions to the Multnomah Amateur Athletic Club, to Portland, and to Oregon, bookended by an overview of his early life and swimming achievements and by his untimely death at age thirty-six while attempting to swim across Seattle Harbor.