Jesse Vassallo

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Jesus ("Jesse") Vassallo (born August 9, 1961 in Ponce, Puerto Rico), is the first Puerto Rican to be inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

Jesse Vassallo

Vassallo was the third child of five siblings. He received his primary education in Cristo Rey School in Ponce; his father, Victor Vassallo, who is the brother of Puerto Rican industrialist Salvador Vassallo, was very sports minded and encouraged his children to participate in sports. On one occasion, while relaxing by a hotel pool in San Juan, Vassallo's father asked his sons to compete against some girls that were swimming laps in the pool. The father was impressed with what he saw and as soon as he returned to Ponce, he enrolled them in a local swimming team.

In 1971, when Vassallo was only 10 years old, he broke a 50 meter backstroke swimming record. In 1975, he won his first gold medal in backstroke at the Medley Relay, held in Colombia. Vassallo's father moved his family to Miami, Florida, where he was to open a branch of the family business, Vassallo Industries. Within three years, Vassallo held various records:

100 and 200 meters backstroke,
200 and 400 meters individual medley and
200 m butterfly.

Vassallo already ranked among the top ten in the world in three of the events.

Vassallo's father moved to Mission Viejo, California, where he completed his secondary studies. He went to train with Mark Schubert, who would later become the U.S. Swimming Team coach. In 1976, Vassallo wanted to participate in the 1976 Olympics, which were held in Montreal, Canada, representing Puerto Rico, but he couldn't due to a ruling of the Puerto Rican Olympic Committee that stated that "in order to represent Puerto Rico, a person must have resided in the island for at least a year" (currently, this rule requires for a person to reside for three years before becoming a member of a Puerto Rican national sports team). He did however, participate in his first U.S. Swimming Nationals at Philadelphia and won his first national title and a national gold medal in the 1,500 meters freestyle.

In 1977, Vassallo began to travel with the U.S. team, winning medals in New Zealand, the Netherlands and France. In 1978, Vassallo broke his first record in the 400 meters trials for the 1978 World Championships to be held in Berlin, Germany. In Berlin, he broke his record again and won two gold medals and one silver medal. In 1979, Vassallo broke his third world record in the 200 meters and won gold in the Pan American Games, held in San Juan. That same year, he graduated from high school and was placed in the list of the top ten athletes in the world, along with Muhammad Ali, Mario Andretti and others by Sports Illustrated magazine.

Vassallo was unable to attend the 1980 Olympics held in Moscow, Russia because of the boycott imposed by President Jimmy Carter. He competed in another competition held in the U.S., which were held at the same time as the Moscow Olympics. Vassallo made better time in the 200 and 400 meters at the competition than the two gold medalists in Moscow.

Retirement After traveling and competing around the world, Vassallo moved to Miami and enrolled in the University of Miami. A knee injury which required surgery, practically ended his career. He graduated in 1985 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communications. That same year he returned to Puerto Rico, where he met his future wife, Betsy Lopez, sister of the Atlanta Braves baseball star Javy Lopez and of Puerto Rican volleyball superstar Elaine Lopez. After working in his family business in Ponce for three years, Vassallo and his brothers opened "Vassallo Unlimited". This company is a producer of solid surface materials which are used in the construction industry.

In 1997, Jesse Vassallo was the first Puerto Rican to be inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame. Among the other honors which have been bestowed upon Jesse are being inducted into the Japanese Swimmers Hall of Fame; The United States Sports Hall of Fame at the University of Florida; the Puerto Rican Hall of Fame and the Ponce Hall of Fame. The municipal swimming pool of Ponce is named after Jesse. Vassallo has also appeared on the covers of "The Olympian", "Sports Illustrated", and "Swimming World" among others.