MOUNT VERNON — Fifty years after setting the world record in the 50-mile relay, the champions will gather for a reunion swim at Hiawatha Water Park, then known as the community pool.
On July 31, 1975, 10 Mount Vernon swimmers swam for 12 hours, 27 minutes, and 37.9 seconds to set an AAU (Amateur Athletic Union)-sanctioned world record in the 50-mile relay.
The swimmers were Anne and Tim Callahan, Tom Cole, Bill Black, Mike Gibbs, Al Griffiths, Bob Irwin, Melanie Payne, and Alex and Mark Welker.
According to an Associated Press bulletin announcing the achievement, they broke the old record by 1 hour and 17 minutes.
A Mount Vernon team held the previous world record. Charlie Welker, Alex and Mark’s older brother, was a member of that earlier team.
Charlie Welker went on to swim for Kenyon College, graduating in 1973.
The 1975 team plans a reunion on July 26 at the water park.
Traveling from as far away as Texas, the swimmers and their guests plan to spend the weekend together. The highlight will be swimming laps at Hiawatha on Saturday morning.
“We won’t be recreating the 50-mile relay, but we do hope to swim a total of 5 miles,” Irwin said. “Afterward, ice cream at Round Hill Dairy will be our reward since it was one of our traditions.”
“In my 20 years of competitive swimming, I’ve never ever hurt so bad as the day we set this record,” Alex Welker, a four-year letterman for Ohio State and now hailing from Atlanta, said.
“Without a doubt, the body parts that didn’t hurt are on the short list … a very short list!”
Mount Vernon swimmers create rich traditions, lifelong friendships
The team also plans a celebratory dinner that night at The Alcove.
In 1975, the new record-holders and their families ate a meal together upstairs at The Alcove after they finished the relay.
Payne said that everyone was exhausted and hungry, but they were equally elated. Many of the parents spent the entire day serving as officials or timers to ensure the record was achieved under AAU standards.
Of the 10 swimmers on the record-setting relay, five later swam Division I in college at the University of Miami (FL), the University of Wyoming, Miami University, the University of North Carolina, and The Ohio State University.
Sadly, Gibbs and Griffiths are deceased.
Brad Snow and Steve Sant, both actively involved in swimming for years, will substitute for them during the reunion swim.
Snow officiates at high school and college swimming and diving events. Sant, a former YMCA swim team coach, coaches the MVHS swimming and diving team.
“We all worked at the pool, lifeguarding, coaching, teaching swimming lessons, and performing administrative duties,” Payne said of the world-record team.
“Swimming taught us the joy of striving for excellence and competing as part of an exceptionally close-knit team. It certainly gave us life-long friends and the gift of a sport that’s good for our joints now that we’re in our 60s.”
In honor of the Mount Vernon swimmers’ achievement, Mayor Harold Johnson issued a proclamation and declared Aug. 4, 1975, as Mount Vernon Swim Champs Day.