Foothill High School (North Tustin, CA) Furniss is a 1975 graduate of Tustin, California's
Foothill High School where he was coached by Tom Delong,
California Interscholastic Federation's all-time winningest high school swim coach. As a Junior at the 1974
CIF-SS Championships, Furniss broke
Mark Spitz's National Interscholastic High School Record in the 200-yard Individual Medley and then topped the record again at the same championship in 1975. Furniss-led teams won the
CIF-SS Championship Title in 1972, 1973 and 1974. Two of those years, Furniss teamed with
Rod Strachan, whom Furniss would later swim with at USC and with whom he was a teammate on the 1976 U.S. Olympic Men's Swim Team. At the
1976 Olympic Games, Strachan would best Bruce's older brother,
Steve, winning the Olympic gold medal in the
400-meter Individual Medley in a world record time.
University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA) Furniss was an integral part of
USC's
NCAA National Collegiate Championship winning teams of
1976 and
1977. While at USC, Furniss was coached by the legendary
Peter Daland, who guided the school's men's swimming team to nine National Titles in his 35 years as the school's coach (1957 to 1992). During his time at USC, Furniss was one of five Trojans who would make the 1976 twenty-six member
Men's USA Olympic Swimming Team (each Olympic Swimming Medalists). Joining Furniss was older brother
Steve, 1977
James E. Sullivan Award Winner,
John Naber,
Joe Bottom, and
Rod Strachan. All four Furniss brothers attended, competed and graduated from
USC. Each would swim and/or play water polo for the Trojans. Both Steve and Bruce shared in the school's
1976 National Team Title, which at the time, was by the largest margin of victory.
1976 Olympics (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) Furniss was a member of the 1976 U.S. Olympic men's swimming team, which was coached by three American swimming giants,
Indiana University's
Doc Counsilman,
Santa Clara Swim Club's
George Haines, and the
University of Alabama's
Don Gambril, all
International Swimming Hall of Fame Coaches. The 1976 U.S. Olympic Men's Swim Team dominated, winning 12 of 13 (92%) possible gold medals and 27 of 35 (77%) possible total medals. Furniss won Olympic gold in the
200-meter freestyle, (one of three Americans to win this Olympic event;
Mark Spitz in 1972 and
Michael Phelps in 2008 being the other two), and the
4×200-meter freestyle relay, setting world records in each event. On July 19, 1976, the second day of the 1976 Olympic swimming program, Furniss won the
200-meter freestyle with a winning time of 1:50.29, leading an American sweep finishing ahead of fellow Americans
John Naber (silver) and
Jim Montgomery (bronze). Two days later, on July 21, 1976, he teamed up with
Naber,
Montgomery and
Mike Bruner on the
4×200-meter freestyle relay with a winning time of 7:23.22. On that relay, Furniss, who swam the second leg, became the first person to break the 1:50 second barrier, splitting 1:49.56 (53.77/55.79).
1975 & 1978 World championships Furniss also garnered two gold and two silver medals in the
1975 World Aquatics Championships in Cali, Colombia and
1978 World Aquatics Championships in West Berlin.
World records As a 7-year-old in 1964, Furniss was inspired by the four gold medal performance of American swimmer
Don Schollander, who broke the 200-meter freestyle world record eleven times during his career. Twelve years later, Furniss became the twelfth of fourteen Americans in history to break the 200-meter freestyle world record. During his career he broke the
200-meter freestyle world record four different times. At the
1975 World Swimming Championships team trials in the Belmont Plaza pool in
Long Beach, CA, Furniss accomplished the rare feat of breaking the 200-meter freestyle world record twice on the same day (June 18, 1975). Later that same summer, Furniss would break the world record in the event for the third time at the 1975 AAU Senior National Outdoor Championships in
Kansas City, KS. His fourth crack of the event’s world mark occurred in the 1976
Men's 200-meter Freestyle Olympic Final. Furniss also broke the world record in the
Men's 200-meter individual medley at the 1975 AAU Senior National Outdoor Championships in
Kansas City, KS. He laid claim to the 200-meter freestyle world record from 1975 to 1979 and the 200-meter individual medley world record from 1975 to 1977. In total Furniss either broke or was on relay teams that broke ten world records in four different events over a three year period.
Sibling rivalry Furniss is the third of three successful aquatic brothers, often referred to as "Orange County California's First Family of Swimming." Older brother
Steve Furniss, a two-time swimming Olympian (
1972 Bronze Medalist in the Men's 200-meter Individual Medley and 1976 U. S. Men’s Olympic Swim Team Captain), and Bruce are among a rare group of siblings, in any sport, to make the same Olympic team. Oldest brother, Chip, a
USC Collegiate Swimming All-American, finished fifth in the 1972 Olympic Swimming Trials in the
200-meter Butterfly (behind
Mark Spitz and
Gary Hall Sr). Youngest brother, Craig, also attended
USC, where he was a two-time Collegiate All-American Water Polo Player and was
USC's
Valedictorian of his 1981 graduating class. Bruce and Steve remain in an exclusive group of three sets of brothers to win Olympic swimming medals, joining
Duke Kahanamoku and
Samuel Kahanamoku and Spain's
David Lopez-Zubero and
Martin Lopez-Zubero. The Furniss family's impact on competitive aquatics goes beyond competing in swimming and water polo. Upon his retirement from collegiate and international swimming, Steve became a leading innovator in competitive aquatic apparel founding
TYR Sport in 1985.
Olympic schedule changes Bruce and Steve share the distinction as the only known brothers to have held and broken one another's world records consecutively. In August 1975 at the
United States Swimming National Championships, Bruce broke Steve's
200-meter individual medley world record in a race in which Steve also competed. In that same meet, Bruce and Steve, swimming for Long Beach Swim Club, shared the equally unique accomplishment, (along with teammates
Tim Shaw and Rex Favaro), as the last swim club team to break a swimming relay world record (
4×200-meter freestyle relay). The decision by the
International Olympic Committee and
FINA to remove the
200-meter individual medley from the
1976 Summer Olympics robbed Bruce and Steve of the unique opportunity to compete against each other in an Olympic swimming event. Thus, Furniss's dream of winning a third, and, quite possibly, a fourth Olympic Gold Medal was thwarted when the
200-meter individual medley and the
4×100-meter freestyle relay (an event the United States had won in all three previous Olympics and both World Championships) were removed from the
1976 Summer Olympics competition schedule. As the reigning
200-meter individual medley world record-holder from 1975 through 1977, Furniss was the apparent favorite for the event's 1976 Olympic gold medal. At the time, Bruce, the event's existing world record holder, and Steve, the event's previous world record holder, were poised to race in the event against Great Britain's
David Wilkie, who had previously shared the world record with brother Steve, and Canada's
Graham Smith, who would break the world record in 1977. Furniss was also the United States' fourth fastest swimmer in the 100-meter freestyle in 1975, and was a member of the world champion and world record-holding quartet (Furniss,
Andy Coan,
Jim Montgomery &
John Murphy) in the
4×100-meter Freestyle Relay, an event the Americans were favored to win in 1976 and up unto that time, one the U.S. had never lost in Olympic competition. Ironically both events were permanently reinstated into the Olympic program eight years later at the
1984 Summer Olympics in
Los Angeles, CA.
Long Beach Swim Club and Huntington Beach Aquatic Club From December 1973 to the end of his career in August 1980, while swimming for Long Beach Swim Club (LBSC), Furniss's daily training partner was 1975
James E. Sullivan Award Winner,
Tim Shaw. While at LBSC, Furniss was coached by two
International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) coaches,
Dick Jochums and
Jon Urbanchek. Prior to their 1973 arrival at Long Beach Swim Club, both Furniss Brothers were coached by another
ISHOF inducted coach,
Ralph "Flip" Darr, who coached noted Olympic medalist swimmers
Gary Hall Sr. and siblings,
Shirley and
Jack Babashoff, while at Huntington Beach Aquatic Club. ==Awards and recognition==