Before there was SWIMMER magazine, there was SWIM-MASTER. Created and published by June Krauser, it was produced from 1971 to 1991.
The USMS History and Archives Committee has been scanning all of the old issues of SWIM-MASTER and they are now posted on usms.org!
You can view them by following these steps:
1) go to usms.org
2) mouse over the red "About USMS" tab
3) select "USMS History"
4) click on the link "Swim-Master newsletter archives"
The direct URL is: www.usms.org/.../swimmaster
Enjoy!
Having started in 1972, I have fond memories of Swim-Master and the early leaders, Ransom Arthur, June Krauser, Bob Beach (saw him last year at Greensboro), Bumpy Jones, etc. I was able to contribute a box of them to the committee, collected by my mother-in-law, Rita Shephard, who began competing at 65 and had twenty+ happy retirement years in Masters Swimming. Going to go right there and check it out.
Having taken a quick look at this resource, it appears to me that it provides a quick way to see the history of the progress and retrogression in your event times as you age. I first competed in Nationals in 1977 at the age of 34 and enjoyed looking at those results. Having competed in Nationals at a fairly regular clip, I can see the definite downward trend as I approach age 74. While this may be disheartening, I noticed also that very few of the men I competed against in 1977 seem to be still competing. This fact must prove the value of Masters, right? Or maybe they all got smart and concluded that there are better things to do at 5:30 in the morning than jumping in a pool for a practice.
