Harry Holiday

Harry Holiday, Jr. (ca. 1924 – February 1999) was a world record holder in the backstroke at the University of Michigan in the 1940s and the president of steelmaker American Rolling Mill Co. (Armco) from 1974-1986.

Holiday was the NCAA backstroke champion in 1943 and 1947, won six NCAA swimming championships, and set seven world records and 18 American records. He missed the opportunity to compete in the Olympic games which were cancelled in 1940 and 1944 due to World War II. He was inducted into the University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor in 1981 and the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1990.

He worked for Armco from 1949 until his retirement in 1986. He was the company's president from 1974-1986, adding the title of chief executive officer in 1979 and chairman in 1982.

A native of Butler, Pennsylvania, Holiday trained with U-M swimming coach Matt Mann. While still in high school, Holiday attended Mann's summer camps north of Toronto. He enrolled at Michigan in 1941 and became eligible for the varsity swim team in 1943. At the end of 1942, U-M swimming coach Mann predicted that his 18-year-old, 6’ 5” sophomore, Harry Holiday, would break every backstroke record. Mann said, "Holiday is the best the world has ever seen on his back and one of the finest of all time in the free-style." In an exhibition in late 1942, Holiday swam the 100-yard backstroke in 57 seconds, two-tenths of a second under the world record. In the 150-yard backstroke, he swam at 1:33 –- a full second under the NCAA record. Holiday had attended summer camps conducted by Mann in Canada for several years before enrolling at Michigan. In 1940, he finished second in the Canadian two-mile freestyle championship, 30 yards behind the winner, even though he swam backstroke the entire way.

In a January 1943 meet against Ohio State, Holiday finished three quarters of a length ahead of the nearest competitor in the 150-yard backstroke with a time of 1:35.9, one second ahead of the conference record. He also broke the world record in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 57.3 seconds, won the 50-yard freestyle, and swam the winning leg of the 300-yard medley relay.

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