Harold Henning Scholarship

Dr. Harold (Hal) Henning was a dentist in Naperville for 39 years, however swimming was his passion.

Born in Lockport, New York in 1919, he came to Naperville in 1937, and was an All-American swimmer in the freestyle and the backstroke at North Central College.

From 1942-1945, he was in the Navy where he was an instructor in aquatics warfare. After the war, he was instrumental in the development of the Red Cross Swimming education program. He once swam on a world record-breaking 400 meter freestyle relay team for the Chicago Town Club and he served 12 years as a volunteer coach for North Central College.

He was manager and coach for the United States swimming teams that competed in Mexico, Guatemala and Japan and served as manager of the U.S. Olympic swimming team in Tokyo in 1964. He was chairman of the U.S. Olympic men’s swimming committee from 1959-1965. He was also an official at several Olympiads and in the Pan American games. He was president of the International Amateur Swimming Federation from 1972-1976. At the time of his death in 1988, Dr. Henning was chairman of the foreign relations committee of the U.S. Olympic Committee.

He was also a member of the Naperville school boards from 1953-1959.