Charles Chapman (swimmer)

[2] In Buffalo, he had difficulty gaining entry to swim clubs, as there were few open in Black neighborhoods in the winter, so he would occasionally sneak into the Canisius College pool.

From his earliest days as a coach, Champman encouraged talented swimmers from diverse backgrounds, religions and ethnicities to swim with his program.

To toughen his body to the cold, Chapman sat in Arden Hills' wading pool after loading it with ice, and would put on weight when planning long cold-water swims.

Chapman received financial support for the costly undertaking from his father who had helped organize a small group of Buffalo investors.

Chapman landed at Sangatte Bay near Calais in Southern France and walked the required ten steps on shore to verify his swim.

[7] In the service boat was Chapman's promoter and sponsor Henry Clark, a former boxer, and the official observer for the Channel Swimming Association, John Winyard.

Winyard dove in to swim the last 300 yards with Champman, but when the cold water of the channel proved too much for him, he had to be located, rescued, and pulled back into the accompanying dinghy which resulted in a bit of drama.

The newly accomplished swimmer expressed a strong interest in making swim training more available to Black athletes as a sport of choice.

[12] He swam the roughly mile and a quarter or half from Alcatraz Island to the Dolphin Swim Club in San Francisco on July 28, 1978, in around 39:55, and though far from the record of 27:28, he fought a bitter cold, a strong tide, white caps, 56 degree water, winds and a 53F outside temperature.

[14] In 1987, he became the first man to swim the 14-mile New York Harbor course from the South Street Seaport to the Statue of Liberty to Brooklyn's Coney Island, using only the Butterfly stroke.

[16] The previous year, Los Angeles Dodgers vice president Al Campanis had stated that blacks couldn't swim because their bones were too heavy; Chapman, in response, said, "I'm like Jackie Robinson paving the way, except I'll be wearing a little bathing suit",[17] and ""Silly stuff like that, some people believe.

Two weeks earlier, outside his home of Buffalo, New York, he had prepped for the event by swimming seven miles from Peace Bridge to the Erie Basin Marina in 1:40.