in 1937 and 1938 At the 1935 AAU outdoor national championships, held in New York City's 50-meter Manhattan Beach pool in July of that year, he won the 440-yard Freestyle, beating competitors including Jack Medica, Ralph Flanagan, and James Gilhula, all of whom were world record holders at varying freestyle distances. According to the NCAA's "Swimming and Diving" media guide for 2000, John Macionis won the NCAA title in 1937 in the 1,500 Meter (sic) Freestyle, with a time of 19:58.5 at the University of Minnesota pool: Macionis then successfully defended his collegiate title in 1938, at Rutgers University, with a time of 20:15.2. At the 1937 NCAA championships, Yale finished a distant third to the University of Michigan in the team competition, and was fifth in 1938. At the March 1938 NCAA championships, Macionis was also described as "fast closing" when he took third place in the 220-yard Freestyle. 1936 Berlin Olympics In 1936 he became the first Yale swimmer to compete in the Olympic Games. In Berlin in early August, he won a silver medal in the 4×200 m freestyle relay event (August 11, swimming the 2nd leg; USA time 9 minutes and 3.0 seconds) and was fourth in his semi-final of the 400 m freestyle event and did not advance to the 6-man final. Immediately after the Olympics, members of the U.S. swim team, including Macionis, took part in ad hoc barnstorming swim meets in Europe. Due to World War II, the 1940 Summer Olympics were canceled, however a committee established by the International Swimming Hall of Fame recognized those U.S. swimmers who would have qualified for the Olympic Team that year. Macionis was one of those so recognized. He is also a member of the Pennsylvania Swimming Hall of Fame in State College, Pennsylvania. World War II and afterwards He served as a commissioned officer in the United States Coast Guard during World War II, attaining the rank of lieutenant commander. After the war he was an executive in the dairy industry in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area. He continued to swim in master's competition and, at age sixty-five, he held five world records for his age group. Macionis was also an active swimming official in the northeast, and especially in the Philadelphia region, for more than fifty years. He retired from officiating in 2009, and the last meet he officiated was an NCAA dual meet between