40 Years

 

 

Forty years ago, Indiana State University dropped their swim programs.  Above is layout that appeared in the 1982 Sycamore, our college yearbook.

 

I wasn't on the team that last year, having wrapped up my eligibility in '81.  I was in town, though.

I spent another year in "The Crossroads of America", beautiful Terre Haute, Indiana.  It was a semester of student teaching at Terre Haute North H.S. under legendary basketball guru Howard Sharpe, plus a semester of courses to wrap up my science minor.

When the word came down that the team was being dumped, it was a crusher.  There was plenty of anger.  Someone, it may have been one of the local guys on the team - D-man Roger Miller, maybe - came up with an idea.  The guys would not go out with a whimper...

Between the eighteen men on that last team, plus two more of us who were still on campus from the previous year, we had enough guys to go for that world record and stick it to old Beanie Cooper & Co.

So, that's what we did, 40 years ago today.  We didn't just break the record, we destroyed it!

Thanks to Tom "Tommy Tsunami" Dubois for sharing this w/me recently:

 

That rationale AD Cooper gave for dropping swimming went like this:

"Swimming, a popular collegiate sport was dropped

mainly because budget cuts have forced most

area high schools to drop their swim teams."

Hundreds of B.S. detectors pegged out* when we heard that one!

 

The women's program was restored a few years ago, but the men's team is still in "hibernation".  It sure would be nice to see them bring the men's program back.  Guys need to regain those lost opportunities.

 

"Good" news:  Some of us old-timers still have school records at ISU (I'm part of 400 free relay & 800 free relay).

 

Bad news:  Those record times look pretty danged slow compared to kids these days...

Vigo County now has an indoor facility shared by the NCAA D-I Sycamore women's team, three high school programs (Terre Haute North, South, & West), and USA Swimming Torpedoes.

via Tribune-Star

*They were analog back then!