Dot's Page
President Nancy Ridout created the ad-hoc History and Archives Committee, with Dorothy Donnelly as Chair, to give official stature to its stated mission: to construct permanent recorded history - both hard copy and electronic - of United States Masters Swimming.
We are fortunate that there is indeed hard copy of our early days, from
reports of that first competition in Amarillo, Texas right up to our
current national championships. June Krauser's twenty years of SWIM
MASTER, Swim-Swim Magazine, and SWIM, the official USMS Magazine. Our
historians have also kept records of our progress, first with Ham Anderson and
Mildred Anderson and their book on Masters History. Joan P Smith took over
and started the ScrapBooks most of you have seen at Convention, and also
inadvertently became the caretaker of a shed-full of past hard copy
materials! Edie Gruender, as Historian, has continued to collect all manner of
public relations and newsprint materials.
Then along came the electronic age, and our Carl House, who, along with
his "sandbox gang" started a modest website based on Top Tens and All
Americans, which has exploded into over 6,000 pages of just about
everything about Masters Swimming. Our charge now is to make sure that
the material on this website is as complete and accurate as possible.
This means all-inclusive names, dates of birth, LMSC, Club, permanent
swimmer ID, etc., and this means lots of volunteer help.
To bring this effort up to its present awesome state took the work of
about sixty volunteers, many of whom have kept formidable records, and all willing
to contribute substantial amounts of time for the common cause. We have nearly complete
identification of all FINA and USMS Record Holders, All Americans and All
Stars; all recipients of major awards, all national officers since the
beginning in 1972, and Top Ten achievements since 1993. We are receiving
CDs of all the photos published in SWIM since 1995. A major effort is to
select appropriate photos, correctly identify them, and gather volunteers
to build a catalogue of these photos with proper credits and annotation.
Now we have the "Oral History" project, with stories of our Masters Swimmers -
not necessarily the elite but those who have made an impact on either the program or on some of our swimmers.
Visit our
Oral History
and we know you, or someone in your LMSC, will be inspired to contribute.
The volunteers have done magnificent work - but now we need grass roots help.
We feel the most important improvements in our archives from now on will come
as local USMS people claim their All Americans, and as our members clarify their information.
Swimmers and photographers are: Tracie Moll by Sasha Mitelman; Wenke Hansen from the AAF Rose Bowl Aquatic Center in Pasadena; Gus Langner by Gerry Vuchetich; Drury Gallagher by Dan Helms; and Bill Specht by Sasha Mitelman. Thanks to Swim Magazine and to the photographers for making these photos available. These swimmers range from 31 to 97 years of age. Click on any image to see it enlarged.
E-mail us if you wish: Carl House, standing in for Dorothy Donnelly.
C'mon in, the water's fine, Dot says !
