Fitness is more than an aspiration for Tom Manfredi. It’s a way of life. This URI professor of kinesiology believes regular exercise is a prerequisite for good health, and at 70 years old, he practices what he preaches, both in his life and his work.
Professor Manfredi has been a competitive swimmer since age 12, and for him, swimming has always been the name of the game. “I just liked being in the water,” he says. This passion for his sport led to a full scholarship at the University of Maryland, where he received a B.S. and M.S. in physical education. He later earned a Ph.D. in exercise science from the University of Massachusetts and began teaching at URI in 1982.
He’s never stopped swimming competitively. He was inducted into the Rhode Island Aquatic Hall of Fame in 1991, and just this spring, he earned a major honor at the New England Masters Championship meet at Harvard. During the intense three-day competition, he swam 13 individual events in the 70 to 75 age group—scoring second highest in total points among all 450 male swimmers, ranging in age from 17 to 85.
In his research at URI, Professor Manfredi and his students are studying how exercise—especially swimming—makes the heart stronger. They’ve found that swimming enlarges the heart in a healthy way, reducing the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure and heart failure. For the past several years, they’ve been comparing the hearts of rats that swim to the hearts of rats with diseased hearts, and pharmaceutical companies are paying close attention to the results.
“For me, this is wonderful because I’m nearing the end of my career and this is the most exciting study I’ve done,’’ he says. “It’s been very satisfying to use my interest in swimming and apply it to my academic research.”
Related link: URI Department of Kinesiology