USMS: A Double Celebration, by Dorothy Donnelly
USMS - A Double Celebration
It's well known that Master Swimmers are first in line when it comes to any kind of celebration - after a meet or a workout, a new record, or a personal best, a birthday, you name it, Master Swimmers will socialize over it. And now there's a bona fide reason for a double celebration.... the 20th birthday of Masters Swimming Competition in the United States, and the tenth anniversary of United States Masters Swimming, which was incorporated in April of 1981.
Would you believe it's twenty years since those 46 pioneers gathered
in Amarillo, Texas and competed in the first unofficial Nationals?
Some familiar names were there -
Ransom Arthur
and
John Spannuth
, Anne
Adams and
Mildred Anderson
. Most of them had been "AAU kids", so they
took their ideas to Mother AAU at the Lake Placid Convention, where
Ransom and John, abetted by
June Krauser
, convinced the AAU to
officially adopt this "Masters" concept as a sub-committee of AAU
Swimming. Ransom was appointed the first Chairman. June (who else?)
wrote the first Rules--took up less than a page!
After that, we growed like Topsy. Mildred & Ham Anderson's History of Masters Swimming lists 160 entrants at the '71 Nationals, again in Amarillo; adding the likes of Ham Anderson, Judge Bob Beach, Doc Counsilman, Ted Haartz , and Edie Gruender . Then at Santa Monica in 1972 there were over 300, and we had our first National Long Course in Indiana. This time it's not an "editorial we" - that was my first. Twenty years later we are trying ways to keep the numbers to a manageable level.
More important than Nationals was the growth of Masters Swimming on the local level. AAU had a wonderful network of local associations-- almost the same as we have today. Many AAU Swimming Committee members were former kid swimmers or coaches and jumped at the opportunity to mount the blocks again. Masters Swim meets began popping up all over the country. My own involvement started when Mike Laux called me in '72 and announced he'd been named AAU Northeast Co-ordinator for Masters Swimming, "whatever THAT is." Like many other AAU's around the country, we contacted all the old swimming friends we could find and our first meet in Wilton CT on April 1st, 1972 was a reunion of 60 ex-swimmers! Most of us were bitten by the Masters Swimming bug, and this year we'll be having the 20th April Fools competition at Southern Conn. State University in New Haven.
As the sport grew, so did the need for more comprehensive rules, and a cohesive administrative structure, reflected in the increased amount of days devoted to National Convention. In '75 Ransom Arthur observed the '71 meeting in Lake Placid lasted about one half hour, whereas the '75 Convention in Phoenix took eight whole hours! Hours of this time is due to expansion of our Committees, followed by our legendary socializing. 1981 in Snow Bird, Utah, Ted Haartz passed the gavel over to Mike Laux, after a day-and-a-half. Next year in Memphis we added a full day for committee meetings, and for the first time had a hospitality suite, where delegates from all around the country could really get to know one another. What would Ransom think of the 1990 Convention in Pittsburgh, which started Wednesday morning and ran practically non-stop until Sunday noon?
1982 Convention in Memphis also marked the first year that we were truly the governing body for all Masters Swimmers in the United States. After countless hours by Ted Haartz and Ross Wales , our good friend from USS who is now Honorary Secretary of the FINA, USMS, Inc. had been officially incorporated in April, 1981--and THAT's the reason for the second half of our celebration.
We were unique in many ways. For one thing, we were (and still are) the only governing body where every officer and committee member is a practicing Master Swimmer. We're darn careful about the rules we pass, because we have to live and swim by them.
Masters stamped their mark indelibly on the Swimming Awards Banquet of
United States Aquatic Sports in Memphis. Imagine the sedate setting,
with three tiers of "head table" occupied by the August of the four
aquatic disciplines. Mike Laux, aided by a few dozen Masters
delegates, brought the house down with a slightly irreverent
(bordering on the raucous) presentation of the Ransom Arthur Award to
Harry Rawstrom
. We were thereafter referred to as "them" and the
other disciplines have been out to get us, or top us, ever since.
Synchro did a bang-up job of it a couple of years ago.
I'm not unique among Master Swimmers in acknowledging the debt we owe to the AAU, who gave us our start and took care of us, along with every other sport, until 1978, when Congress passed the Athlete's Act, providing that no organization could govern more than one Olympic sport. How many remember the halcyon days, when for three bucks you could join the AAU and participate in swimming, diving, track & field, gymnastics and every other sport? One card did it all. Now if you want to swim and dive, you join United States Swimming AND United States Diving, and you join The Athletics Congress for all track and field events.
One dollar per athlete took care of all your insurance needs. Contrast that with today's insurance costs, which eat up half of the USMS budget, and that's a bargain compared to USS and some of the other sports. While it's often said if nobody had insurance nobody would need it, our swimmers know our liability insurance unlocks the doors for most facilities where Masters work out and compete.
What's so different about us today? For one thing, there's lots more of us, and we include the gung-ho and the casual competitor, fitness and lap swimmers, triathletes who want to better their "weak link" and others who just enjoy the camaraderie. We were under 9,000 in 1981, when Enid Uhrich began her career as USMS Registrar. We peaked in 1989 with about 28,500. There's been a bit of a decline the past two years, but so far this year we're running ahead of 1990 figures, so things are looking up.
The descent in our times has been nothing short of phenomenal. Enid Uhrich made a chart ten years ago comparing times for the men's 100 yd freestyle in 1971 and 1980. Adding in the times performed in 1990, to pick a representative age group, men 45-49 dropped from 1:00.6 to 49:50! Not unusual for guys 40 thru 55 to be swimming faster than they did in college. Our most eagerly awaited info these days is "Top Ten" for all age groups and courses. Kudos to our Walt Reid , who compiles and publishes these precious lists, not only for the US but for the world.
There's an amazing number of dedicated Masters who've been with the program since the formative years, and they're still going strong. One evidence of this is our mightily expanded All American Roster. Half the members of that elite group are repeaters from year to year. Names of All Americans from 1974 showed up in '89 - and some have achieved that honor almost every year-- Nancy Ridout , Jane Katz , Tim Garton, Gail Roper , Anne Adams , June Krauser, Bumpy Jones, Ted Haartz, Paul Hutinger , to name a few. Many of us are near the top of our fourth age group! No wonder we often hear the expression "I can't remember what life was like before Masters Swimming."
We're doing lots more in communicating with our members. The National Office was established in 1985, as a central information center and to provide support for our officers and committees. The first USMS Newsletter (not particularly artistic, but full of good info) first made its way into the mailboxes of all our registered swimmers in 1986, then Gail Dummer edited a top-drawer publication for four years. Nancy Ridout and Suzanne Rague now co-edit the WATERMARKS, keeping the standard of articles that interest, entertain and educate all our members. Nancy is also responsible for the sought-after Places to Swim in the US.
Promotion-wise (thanks, Marketing Marvel Mary Lee Watson ) we have the full-color promotional brochure and window decals, the yearly Planner which gladdens our hearts and organizes our swimming: and remember the exciting two-year fling with the USMS Wall Calendar? Oh, the gorgeous bods that decorated our walls!.
Perhaps the biggest step in our maturation process occurred in 1989, with the printing of our own USMS Rule Book, after all those years as "Part Seven" of the USS Code Book. (Thanks, Kathy Casey and Gail Dummer). PLUG: the '91 edition is off the press--you know where to get them.
We've also gone cosmopolitan, with several hundred of our swimmers making their way, and their mark, in Masters Competition around the world. The first sortie was in 1974, where a small complement traveled "down under" to meet and greet their ANZAC counterparts. A plane-load of German swimmers came to the "Worlds" in Toronto in 1978, to join with Australians, Japanese, Europeans, Americans and Canadians. Since then our swimmers have been to New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Brazil--you name it, we'll go. With Pan Pacifics in odd-numbered years and World Championships in even-numbered, if you have the time and money there's an inducement every year.
No history of United States Masters Swimming can be written without June Krauser's name popping up. This busy lady, besides being our Rules Chairman since day one, is having a twentieth anniversary of her own. Swim-Master, which was June's labor of love, is, alas, in its final year. June says twenty years is enough! Relax, she's only discontinuing her publication--she's remaining highly involved not only as Rules Chair but also as the USMS delegate to FINA, which has just approved a Masters Congress. June also represents us on the Board of the Int'l Swimming Hall of Fame. A tip of the bathing hat to June for all she's done--and will continue to do for Masters Swimming.
It's often been said that money couldn't buy the expertise that so many volunteers cheerfully give to our Program. We've been especially fortunate in those who've been at the helm, starting with the late beloved Ransom Arthur, followed by June Krauser, Ted Haartz, Mike Laux, Tom Boak , and now Dan Gruender . Have to mention one other among the many who have served us long and well, and that's our Legal Counsel, Jack Geoghegan . They've all been just magnificent!
When you start reminiscing, it's hard to stop. Our program has come a long way--but those of you who'll be around in another ten years will find the truth in the old saw, "You ain't seen nothing yet!"
