A rebel to the Soviets, a hero in Hungary, now his children bring his ashes home

Ervin Zádor, the legendary Hungarian water polo player who settled in Linden and founded aquatics programs in Stockton and Ripon, died on April 28, 2012, at the age of 76.

But his legacy lives on.

Two of his children, Erik, 39, and Christine, 36, will compete this week at the 17^th FINA World Masters Championships in Budapest. It will be their first trip to their father’s birthplace and they wanted to spread his ashes over his native soil.

“Originally, we were just going over to compete,” said Erik, who now runs the Ripon Aquatics program that his father founded. “But then we thought we could spread his ashes while we were over there.”

Unfamiliar with local protocol, the Zádors reached out to FINA, the governing body for international swimming, to see if such a request could be accommodated.

The Hungarian Organizing Committee jumped at the chance to honor Zádor, a legend in the sport because of his central role in the infamous “Blood in the Water” match at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

“We believe 10.30 a.m. on August 12, the boat pontoon by Hajós Alfréd Swimming Complex on Margaret Island would be a suitable date and venue to hold the commemorating ceremony of your father in dignity,” the HOC suggested to the family in an email.

A violent time

In the autumn of 1956, a student demonstration in Budapest led to a full-scale uprising against the Soviet-controlled Hungarian government. The revolt would last nearly three weeks before the U.S.S.R. sent its Red Army to crush the rebellion.

During this unrest, Zádor, then a 21-year-old water polo player, snuck out of the Hungarian national team’s training complex in the countryside to visit his mother one last time before the squad departed for the XVI Olympic Games in Melbourne.

Zádor arrived safely at 60 Aradi Street in Budapest’s sixth district, just over a mile from the Margaret Bridge that connects Buda and Pest across the Danube River.

But instead of the loving embrace that he sought, Josephine Zádor slapped the face of her youngest child, displeased that he had taken such a great and unnecessary risk.

After all, the rebellion had resulted in the deaths of 2,500 Hungarians, with another 20,000 wounded. Thousands more were imprisoned or executed and hundreds of thousands would flee as refugees.

A legend is born

This was the backdrop for the Blood in the Water Olympic semifinal match between the Hungarian and Soviet water polo teams on Dec. 6, 1956. It was a match so full of acrimony and ferocity that in the waning moments of Hungary’s 4-0 victory, Zádor (he had scored two of his team’s goals) was punched in the face by the Soviet Union’s Valentin Prokopov. A riot nearly ensued, police were called in and the match was suspended with a minute left to play.

Zádor suffered a cut above his right eye that left him bloodied and unable to play the following day in the gold-medal game versus Yugoslavia, which Hungary won 2-1. A picture of the 6-foot, 2-inch, broad-shouldered Zádor, with blood cascading down his face, was published in nearly every newspaper on the planet, and he became an unwitting symbol of Hungarian resistance.

To this day, he and his teammates, who received political asylum in the United States, remain national heroes. In fact, as recently as last month when Hungary beat Russia 14-5 in the semifinals of the World Championships in Budapest, mentions of Zádor and the Blood in the Water game once again appeared in newspapers around the globe.

A tough beginning

Former teammates are expected to appear at the ceremony honoring Zádor, as is Dénes Kemény, president of the Hungary Water Polo Federation who coached the national team to gold medals in 2000, 2004 and 2008. Hungary is an Olympic water polo dynasty, holding records for most gold medals (9), overall medals (15), and consecutive Olympiads earning a medal (12).

“I think this will bring some closure, because of his lack of ability to connect with us about what he went through growing up,” said Christine, who operates the gun range once owned by her father. “He never spoke much about it. When we were traveling to meets, we’d be asleep in the back of the car, though, we weren’t sleeping. We’d hear him tell stories, but mostly about the fun times – things we probably weren’t supposed to hear.”

Ervin Zádor was born on June 7, 1935, and grew up in a city ravaged by World War II.

“When he walked to school, he had to keep his hands on his head,” said Erik, “so soldiers could see that he was unarmed.”

“And he remembered seeing Jews, with gold stars on their coats, being shot and falling into the river,” added Christine.

Young Ervin would collect guns off the street left behind by fallen soldiers. The Germans would search homes to see if Jews were being hidden and, not wanting to be caught with weapons, he would tie his guns to a fishing line, the other end of which was attached to his bedroom window. While the Germans searched his home, the guns would dangle above the street. Once the soldiers departed, he would reel in his guns.

“He had a bad taste in his mouth,” said Erik of his father’s feelings for Budapest. “It was a war-stricken area and he wanted out.”

Return to Hungary

After leaving Hungary, Zádor settled in the United States and lived for a time in the Bay Area. He moved to Linden when he purchased the San Joaquin Rifle and Pistol Range. He returned to Hungary only once, in 2002 for the filming of “Freedom’s Fury,” a documentary about 1956 uprising and subsequent Olympics. The move was co-produced by Quentin Tarantino and Lucy Liu, and narrated by Olympic legend Mark Spitz, a former pupil of Zádor.

“They all went back, met with some of the Soviets, including the guy who struck him,” said Erik. “They were sitting together around an indoor pool, talking.”

But Zádor rarely shared these stories with his children, who say their father wasn’t the type to talk about himself, especially his past.

“His kids would say he was super tough,” said Jen Ivers, Christine’s former roommate and current business partner. “When I had the opportunity to be around him, he told me how much he loved his kids and how proud he was of them. But he definitely had an Eastern Bloc mentality. He was very stoic in some ways, but he had a real soft side to him.”

Zádor’s children didn’t often see that soft side, but they appreciate the benefits of his tough-love approach.

“I definitely learned discipline,” said Erik. “It definitely taught us to be competitive in life; always looking to be better people.”

“I used to think, ‘I don’t really have a father, I have a coach,’ and that created a lot of confusion,” said Christine. “But I can’t express how grateful and fortunate I am to have had my father for my father.”

A moment shared

Christine earned a scholarship to play water polo at the University of Southern California (Erik would go on to swim at the University of the Pacific) and it was through her USC connections that she learned about the depth of her father’s athletic legacy.

“I would go back and play in alumni games and there were Hungarian players on the USC team,” said Christine. “And they treated me like royalty because of who my dad was. They would just tell me that he meant so much to Hungary and that the whole story was so symbolic. People still look at him as a hero.”

In 1999, as a freshman at USC, Christine scored the winning goal in overtime to give the Trojans a 7-6 victory over Stanford for their first national championship. As soon as the buzzer sounded to end the match, she ran into the stands to hug her father.

“I just wanted to share that moment with him,” said Christine.

Who knows what went through Ervin Zádor’s mind at that moment? Perhaps he thought of the time he snuck away to hug his mother, only to be rebuked for his carelessness. Maybe he thought back to Dec. 6, 1956, when a water polo match became a symbol of national pride. More likely, he simply got carried away in the moment, happy that his youngest child could enjoy her moment of glory in a way he never could.

Now, five years after his death, Erik and Christine Zádor will connect with their father in a way they rarely could when he was alive.

“It’s significant,” said Christine of the Hungarian Organizing Committee’s offer. “They reached out to us, and can tell us more than we ever knew about our father. And we can settle in for the rest of our lives knowing more than ever about our dad.”

This story was originally published August 5, 2017 at 1:41 PM with the headline "A rebel to the Soviets, a hero in Hungary, now his children bring his ashes home."