June 21 - USA Water Polo mourns the loss of Olympian and Hall of Fame inductee Eric Lindroth. The USA Water Polo and UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame inductee was part of the 1972 U.S. Men's Olympic Water Polo Team that claimed bronze, the first medal for Team USA in 40 years. Lindroth won in water polo at every level. From a CIF championship in high school at Newport Harbor to multiple NCAA championships at UCLA to a variety of medals won internationally with Team USA. Lindroth played for Team USA from 1970-1983 earning multiple Pan American Games medals and was part of the 1980 team that did not take part in the Olympic Games due to the United States boycott of the competition. Domestically, Lindroth won nine AAU Senior National Outdoor titles, all part of a storied career in the pool.
Many of Lindroth's former teammates shared memories of their close friend following his passing from melanoma:
Eric was the consummate 5 tool player: great shooter, defender, passer, counter attacker and the ultimate selfless teammate. More importantly, Eric was a great family man, always showing love, support and affection. He was also a great and supportive friend to many in the water polo community. Eric Lindroth was one of the world's great players of all time and one of the greatest men of all time!
I'm very proud to have had him as a very dear friend.
Love you. Big E! vaya con dios mi Hermano
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Joe Vargas
Eric was the ultimate teammate, another left hander. He came out of Newport Harbor high as CIF Player of the year in 1968 and won several National championships at UCLA under coach Horn. He melded into our club team easily and made the '72 Olympic team right out of college, when the best competition in the US was at club level. Eric was great at both ends of the pool, always in position on "D" and a prolific scorer in counter attack, out of the hole or at "6" in the extra man. He led by example, was unselfish, had a rocket arm and was basically a coach's dream. More important than all that , he was a great friend to many and a wonderful loving husband and father.
-Bruce Bradley
Eric and I were not only teammates during our UCLA, National team and International water polo careers but traveling roommates for most of that time.
When you not only train and compete with someone but also eat meals with and sleep in the same room as that person you will most likely form a close bond. WE DID. Eric was such a great person and player we soon became close friends. We talked about many things when we were together in our hotel rooms with no electronic devices to pass the time like there are today. We discussed life, family, school, work and yes a lot of water polo. We had playing cards, books to read and pranks to play but too clever I guess and we never get caught.
Eric was a lefty but smooth as silk. His shot was deceptive, powerful and accurate and he could hit the corners and over the goalies head at will. He also had a terrific backhand and could even shoot from 10 meters out and score. He wasn't the fastest swimmer but he always managed to be in scoring position and I always had him to pass to or receive a pass from. That is what Wing Men do!
We knew each other so well both in and out of the water that he was one of the main reasons I continued to play in Masters so we could play together.
True fact: Eric and I had the longest active time playing together than any other 2 players in the history of water polo. From 1969 through 2018--- 49 years.
-Jim Ferguson
For as long as I have known Eric, starting with competing against him as a junior in high school, Eric has been the hero of pretty much every water polo story. He was my roommate at the Pan American Games in 1975 (silver medal), and after the bitter conclusion of that Olympiad (1976) where we did not qualify for the Montreal Olympics, we came storming back and won a European tournament in Krefeld, Germany in 1977. Eric and I connected repeatedly on front court goals that no team in the world could stop.
The hero part of my Eric Story revolves around Italian dinners in West Los Angeles, when Debi (Eric's wife) and Eric would come and stay with me and my wife Agnes while they were going to oncologist appointments at UCLA and having updated scans, having traveled from their home in San Diego.
Not once did Eric ever complain about his fate, not once. Dinners were upbeat, story-telling affairs, and a lot of laughs. Eric was always more curious about my wife's shoulder replacement plight while she battled rheumatoid arthritis, versus his cancer prognosis. After dinners, we would sit in the kitchen and continue the story telling, not dwelling on diminishing oncology reports or scans that were not going the right way. I have never seen two people that were better suited to fighting this heinous disease as Debi and Eric. Debi with her tough steely resolve (we will find a way, and Eric with his sweet gentle upbeat approach to his wife and his fate.)
To me what sums up Eric, is that we can grieve over the fact that Eric did not get his length of years, but we cannot count Eric's years, that is because he made his years count. Someone will really have to dig to find nicer, kinder children and that is better than any water polo legacy.
-Jim Kruse
