Mike McDermott (athlete)

Michael James McDermott (January 18, 1893 – October 19, 1970) was an American breaststroke swimmer and water polo player who competed in both the 1912 and 1920 Summer Olympics. A noted athlete, he was the U.S. indoor 200-yard breaststroke champion for nine successive years, and between 1914-17 played on four National Water Polo Championship teams with the Illinois Athletic Club. He served as a Director of the Illinois Athletic Club through the 1950s, and founded and operated M.J. McDermott and Company, a successful Chicago-based construction and general contracting firm.

Michael James McDermott was born into a large Catholic family, likely of Irish descent, on January 18, 1893 in Chicago, Illinois to Michael McDermott and Marie Etta O'Donnell, the third of around seven children. Initially swimming for Chicago's Central YMCA prior to 1910, from 1910-1913, he swam for the famed Chicago Athletic Association under swimming Director Meffert and subsequently swam for the Illinois Athletic Club.