Way to Go Team! 47 Alums Finish Masters Mile

Glen S Hummer Huntington Mile 2007 - 6/16/2007

Results

Girls 18-24 1.76k Open Water

1 Mead, Mallory R 21 22:44.66
2 Molitor, Nicole M 24 26:14.14
3 Painter, Megan E 20 27:35.98
4 Lewis, Jennifer M 22 29:40.01
5 Lewis, Heather M 20 33:24.43

Men 18-24 1.76k Open Water

1 Young, Joshua W 20 25:19.64
2 Mundell, Kyle M 21 25:41.22
3 Wert, Sean E 19 26:39.28
4 Robbins, Zachary T 18 27:40.13
5 VerBryck, Matthew A 22 28:12.76
6 Robbins, Nathan L 19 30:31.57

Women 25-29 1.76k Open Water

1 Marks, Sarah J 26 27:59.92
2 Hedgecow, Kathryn G 28 30:43.66
3 Johnson, Laura J 26 30:44.21
4 Carroll, Sherist S 27 36:00.62

Men 25-29 1.76k Open Water

1 Nieto, Jose M 26 22:36.62
2 Proffitt, Jordan D 25 24:04.31
3 Hammer, Rick A 26 28:11.51

Women 30-34 1.76k Open Water

1 Nieto, Alexandra 34 23:51.22
2 Holloway, Erin K 34 28:32.47
3 Roddis, Erin D 30 35:45.61
4 Robinson, Julie 31 35:59.04

Men 30-34 1.76k Open Water

1 Stanley, Sean M 32 25:11.53
2 Roddis, Charles E 33 27:43.99
3 DeRose, Mike A 33 34:51.73

Women 35-39 1.76K Open Water

1 Weaver, Heather R 36 27:38.98
2 Ackley, Kara A 37 30:37.38
3 Crickmore, Amy M 37 31:10.62
4 Lamon, Becca L 36 41:20.67

Men 35-39 1.76k Open Water

1 Bendall, Clark A 37 25:34.33
2 Sprunger, Jeff L 36 27:48.40
3 Harrell, Tony M 35 29:13.72
4 Nelson, John R 37 29:31.51
5 Turley, Troy A 38 30:04.71
6 Hershberger, Fred A 38 31:00.49
7 O'Connell, Patrick S 38 32:21.44
8 Schenkel, Mark T 39 32:48.41
9 Naunas, John E 35 36:06.20
---Robinson, Brent L 37 DNF

Women 40-44 1.76k Open Water

1 Poff, Christina M 40 28:58.68
2 Collins, Linda K 40 28:59.98
3 Slavich, Susannah K 40 29:03.73
4 Maisonneuve, Andrea 44 30:52.40
5 Kruger, Jill P 40 33:59.12
6 Horne, Mona J 44 35:05.94

Men 40-44 1.76k Open Water

1 Pesut, Bernie B 42 24:41.86
2 Harlos, Brent A 43 25:34.32
3 Cater, Gary P 42 25:36.97
4 Kline, Thomas A 43 25:47.07
5 Biehl, Dan J 43 27:49.71
6 Cook, Anthony J 44 29:27.41
7 Henry, Mike W 43 30:11.19
8 Kruger, Alex M 44 35:05.35
9 Bregoff, Keith 43 39:40.44
10 Murray, William G 41 40:17.81
11 Zay, Andy R 40 46:21.21
---Cozad, Donald D 41 DNF

Women 45-49 1.76k Open Water

1 Gettelfinger, Cheryl 49 27:50.93
2 Richter, Janet 46 28:29.63
3 Wilson, Mary J 46 29:58.79
4 Swartz, Andrea M 45 29:59.43
5 Lank, Theresa P 45 30:11.67
6 Spencer, Liz P 46 32:20.87
7 Madden, Kathy A 48 32:47.81
8 Schroeder, Rebecca A 45 36:05.81

Men 45-49 1.76k Open Water

1 Roby, Brad L 46 22:01.14
2 Higginbottom, Keith L 49 24:43.08
3 Vogel, Thomas A 47 26:47.29
4 Shaw, George D 46 27:19.62
5 Amick, Kevin R 47 28:10.59
6 Hacker, Mike A 48 29:21.82
7 Strass, Kirk A 48 29:37.12
8 Grotness, Erik T 49 30:18.30
9 Owen, Dave D 49 32:14.89
10 Newkirk, Craig A 49 33:13.02
11 Cook, Kip D 47 36:48.84

Women 50-54 1.76k Open Water

1 Walker, Robin E 51 31:01.66
---Mull, Karla K 50 DNF

Men 50-54 1.76k Open Water

1 Snyder, Scott S 50 25:08.36
2 Ruley, Joe 50 29:12.88
3 Hatlem, Steve H 53 29:20.67
4 Vogel, Matt H 50 30:28.35
5 Amick, Alan D 51 33:08.03
6 Hart, Digger 50 38:55.90

Women 55-59 1.76k Open Water

1 Larsen, Barbara H 59 32:18.89

Men 55-59 1.76k Open Water

1 Baer, Michael G 55 26:15.04
2 Gustafson, Lee O 55 26:56.04
3 Sager, Don A 57 27:09.55
4 Huesken, Timothy J 55 27:12.34
5 Marks, John H 57 27:28.93
6 Goshorn, Greg 56 28:50.97
7 MacDonald, James D 56 29:19.88
8 Bever, John D 59 33:51.78
9 Dingledy, John F 57 38:07.41
10 Barney, James N 56 38:46.93
11 Ware, Steve B 59 44:40.42
12 Slame, Joseph P 58 47:56.67

Women 60-64 1.76k Open Water

1 Marks, Mary A 62 44:24.44

Men 60-64 1.76k Open Water

1 Mick, Kent J 60 31:21.70

Women 65-69 1.76k Open Water

1 Wesemeyer, Betty S 66 50:11.53
--- 396 Hensel, Jane S 68 DNF

Men 65-69 1.76k Open Water

1 Pittenger, Lynn L 67 28:39.63
2 Shriner, William N 66 30:08.60
3 Bendall, Ted L 67 35:36.57

The Great White Father

Remembering the great coach of many great coaches, disciplinarian, motivator, teacher, and really, friend who cared and sometimes scared. Glen S. Hummer was a great man, an athlete, never a dad, but a father, to scores of lads and a few lassies, over a 40-year span in a small town in the Hoosier Heartland. We gathered together to reminisce about him and his many contributions. There were many laughs, a few stifled chokes, numerous fond memories of times under his sometimes stern watch and, of course, of what we got away with, or tried to. We heard of fathers who swam for Butch, and their sons who did so too. We heard Olympic medalists give keynote speeches on Father's Day eve, 2007: one whose father swam before him and with him, the other who spoke of how no two people in his life had ever influenced him more--Glen Hummer and his own father, each now deceased. There were 250 people in attendance: former swimmers, family and friends, all touched in many ways, great and small, by one man, one coach—Butch, a father to us all. From the Invocation by Father Ron Rieder (a YMCA Board Member) to the Benediction by Rev. Jim MacDonald (HY Class of '69) there seemed to be a strong presence felt from not one, but two fathers. We thank them both.

249 in attendance and a great time was had by all!

When the Huntington YMCA put together a swim meet and reunion for its former swimmers, the response was immediate. The events were held over the weekend, with 441 swimmers participating in a meet at Lake Clare and 249 people attending a reunion celebration. Swimmers wade into the water for another heat in the Glenn S. Hummer Huntington Mile. (Herald-Press/Matthew Berry)

New Y Building Plans

Tributes to Hummer will link the old and the new

You won't have to look to hard in the new YMCA to find traces of the building on Warren Street. Plans not only call for a familiar name to grace the building's centerpiece natatorium, but photographs from the YMCA's past will have a place of honor in the new building and there might even be an architectural detail or two carried over. The main link between old and new will be the late Glen S. Hummer, who coached Huntington teams to 10 national YMCA titles in a 44-year career. “We're hoping to raise enough money for a naming opportunity for our natatorium,” said YMCA executive director Dan Akeley. “We'd like it to be the Glen S. Hummer Natatorium. And our appeal to swimmers and supporters of the program has raised around $400,000 so far.” Plans call for a photograph of Hummer and accompanying text to be on prominent display in the new YMCA, which is being built near Parkview Huntington Hospital. A mock-up of the exhibit will be displayed at the downtown YMCA this weekend for the swim reunion, he said. “We found a couple of really big pictures from the 1940s of national championship teams,” Akeley added. “We'd like to get those in shape and be able to display them, too.” Those 3-by-5-foot prints were found in storage in the YMCA basement, and a search of Y archives has turned up photos of YMCA teams from the 1940s through the 1960s.“We'll have 8-by-10 framed photos of all the national championship teams on display this weekend,” he said, adding that there will be a place of honor for those pictures in the new facility. “We're thinking of having the conference room as the ‘history' room,” he said of the new building. “We are looking into bringing one of the fireplaces from the current building, and possibly one of the windows or some of the tile work.” The fireplace, if it is reassembled in the new building, won't be functional, he noted. Along with photos of the great swim teams, past YMCA directors' portraits might also take their place either in the conference room - where board of directors' meetings will be held - or line a wall in the new building.

Swimmers celebrate what was, and what's to come

By PAUL SIEGFRIED, Sports Editor
Huntington Herald Press June 14, 2007

The history of swimming at the Huntington YMCA could fill volumes. Well, at least one very large volume. There's a rich legacy that can draw direct lines from Huntington to the greatest swimmers the United States has ever produced, but never before has that history been compiled. Now as the YMCA prepares to leave its familiar Warren Street location and move to its new home on the north side of town, the people and events that shaped that history are finally coming together. Former swimmers who competed on teams from 1933 to 1996 will return to Huntington this weekend for events to celebrate the YMCA's history, and also the facility's future. Among the events scheduled Friday are a golf outing, a swim camp at Lake Clare and a reception in the evening at the YMCA. On Saturday, Lake Clare will host an open-water swim meet, including the Huntington Mile and an Olympic prequalifying event. The main event, the reunion banquet, will be held Saturday night at Huntington North High School. On Sunday, a Father's Day brunch held will be held at the site of the new YMCA on CR 500N near Parkview Huntington Hospital.

To go along with the celebration, records from Huntington's national championship competition have also been compiled. Anne Pittenger, a former YMCA swim team member who worked at the Huntington YMCA for 27 years, was asked by YMCA executive director Dan Akeley to take on the task of collecting as much information as could be found on the history of swimming at the local Y. She her husband, Lynn, began their research last summer, and have just completed the 550-page volume. “Dan had said they would like to do a reunion to help raise funds for the new Y, so he sort of dropped that little bug,” said Anne. “Later on that day, we talked that we probably ought to give back. We'd been involved with the Y for so many years, that this is something we should do.” In the basement of the YMCA, the Pittengers found numerous scrapbooks from over the years. From those scrapbooks, they came up with names of some 800 former swim team members, and began to contact as many as they could.

Of the 800 names, they turned up approximately 500 complete addresses. Around 100 of the swimmers had died, and another 200 or so could not be tracked down. The ones they did find have all been invited to the reunion. Each was sent a biography form to fill out, and that information will be put together for another publication at a later date. “There's going to be a memory book that is going to be published after the reunion,” said Lynn. “They want to get a group picture of everyone at the reunion that can be included.”

The Pittengers were able to talk to a number of the former swimmers in their research. “Some of the stories we've gotten from these people are just amazing,” said Anne. “A lot of the swimmers have done quite well. Everyone I've talked to has been very proud to be a part of the swimming world. They felt it helped them grow as an individual.” The man responsible for putting Huntington YMCA swimming on the map was Glen Hummer, whose record of success was unparalleled during his 44 years coaching the local team. Hummer began the swimming program in 1933 and first took a Huntington squad to the YMCA national championships in 1936, where they finished fifth Huntington won its first national title in 1940, and added nine more over Hummer's tenure, the last championship coming in 1969. No other program in the country won as many national titles over that time than Hummer's Huntington team.

In addition to the 10 first-place finishes, Huntington placed second nine times and was third five times. Hummer produced 18 individual national champions and 32 All-Americans. At the state level, Huntington won 15 Indiana YMCA championships and had 359 individual state champions during Hummer's tenure. Two of Hummer's swimmers rose to the pinnacle of the sport. Gary Dilley swam in the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, earning a silver medal in the 200 backstroke. In 1976, Matt Vogel swam in the Montreal Games, winning two golds with a win in the 100 butterfly and as a member of the winning 4x100 medley relay team. Dilley and Vogel will return to Huntington this weekend and will be guest speakers for Saturday's reunion banquet. A total of 18 swimmers from Hummer's Huntington YMCA program competed in seven Olympic trials from 1936 to 1976. The Huntington legacy continued with one of Hummer's proteges, George Haines, who left Huntington for California. There, he became the top swimming coach in the United States, developing the country's greatest swimmers including Mark Spitz. Hummer coached the Huntington YMCA team until 1977, and died in 1992. Haines died last year. While the achievements of Hummer's team are impressive, it was the impact Hummer made on individual lives that the Pittengers say have been the most lasting. “So many people told us they don't know where they'd be today if it hadn't been for Glen Hummer,” said Anne. “He was a no-nonsense person and he drove them hard. He expected a lot out of his swimmers. He taught more than swimming.” Memories are still vivid, even for some of the oldest former swimmers. “Talking to them on the phone has been fun,” said Anne. “One fellow, Kendrick Pilkenton, was captain of the first national championship team in 1940. He lives in Sturgis, Michigan, and he taught school for 30-some years. When I first talked to him, he told me he was basically a very shy person, then he talked to me for 45 minutes.”

In addition to the more than 800 swimmers who competed on his teams, Hummer was responsible for teaching more than 2,000 Huntington youngsters how to swim. During his tenure, nearly 90 swimmers earned college scholarships. Hummer would take in anyone who wanted to learn to swim, said Anne. “He took on kids who had no athletic ability at all, and he worked with what he had,” she said. As they researched the YMCA's history, the Pittengers also heard a few quirky stories. Transporting a swim team of more than 20 members to national events to all corners of the country was expensive, especially in Depression-era times.

“One of the fellas told us that the swimmers had to go around town asking for nickels and dimes to buy gas to get to Boston, because they just didn't have any money,” said Anne. Hummer would save money by camping out along the way to the events. He had some favorite places to stop, but on occasion the entourage would just decide to pull over whenever they got tired. One year, the group stopped at night and the swimmer spread out sleeping bags on the ground. When they woke up the next morning, they found they had spent the night sleeping on a green of a golf course. Even finding transportation was difficult. In their first trip to the nationals, a large truck was donated the team by Huntington businessman Howard Kriegbaum, and Hummer set up a stove in the back of the truck to cook meals for the team.

Later, the YMCA got its own truck, nicknamed “Goo the First,” said Anne. A second truck earned the name “Goo Goo 2.” Eventually, the YMCA was able to purchase a school bus to transport the team. In addition to Hummer's success with the YMCA swim team, he's also known as the father of open water swimming, and Huntington teams won 12 long-distance swimming national championships and produced 35 All-Americans.The Glen Hummer Huntington Mile, the national championship of open-water swimming, was held at Lake Clare from 1975 to 1986, and was revived just two years ago. This year's event will be held Saturday at Lake Clare, along with a five-kilometer open-water Grand Prix Qualifier, which serves as a qualifying event for the Olympic trials.

Spider's Spin

Hello All,

We are now one week away from our big event. To date we are at nearly 175 reservations for the banquet. And the good news is they are still coming in. 80(not all HY Alums, however) are registered for the master's swim on Saturday morning, 70 for the open house on Friday night at the Y and there are now 38 reservations for the Father's Day Brunch.

We have well over $400,000.00 in the Glen S. Hummer Natatorium Fund. Groundbreaking for the new Y was Friday, June 1 and what a beautiful location it is! Completion of the new building should be by late summer or fall
of 2008.

Sincerely,

Anne "Spider" Clampitt-Pittenger

Social Time at 6:00 PM Commons Area

Dinner at 6:30 PM Cafeteria

PROGRAM

Master of Ceremonies: John Dingledy & Jim Barney

Welcome: Bob McCoy

Invocation: Father Ron Reider

YMCA Building Project: Mike Hacker

History of Huntington Y Swim Teams: John Dingledy/Jim Barney & Selected Swimmers

Keynote Speaker: Gary Dilley, Olympic Silver Medalist

Keynote Speaker: Matt Vogel, Olympic Gold Medalist

Benediction: Jim MacDonald


Dessert at 9:00 PM, Commons Area

Hallelujah!

Ground broken for new YMCA From The Herald Press, Monday, June 4, 2007


The YMCA has received just more than $6.9 million in pledges as it works toward raising $9 million for the new building, and $131 of that was donated by friends of Toriana Simoes - who asked for donations to the Y instead of presents for her birthday. Simoes was one of the speakers at the groundbreaking ceremony.

The current Warren Street building will be replaced by a larger facility in front of Parkview Huntington Hospital, which donated the land and pledged an additional $1.55 million for construction. Huntington University will also make a major donation to the project, with plans to close its pool and use the YMCA facility instead.

Construction is set to begin in mid-June, and the new building should be open by late summer or early fall of 2008.