Swimming Memorabilia

Somewhere I have a program with autographs from the 1980 Olympic Team. They came and did some kind of clinic or something at the long-defunct Starlit Aquatic Club in Fairfax, VA. I also have pictures taken of me with Olympians from the 80s - me and Mary T., me and Rick Carey, me and Rowdy Gaines. I might have one of Steve Lundquist too.

OMG, I just found more stuff!! There's a Race Club sticker and party invitation to the Race Club hosted Olympic Trials party at Smooth's (2004 Trials). I also have the light-up pendant that one of the Corona Girls gave me at the party. Had I been smart about it I would've gotten Gary Jr.'s autograph on the invitation. Will have to track him down at some point... What a wild party! Kaitlin Sandeno and Ryan Lochte were causing a scene on the dance floor, but the party ended abruptly when the booze ran out. Afterwards, I escorted a lovely young lady several blocks to another bar, and she had my arm (and ear) the whole way. Her name? Beth Botsford. But the real cache today was a complete set of box seat passes to the 2004 Olympic Trials, unearthed in my office closet. All Box 40 Seat 3. The location was front row, directly behind lane four, at the finishing end - and during the Trials it was affectionately known as the "Masters" box. We were surrounded by Olympians: Janet Evans had the box next door, Brian Goodell and Rowdy Gaines stopped by, Gail Roper was with us, and Brendan Hansen visited to get a better look at Aaron Piersol breaking the world record. Phelps, Coughlin, Beard, Crocker, Hoff, Lochte, Jenny Thompson...all parading around on deck just a few steps away. That's the best thing about memorabilia - the memories attached to it. So, what's the best way to archive and conserve this type of souvenir?

I have Rachel Komisarz and Cullen Jones' autograph.

Bill, Could you post a photo of your t-shirt quilt? I'd love to see it. Anna Lea I will if I can locate one...if not, I'll take one. The thing is huge! Fits a king-sized bed.

It's been talked about in other threads, but the topic deserves its own thread. Who collects swimming memorabilia? What's in your collection? Pictures? Autographs? Ribbons? Medals? Here is the place to talk about objects and artifacts you have that relate to the history of the sport of swimming. OK, I'll start. Since I seem to have a 'bad girl' thing going with a surprise Eleanor Holm autograph, I thought an autographed copy of FHM with Amanda Beard (World's Sexiest Athlete cover) would be an essential. I saw one today on eBay and bought it for $10.49. In my lifetime, it may achieve an auction value greater than that. :cane: I may have to bring a copy of the Amanda issue of Playboy to the Olympic Trials (in a plain brown wrapper, of course) and hunt her down for an autograph. For lack of a better description, signed copies of FHM and Playboy would make a nice pair. :kiss1: Bill: As you might know I am a big collector of Swimming Memorabilia. I used to get a lot of autographs but kind went into other areas of collecting. One of my prized autographs is getting a signiture, olympic trading card, and a picture of Dawn Fraser when she swam at the 1992 Master's Worlds in Indy. She knew and swam with a coach I had named Rex Aubrey, who was an NCAA Champion for Yale and swam in the 1956 Olympics and took 6th place in the 100 Meter Free for Australia. She was very friendly and nice. At that same meet I got a signiture from Kornelia Ender, who was swimming at the meet. I have many signitures from Rowdy Gaines on books he was in and gave him one of my extra books that he didn't have called Champions by Donald Chambliss because they refer to him a lot in the book. I have Don Schollander, Mark Spitz, Debbie Meyer, Steve Clark, Jim Montgomery, and Natalie Coughlin on books about them or they have been featured in. I have a couple of Michael Phelps signitures on programs but not on his two books and I hope to get those in the next year before the Omaha trials. I have probably over 60 books on the history of the sport and that is where I learned a lot of the information that I contribute to here on this website. One area of collecting and I know maybe 8 other people like me in the world is collecting swimming on film. Since the VHS days and now the DVD days, I try to collect every major Swimming Championship I can. I trade with people in Europe and Australia. This is one area that I value because in other sports they show the old Championships but you never ever see swimming unless its an Olympic year and they might show clips here and there. On the NFL network and ESPN Classic, you can find almost every Super Bowl and NBA Championship game going back 50 years. I have never ever seen any swimming at all on the historical or sports networks. For the past 7 out of 8 years, I bring the most important Championship of that year to the USAS Convention and show them in the master's hospitality suite for those that might have missed or just want to see the swims again. It has become a hit and I will keep doing it as long as the interest is there. Next year will be the 2008 Olympics and I plan to show those.

I swam on the CURL team in '85-'86. I never made it to starlit but heard a lot of stories, manly how dilapidated the place was, tiles falling from the ceilings, etc. Yes, that place was a dump. I went to many age group meets there (late 70s/early 80s). The ceiling leaked like crazy and there were big rats in the locker room. It was a very fast pool though. For a long time after they had torn the pool down, you could still see the diving boards/platform standing there up on the hill. BTW, I also swam for CURL from 85-87.

For years I had my mother's patch for a lifeguard/preservation qualification that she was the first woman to get. Now I'm not sure if that was national or more regional...I wish I knew where that patch was.

They came and did some kind of clinic or something at the long-defunct Starlit Aquatic Club in Fairfax, VA. I swam on the CURL team in '85-'86. I never made it to starlit but heard a lot of stories, manly how dilapidated the place was, tiles falling from the ceilings, etc.

BTW, I also swam for CURL from 85-87. Haha! Starlit is legendary. Who was your coach? I swam with Pete Morgan at Providence Rec Center and Steve Ercolano at the Dunn Loring YMCA. Kerry Ellet and Jeff King showed up sometimes (westwood country club in Vienna in summers).

As I said in another thread, "Skip, you're amazing!" (e-mail me some "Splashback" ideas!!) I've been housecleaning - Mom's coming to visit over Thanksgiving. Yesterday I came across a signed magazine page of Anita Nall. It is a NIKE Technique Tip - Breaststroke demonstrated by Anita Nall. The inscription says, "Bill, Thanks for having me here! :) Anita Nall Anita came to a clinic we hosted at Tualatin Hills in 1998. I got my picture taken with her, too. Roque Santos was there, and he signed a "Just Do It" cap for me. The other thing I came across was one of two small USA Olympic flags from the USOTC camp in Colorado Springs. This item is more pertinent to USMS history than Olympic history, but there is one Olympian's name on the flag - Jorge Gonzalez, a 1968 Olympian who swam for Puerto Rico and has participated in USMS competition. Other names include campers Tracy Grilli, Danielle Ogier, Heidi Kissel, Karl Wiedamann, Judy Tibma, Danilo Vicioso, Jon Klein, Richard Garrett, Jack Groselle, Barb Bos, and Barb Handler; and staff members Nancy Ridout, Kerry O’Brien, Scott Rabalais, Janet Renner, Mark Stoker and myself. There’s a second flag from the following year’s camp, and that flag should be signed by 1968 Olympian Susan Jones Roy. But in case she didn’t sign it, I’ve got a copy of SWIM Magazine with Suzie on the cover, and she signed it personally. I’ll have to dig it up to get the inscription. I have an autographed photo of Lenny Krayzelburg. It says "Meg, I still remember the night of the championships. You were fantastic!! Warmest regards, Lenny." OMG! Is that how you ended up with 7 kids? Oh wait, Joey was seven years old….d’oh…nvr mind…