Remembering Wang Huan - January 7, 1951 - November 24, 2015

Fort Lauderdale - Mr. Wang Huan, who is fondly remembered by his swimming buddies, col-leagues and friends as “Brother Huan,” Old Goat”, “Uncle Big Beard;” passed away on Novem-ber, 24th, 2015, in a car accident in Beltasville, Maryland.  He was 64 years old and is survived by his dear wife Ms. Luo Sha.
Mr. Wang Huan was born on Jan. 7th, 1951, in the People’s Republic of China. His life-long love affair with swimming had been a family tradition, of which his late mother had been a swimming timekeeper and his step father, the oldest master timekeeper.  Mr. Wang Huan started swimming as a teenager, and shared the same pool as world record holders Chi Lieh Yung and Mr. Mu Xiangxiong and was a junior national champion in 100 meter backstroke in 1964 . A member of the Beijing Swimming team, Mr. Wang Huan spent his formative years in the cultural revolution. Although he suffered politically, he was able to educate himself and later became a research fellow at China History Research Institute of the Academy of Social Sciences. Later, Mr. Wang came to the United States and after his further study in US, worked for 20 years at a radio station and excelled as a senior editor. He was an excellent basketball player, actor movie and on stage, a great dancer, poet, patient and dependable and dear friend to everyone who came to know him.
In 2013, Mr. Wang played an instrumental role in the reunion of the Chinese and Ameri-can swimmers and divers in Fort Lauderdale to commemorate the first American Swimmers and Divers' “Friendship though Sports” visit to China in 1973.  He felt honored to collaborate with Louise Zhang and the ISHOF Staff to create a Chinese Swimming History exhibit in both Man-darin and English and felt honored to attend the induction of Mssrs. Chi Lieh Yung and Mu Xiangxiong, who each set new world records in the Men's 100m breaststroke in China in the late 1950s, the into the Hall of

Fame. (Pictured on R: Wang Huan and his wife with Loise Zhang at ISHOF in 2014)
“Mr. Wang was dedicated to make the reunion a success,” says ISHOF CEO Bruce Wigo, and it was an honor to get to know him.”
“His passing away shocked all of us,” says Louise (Xiao) Zhang, “we are deeply sad-dened by the news, and of with heavy hearts, we offer our condolence to his wife and his fami-ly.  Mr. Wang Huan will be fondly remembered by all who have known him during his life. His warm smiles will be forever with us.”