Heinz Kluetmeier, an award-winning photojournalist whose portfolio includes iconic Olympic images of the “Miracle On Ice” in 1980 and Michael Phelps’ “Miracle Finish” in 2008, has died. He was 82.
Kluetmeier died Tuesday due to complications from Parkinson’s disease and a stroke, according to his longtime employer, Sports Illustrated. He was considered a pioneer in remote and underwater camera technology.
“Besides his body of work, he left an impression on everybody that he met or worked with,” said New York City-based photographer Jeff Kavanaugh, who worked alongside Kluetmeier for decades. “In some ways, that was a great impression. Sometimes it wasn’t. But all in all, it’s just the drive and the determination and just the sheer genius of some of the things that he engineered.
“The advances that he helped bring along, especially in sports photography, he’ll be remembered for that.”
Kluetmeier was born in Germany in 1942 and moved with his family to Milwaukee at age 9. He was introduced to the idea of a career in photojournalism when pictures of him and his pet parakeet, Chirpy, were published by The Associated Press.
By age 15, he was shooting photos for the AP. Using a Nikon S camera that his parents bought him, he began freelancing for the AP and the Milwaukee Journal.
He once recalled driving to Green Bay while the Packers were in training camp. He walked into the cafeteria at St. Norbert College with a camera around his neck, only to be accosted by coach Vince Lombardi.
“Kid, what are you doing here?” Lombardi asked.
Kluetmeier explained that he was assigned to take pictures of Bart Starr, Paul Hornung and Jim Taylor for the AP. Lombardi turned and shouted: “Starr! Taylor! Hornung! Get over here! This kid wants to take some pictures of you guys!”
“I couldn’t believe my luck,” Kluetmeier said. “You can’t imagine something like that happening today.”
Kluetmeier joined the Journal staff a few years later. In 1969, before he turned 30, Heinz was poached by Time Inc. to work for Life and SI.
He worked countless Olympic Games beginning in 1972 — his first SI cover featured seven-time gold medalist swimmer Mark Spitz — as well as Super Bowls, World Series, Kentucky Derbies and Indy 500s. He also photographed President John F. Kennedy on the campaign trail.
His most notable images came from the Olympics, though. His photo of the United States celebrating its victory against Russia in the Lake Placid Games — shot with a handheld camera from the stands — is among the most famous sports images of the 20th century. It donned the SI cover without a headline or a caption.
Kluetmeier, who earned an engineering degree, was the first to experiment with an underwater camera during the world swimming championships in Perth, Australia, in 1991. He had mastered the technique by the 2008 Beijing Olympics. His expertise delivered frame-by-frame images that confirmed Phelps edged Milorad Cavic for gold in the 100-meter butterfly.
“It was pretty dramatic,” Kavanaugh said Wednesday. “We were fighting for space under there. He just knew that was going to be an iconic moment. And then it turned out it was [Phelps] and Cavic that ended up in Lanes 4 and 5, so we were in perfect position for that. And then it was just kind of little bit of luck hitting the moments.”
Kluetmeier won the Lucy Award for lifetime achievement as a photographer in 2007. He was inducted into the Swimming Hall of Fame in 2017 as a contributor.
