Louis 'Dewey' Slater, 65, Dies After 1500 at U.S. Masters Swimming Nationals
www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/.../35580.asp
Dewey & I had agreed to count for each other during the 1500 at Nationals but I ended up not entering the meet. I feel guilty for not being there with him, but also relieved that I did not have to witness the death of a friend.
I don't think he ever posted on this forum, but he did lurk a lot and was a regular reader of pwb's High Volume workouts.
At 2009 SC Nationals, he tackled the ultimate double, racing the 1000 and 1650 on the same day, placing top 3 in both. The next morning, he came back and finished 3rd in the 400 IM.
Several years ago, our main coach commented that he would prefer to die either on his bike, or while coaching a hard swim set. Dewey said he would want to go during a race.
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A loss for his family, community, and swimmer's everywhere. The article linked above paints a portrait of a sincere and gifted man.
We all assume some risk when we are active. There's been some low-level debate/discussion in the medical community regarding the health risk of swimming. Having recently survived a small heart attack, I'm keenly aware of this. Also, we lost one of the most active members of our local club this past year at age 70. This much we know: the risk if very small, it is not predictable in relation to who or when, but of course healthy lifestyle leads to lower overall risk. Studies of sudden death in athletes indicate if the person is young (less than 35-40 or so) often there's an unrecognized heritable issue. If the age is 45 or greater, almost always it is unrecognized coronary artery disease.
The key take home is to recognize symptoms that might indicate trouble, if they are present (the hard part is that many instances of cardiac arrest have no premonitory symptoms). For me, the earliest sign was "Why am I having heartburn at 5:30 AM, I haven't eaten anything?" For my deceased team-mate, his family recalled that in addition to "not feeling well" he had vague chest discomfort before he passed.
I will say a prayer for Dewey and his family, pay him homage as I slip into the water, and swim on.
A loss for his family, community, and swimmer's everywhere. The article linked above paints a portrait of a sincere and gifted man.
We all assume some risk when we are active. There's been some low-level debate/discussion in the medical community regarding the health risk of swimming. Having recently survived a small heart attack, I'm keenly aware of this. Also, we lost one of the most active members of our local club this past year at age 70. This much we know: the risk if very small, it is not predictable in relation to who or when, but of course healthy lifestyle leads to lower overall risk. Studies of sudden death in athletes indicate if the person is young (less than 35-40 or so) often there's an unrecognized heritable issue. If the age is 45 or greater, almost always it is unrecognized coronary artery disease.
The key take home is to recognize symptoms that might indicate trouble, if they are present (the hard part is that many instances of cardiac arrest have no premonitory symptoms). For me, the earliest sign was "Why am I having heartburn at 5:30 AM, I haven't eaten anything?" For my deceased team-mate, his family recalled that in addition to "not feeling well" he had vague chest discomfort before he passed.
I will say a prayer for Dewey and his family, pay him homage as I slip into the water, and swim on.
