I actually have a poster of that "Lunk" picture - purchased at the International Swimming Hall of Fame in Fort Lauderdale in the late 80s. He was a great breaststroker who swam for Southern Methodist University. Yes, the 80s saw a definite trend toward extremely brief suits. At the 88 Olympic Trials, and at the late 80s/early 90s NCAA championships, the infamous 'paper' suits ruled. Since swimmers want suits that are tight (so no water could slip into the suit to add drag), they often wore suits 2 sizes smaller than normal - so a guy with a 32" waist would squeeze into a size 28 Speedo or Finals (a big swimwear co. back then) paper suit. I often found size 26" in the locker rooms after a big meet also. The smaller the suit, the briefer it looked on a normal-sized male. And the 'paper' fabric was very thin - literally, it 'crinkled' like paper if you squeezed it in your hand. Sadly, in the mid-90s, the jammers started to replace the brief suits (competitive swimmers I've spoken to said the jammers were NOT used because swimmers wanted more 'coverage' - they like them because they squeeze and massage their thigh muscles so those muscles don't get tired as quickly. If you attend a regular college swim meet, most of the guys will still wear brief suits - they usually just use the jammers during their championship meets in February and March when they want to achieve their fastest times to hopefully qualify for NCAAs at the end of March.
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