
Ambrose Gaines IV was born on February 17, 1959, the son of Ambrose III, who owned a gas station, and Jettie Ann Coltharp Gaines, in Winter Haven, Florida. His nickname, "Rowdy," was given to him by his father and stemmed from the 1950s television series "Rawhide," in which actor Clint Eastwood played the character "Rowdy." Not adept at other sports, Gaines discovered he could swim faster than his friends when playing underwater tag, but it was not until his junior year in high school that he started swimming competitively. As a senior, he won the state championship in the 200-yard freestyle and finished second in the 100-yard freestyle, but Auburn University was the only school that recruited him. Under Richard Quick's coaching at Auburn, Rowdy's swimming times improved so quickly that he was soon representing the United States in international competition. At the 1978 Swimming World Championships in Berlin, West Germany, he finished second in the 200-meter freestyle over two highly favored Soviet swimmers and joined his teammates in winning gold medals in the 4x100 and 4x200 freestyle. At the Pan American Games in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 1979, he was a gold medalist in those three events as well. At the 1980 United States Swimming National Championships in Austin, Texas, Gaines broke world records in the 100-meter and 200-meter freestyle, with respective times of 00.49.36 and 1.49.16, and he was favored to sweep all the sprinting events in the pool at the upcoming Olympics in Moscow that summer. Named "World Swimmer of 1980" by Swimming World, his elite status was further recognized when he was named Southeastern Conference Athlete of the Year over college football star Herschel Walker, whose Georgia Bulldogs had won the 1980-81 National Championship.


Rowdy's greatest personal challenge, however, came in 1991, while he was managing the Oahu Club, a tennis and swimming facility in Honolulu, Hawaii. He contracted Guillain–Barré Syndrome, a rare neurological condition that attacks the nervous system and results in almost total paralysis. He went from being an Olympic champion to an invalid who could hardly perform even simple everyday tasks. The treatment, called plasmapheresis, involved cycling his blood through a cleansing machine and then back into his body. The sessions were extremely painful and had to be done daily for three months. Gaines spent six weeks in the hospital and six more as an outpatient and lost 40 pounds. Within six months, however, he had recuperated sufficiently to start swimming competitively again, and in 1996, at age 35, qualified to enter trials for the upcoming Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.
Ultimately, Gaines chose not to pursue a spot on the U.S. Olympic team, instead accepting an offer to work in a marketing and public relations position at Auburn University and to serve as an NBC Olympics commentator. In addition to NBC, Gaines provided commentary on swimming for CBS, TNT, ESPN, and TBS, and thereby reentered the public eye. His presence poolside at every Olympic Games since Atlanta and at other major competitions enabled viewers to gain a greater appreciation of the sport, and his accomplishments as a swimmer lent special credence to his commentary.
An Olympic swimming legend in the vein of Buster Crabbe, Mark Spitz, and Michael Phelps, Gaines has received many accolades, resulting in his induction into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, the United States Olympic Hall of Fame, and the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
Since 2007 he has served as a spokesman for LIMU, a company in Lake Mary, Florida, that markets dietary supplements to promote health and energy. Under LIMU's charitable arm, called Rowdy Kidz, Gaines travels throughout the country providing free swim clinics for local children and offering a message of the importance of discipline, dedication, and teamwork. He also volunteers his time for the United Cerebral Palsy Foundation and Swim Across America, a program that raises money for cancer research. He resides in Lake Mary.
Additional Resources
"Ambrose 'Rowdy' Gaines." File, Special Collections and Archives, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama.
Additional Resources
"Ambrose 'Rowdy' Gaines." File, Special Collections and Archives, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama.
Archbold, Hunt. "Olympics Promise to be Rowdy." Montgomery Advertiser, June 23, 1996.
"AU's Gaines Swims into Olympic Commentary." Birmingham News, July 22, 1996.
Bisher, Furman. "Rowdy Gaines: Auburn's Golden Hope." Sky (August 1982): 74-76.
Gosman, Mike. "Rowdy Gaines." In Swimming: Character and Excellence, pp. 97-109. Silver Spring, Md.: Arche Inc., 1998.
"Rowdy Gaines," People 46(3), July 15, 1996, 80-81.
Zenor, John. "Ex-Olympian Gaines Travels Road Back to Good Health." Montgomery Advertiser, May 3, 1997.