University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire

Steve Hollman had the “Midas” touch as a Blugold swimmer, especially in the WSUC championships. In his four-year career, he swam in 23 conference races and earned a gold medal 19 times while setting a conference record five times. The three-time team MVP led the Blugolds to four consecutive conference championships from 1984 through 1987. He won the 200 freestyle four consecutive years, the 200 individual medley three times and the 400 individual medley two times. He was a member of the 400 freestyle relay team and the 800 freestyle relay team, neither of which lost the four years he swam. He also picked up two firsts as a member of the 400 medley relay team. The 400 medley relay squad was third two other times and he was runner-up in the 200 backstroke once and the 100 freestyle once. In national competition, the Blugolds were also very successful with Hollman as a qualifier. In 22 national races, he placed in the top eight 15 times. He was a First Team or Second Team All-American 21 times. He was a member of the 1987 Blugold 800 freestyle relay team which won a national championship in school record time. That same year, he was a member of the 400 freestyle relay team which was national runner-up with a school record time. Twenty years later, at the time of his induction, both the 800 freestyle and 400 freestyle records set in that meet still stood. His top individual finish in national competition was a fourth in the 200 freestyle at the 1984 meet. As a team, the Blugolds placed sixth, fifth, fourth and third in consecutive years at the NAIA Nationals with Hollman on the squad.

A three-time team captain, Hollman was the WSUC Scholar-Athlete for the sport of swimming in both 1986 and 1987. He was a member of the inaugural class of Super Six recipients in 1987. The Blugold Super Six Salute Award is the highest award UWEC bestows upon one of its student-athletes and is presented to three male and three female student-athletes each year. Hollman graduated cum laude and at the time of his induction, was Vice President-Technical Director of Chicago-based Univar Chemcentral Corporation, the world’s largest privately held distributor of industrial chemicals with annual sales of more than $1.375 billion. He had been with Chemcentral since 1987 as a sales representative, adhesive market manager, corporate account executive and technical director.