In 1958, 17-year-old swimmer Ian Black became, and remains, the youngest winner of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year (SPOTY) after an exemplary year in which he won six major championship medals, four of them gold. Black topped the public poll ahead of two footballers, Bobby (later Sir Bobby) Charlton of Manchester United and Nat Lofthouse of Bolton Wanderers. Charlton had survived the Munich Air Disaster, at Munich-Riem Airport in Munich,West Germany the previous Februrary, which resulted in 23 fatalities, including eight of his Manchester United teammates. Lofthouse, on the other hand, had scored both goals in a 2-0 win, ironically over Manchester United, in the FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium in May and made his final appearance for the England national team in November.
Born in Inverness, Scotland on June 27, 1941, Black represented his home nation at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff, Wales, where he won the gold medal in the 220yd butterfly, silver in the 440yd freestyle and silver again in the 4 x 220yd freestyle relay. Shortly afterwards, Black represented Great Britain at the 1958 European Swmming Championships in Budapest, Hungary, where he won further gold medals in the 400m freestyle, 1500m freestyle and 200m butterfly events.
By the time he collected the SPOTY Award, following in the footsteps of the 1957 winner, Ryder Cup captain Dai Rees – who, coincidentally, at the age of 44, remains the oldest ever winner – Black had already made himself a headline name at home and abroad. In 1959, again in Cardiff, he swam the 400m individual medley in a time of 5:08.8, thereby taking over four seconds off the previous world record. Black also represented Great Britain at the 1960 Summer Olympics, reaching the finals of the 400m freestyle, 4 x 200m freestyle relay and 4 x 100m medley relay. In the former event, he actually swam 4:21.8, the same time as the eventual bronze medallist, John Konrads of Australia, but was judged to have finished fourth in a photo finish. Black retired from competitive swimming in June 1962 at the age of just 21.