Miller Anderson

Miller Anderson was a highly decorated army air corps officer in World War II and, when he was forced to bail out on his 112th mission, his left leg was so severely damaged that it was thought it might have to be amputated and his career as a top-class diver undoubtedly seemed over. The knee was saved only when doctors inserted a silver plate into the knee area, but he was forced to learn to dive all over again. Anderson won his first AAU championship in 1943, when he took the highboard title. After the war he attended Ohio State and, despite his injuries, won the AAU indoor titles off both the 1 m and 3 m boards in 1946, 1947 and 1948, and was the NCAA 3 m champion in those same three years. At the 1951 Pan American Games he won silver (springboard) and bronze (platform). He was also noted as an innovative diver, originating the forward one-and-a-half somersault with two twists and the backward 1½ with one twist.