Beth Estel

• 2022 Inducted into the New England LMSC Hall of Fame (Pool Performance)

• USMS Pool Records – pool individual 4 currently held, 7 lifetime, pool relay 2 lifetime

• USMS Long Distance Records – long distance relay 2 lifetime

• USMS Pool All American Honors – 6 years pool individual, 9 years pool relay

• USMS Long Distance All American Honors – 4 years long distance relay

• USMS Top Ten Achievements – 202 individual, 79 relay

• NELMSC All Time Top Three – 281 points

• Club: New England Masters (GSP)

• USMS Profile Beth A Estel - USMS Swimmer

My passion for swimming started at age 6, when my next-door neighbor, the swim coach, encouraged me to swim with his daughter, my best friend. My parents were very supportive of this new “hobby”. But at age 10, we moved to New Jersey, which was a challenge for my swimming “career”. I already knew I loved being in the pool. The YMCA required that I prove that I was swim team worthy and I had to attend and pass four different levels of swim classes before being allowed on the team. I swam with the Montclair Marlins for several years and went to AAU Nationals in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

After several breaks from the pool, it was finally time to get back to it when I moved to New Hampshire in 2006. Tracy personally experienced my enthusiasm and competitive nature when I returned. 

Currently, I work in Boston at Tufts University Dental School and plan my workouts before and after work. Staying in shape is a priority for me so I can perform at swim meets and stay healthy. The Granite State Penguins are a huge support, especially when things don’t go as expected. They are family and put up with my antics.  My husband, Scott, is my personal cheerleader. My siblings all came to Montreal for Worlds in 2014, another exciting chapter – a Relay World Record. 

This past summer my granddaughters, Leah, age 9, and Josie, age 7, started competing, which is as exciting to me as my own competitions.  I am thrilled my son, Justin, has encouraged them to swim.

This award is a big surprise and I feel honored to be recognized for doing what I love. 

Eric Nilsson

• 2022 Inducted into the New England LMSC Hall of Fame (Pool Performance)

• USMS Pool Records – pool individual 1 currently held, 6 lifetime, pool relay 1 currently held, 2 lifetime

• USMS Pool All Star Honors – 2011, 2015

• USMS Long Distance Records – long distance individual 1 lifetime

• USMS Pool All American Honors  – 8 years pool individual, 4 years pool relay

• USMS Long Distance All American Honors – 4 years long distance individual, 2 years long distance relay

• USMS Top Ten Achievements – 100 individual, 26 relay

• NELMSC All Time Top Three – 225 points

• Club: New England Masters (MIT)

• USMS Profile Eric T Nilsson - USMS Swimmer

Eric Nilsson was born on June 30, 1987 in Bolton Massachusetts. He started competitive swimming at age 9 and continued swimming competitively on the club team New England Barracudas until college, while also swimming for Weston High School. Eric swam at Northwestern University where he received several All-American accolades and set several school records, as well as competing at NCAA championships all four years, including a 3rd place finish in the 400 freestyle relay in 2007. Eric raced at the 2008 pool swimming Olympic Trials and the 2012 10K open water Olympic Trials, finishing 12th.

Since graduating Northwestern University in 2009, Eric has lived in Chicago, Hawaii and Florida, but has lived in the Boston area since 2013. In addition to swimming, he has enjoyed coaching high school and adult aged swimmers in his spare time, and currently works as an Actuary for John Hancock.

Eric has competed in around 100 open water swim races ranging from 1 to 20 miles and swims in all the pool meets that he can find, and he plans to swim for the rest of his life.

Fritz Bedford

• 2020 Inducted into the New England LMSC Hall of Fame (Pool Performance)

• 2006 Inducted into the St Lawrence University Hall of Fame

• USMS Records

  • Pool – 14 lifetime individual, 8 currently held

    • 45-49: 50 Fly SCM 

    • 50-54: 50 Back SCY, 100 Back SCY, 50 Back SCM, 100 Back SCM 

    • 55-59: 50 Back SCY, 100 Back SCM, 50 Fly SCM 

• USMS All-Star – 1 year pool

• USMS All-American

  • Pool – 44 individual (308 points), 3 relay

• USMS Top Ten – 110 individual, 9 relay

• NELMSC All-Time Top Three – 212 points

• Club: New England Masters (NEM)

• USMS Profile

Fritz Bedford was born on September 10, 1963 in Cannan, NH, and currently lives in Etna, NH. He attended Hanover High School and Deerfield Academy. Fritz was named an All-American at Deerfield six times over two years. He attended St. Lawrence University from 1981 until 1985, earning a B.S. in Physics. While there, he earned All-American honors nineteen times over four years. Fritz earned his M.S. from the University of New Hampshire and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He worked in engineering at Creare (Etna, NH), Avery Research Center (Pasadena, CA), General Motors R&D (Warren, MI), Fluent/ANSYS (Lebanon, NH), Norwich University (Northfield, VT) and CD-adapco/Siemens (Lebanon, NH). Fritz swam Masters for the Rose Bowl Aquatic Club and the UV-Rays in White River Junction, VT. He is currently a software developer for Siemens in Lebanon, NH. He also coaches the Men's and Women's swimming teams at Hanover High School and continues to swim Masters with the UV-Rays. He is married with three daughters.

From the St Lawrence University Hall of Fame website:

A 19-time All-America swimmer, Fritz Bedford excelled in a variety of strokes and is among the all-time greats in Saints’ men’s swimming.

The Outstanding Male Senior Athlete Award winner in 1985, Fritz qualified for the NCAA Championships as an individual in each of his four years and was All-America in five individual events and three relays during his career. He was New York State champion in 50 freestyle and 200 backstroke and part of the state champion 400 medley relay team.

He was All-America in the 100 fly, 100 free, and 50 free and part of All-America teams in the 400 medley and 400 and 800 free relay teams as a freshman; All-America in the 50 free, 100 fly, and 100 free, and the 400 medley relay and 800 free relay as a sophomore; in the 50 free and 200 back and the 400 medley relay as a junior and in the 50 free and 100 and 200 back plus the 400 medley relay and 800 free relay as a senior.

Now a mechanical engineer, he earned his master’s degree at the University of New Hampshire and a Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin.

Ted Haartz

• 2020 Inducted into the New England LMSC Hall of Fame (Pool Performance)

• 2019 Inducted into the New England LMSC Hall of Fame (Contributor – NEM Trailblazer)

• 2013 Inducted into the Masters International Swimming Hall of Fame

• USMS Records

  • Pool – 30 lifetime individual; 21 lifetime relay, 2 currently held

• USMS All-American

  • Pool – 59 individual (413 points), 19 relay

• USMS Top Ten – 492 individual, 81 relay

• NELMSC All-Time Top Three – 25 points

• Club: New England Masters (NEM) (1971-2005)

• USMS Profile

Ted Haartz, a former collegiate swimmer from Tufts University, turned his sights to Masters Swimming in 1970 after reading about the first Masters meet in Amarillo, TX. He competed in the second Masters National Championship in Amarillo in 1971. He became a charter member of the New England Masters Swim Club and quickly progressed to volunteering at the national level.

Ted received the Captain Ransom J. Arthur M.D. Award (USMS’s highest honor) in 1976 as a result of his volunteer service. Notably, he established and maintained Top Ten Times for Masters Swimming in all age groups and relays, commencing with the first Masters Nationals in Amarillo, TX, in 1970. This was in the days when that meant hand writing and typing results! Ted was a key player in the formation of the original 55 Local Masters Swimming Committees (LMSCs) that governed Masters Swimming on the local level.

He quickly rose to positions of leadership in the fledgling national organization while it was still a part of the AAU and trying to establish its identity. He served as national president and for many years as a swimming official. Significantly, Ted took charge of the effort in the late 1970s to separate Masters from the AAU, which allowed Masters to become a more independent organization that could raise its own funds, write its own rules, and determine its own destiny. At the 2013 U.S. Aquatic Sports Convention, Ted was inducted into the Masters International Swimming Hall of Fame.

The following is from an October 1977 NEM News profile of Ted:

Reasons for participating in the Masters Program: ‘Swimming has become my recreation, exercise, and a release for the tension I encounter in my daily life. I believe that I eat better, sleep better, and am generally healthier because of a regular routine of physical exercise. I also thoroughly enjoy the companionship and friendship of the hundreds of other Masters swimmers with whom I have come in contact.’

After his retirement and move to Arizona, Ted, of course became involved in his local group and switched to Arizona Masters. However, here in New England we still consider him one of our own and thank him for his contributions to the sport.

Christie Hayes

• 2020 Inducted into the New England LMSC Hall of Fame (Pool Performance)

• 1997 Inducted into the William Smith College Heron Hall of Honor

• USMS Records

  • Pool – 5 lifetime individual, 1 currently held; 1 lifetime relay

    • W70-74: 200 Free SCY

  • Long Distance – 2 lifetime individual, 1 currently held

    • W70-74: 1-hour ePostal

• USMS All-Star – 1 year pool

• USMS All-American

  • Pool – 20 individual (140 points)

  • Long Distance – 4 individual (28 points), 3 relay

• USMS Top Ten – 410 individual, 37 relay

• NELMSC All Time Top Three – 177 points

• Club: New England Masters (NEM)

• USMS Profile

Christie Hayes was born in Virginia in 1948 to ADM Jack, U.S. Coast Guard, and Bogie Hayes. She has 3 siblings in Virginia, Washington, and Alaska. She attended many different schools from Grades 1 through 12 as her family traveled the country with the U.S. Coast Guard. She graduated from high school in 1966.

Christie spent one year at Vejle Gymnasium, Denmark, as an American Field Service Exchange Student. She received a B.A. in English from William Smith College in Geneva, NY and an M.Ed. in Special Education from Wright State University in Dayton, OH. She also earned an M.S. (6th year) in Technology in Education from Bank Street College of Education in New York City. 

Christie swam and competed off and on as an age-grouper depending on where her family lived. She was a member of William Smith College swim team, and was named to the William Smith College Heron Hall of Honor in 1997.

Christie has been a member of U.S. Masters Swimming since 1973 and has earned national Top Ten rankings almost every year since then. She served as president of Connecticut Masters in 1977 to 1978. She earned two golds and two silvers at the first Master Swimming World Championship in Tokyo in 1986, and was featured in Sports Illustrated’s Faces in the Crowd section for her wins. In February 2018, she set a national record in the 1-hour ePostal swim. In May 2018, she set four National records in 70-74 age group: 1650-, 1000-, 500-, and 200-yard freestyles.

Christie worked as a learning disabilities/special education teacher in Groton Public Schools from 1973 through 2008. During those years, she was the facilitator for the Student Assistance Team; Chairperson of the Groton Public Schools School Based Mentoring Program; a member of the Instructional Technology Study group and in-service instructor. She also served as an exchange teacher in Beloretsk, Russia, for one month in 1992. She was named Eastern Point Elementary School Teach of the Year in 1991.

Christie is also a committed volunteer, working with the Big Brother/Big Sister program, and is involved with St. John’s Episcopal Church, St. John’s Shoreline Soup Kitchen and Pantry, and her alma mater William Smith College. She won the Champion for Children Award from Town of Groton Department of Human Services in 2000.

Kathy Slifer

• 2020 Inducted into the New England LMSC Hall of Fame (Pool Performance)

• USMS Records

  • Pool – 3 lifetime individual, 1 lifetime relay

• USMS All-American

  • Pool – 33 individual (231 points), 1 relay

• USMS Top Ten – 222 individual, 14 relay

• NELMSC All-Time Top Three – 98 points

• Club: New England Masters (NEM)

• USMS Profile

Kathy Slifer started AAU age group swimming back in the late 1950s, swimming for Coach Al Houston at the South Boston Boys Club. Many years later she joined Masters swimming, renewing her love for the sport and competition. “I am so grateful for this wonderful New England Masters organization, my supportive teammates and coaches, and the volunteers who make it possible for this 74-year-old to be sporting a Speedo!” she says.

Jacki Hirsty

• 2019 Inducted into the New England LMSC Hall of Fame (Pool Performance)

• USMS Records – 32 lifetime, 0 currently held

• USMS All American – 39 (273 points)

• USMS Top Ten – 324 Individual

• NE LMSC All Time Top 3 – 255 points

Jacki Hirsty always considered herself a late bloomer and now realizes that the longer you hang on the better it gets. Although she began swimming Masters with DC Masters, and spent some time with Texas and UCLA, most of her 320 top ten rankings were with NEM. After joining NEM at 37, she set 4 of her 32 world records and 18 of her 42 relay world records (those her most rewarding). While with NEM, she was a member of the USMS Coaches and International committees. She is now living and coaching college swimmers in Los Angeles and is the only member so far of the NEM Far West branch. She is also a USMS Leve 1 and 2 Certified Coach.

From the Occidental College Website:

Jacki Hirsty, a swimming coaching veteran with over 30 years of experience, is in her second year in the Occidental swim and dive programs as an assistant coach.

Hirsty had recently been an assistant coach at Assumption College from 2011-15, the head coach at Milken Community Schools in Los Angeles and Notre Dame HS in Worcester, Mass. She has worked the Navy Swim Camp and has been a Head Masters Coach at the East Side Y (Rhode Island), Qunicy Y (Massachusetts), Newton JCC, Babson College, Boston College and MIT.

She is a technical specialist with a keen eye and can help our student-athletes improve in a lot of areas. Her focus as a coach is to assure that every swimmer is aware of proper technique, thereby given the same opportunity to succeed. Her goals this year include getting our women and more of our men to NCAA Nationals. 

Hirsty is still a very competitive swimmer. She competes at the highest level of masters swimming and is currently part of 4 masters world relay records and consistently world ranked in her age group.

With degrees in Architecture from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University of Kansas, she has also been an Assistant Professor at Kansas State University, University of Kansas and Texas Tech, and Director of Student Affairs at the Boston Architectural College.

Ronnie Kamphausen

• 2019 Inducted into the New England LMSC Hall of Fame (Pool Performance)

• USMS Records – 17 lifetime, 3 currently held

• USMS All American – 66 (462 points)

• USMS All Star – 5 years

• USMS Top Ten – 911 Individual

• NE LMSC All Time Top 3 – 220 points

Excerpts from the March 13, 2009 The Time Record article “A National Treasure”:

Ronnie grew up in Baltimore and participated in a number of sports including swimming. Here dad taught swimming and got her hooked. She had an aunt who ran a camp at Small Point. So, from the time she was 7 until she finished college, she spent summers in Phippsburg, ME where she resides today.

In the late 1970s her parents stumbled upon the Masters swimming program and, come to find out, some of her old pool adversaries were getting into the sport. “And, my parents were like, ‘why aren’t you doing this?’” At that time she lived in Connecticut and joined Connecticut Masters.

Ronnie has been a member of Maine Masters since 2004, participating at every meet she can. She used to be a sprinter but is now more of a distance swimmer. She likes the team concept of the Masters competition.

“This is what I love… I am one of the older people, but you’re a teammate with younger people. So, this is a refreshing thing where they treat me as one of them. It’s so much fun and some of them are so encouraging and fantastic. You know, here in Maine we have a phenomenal group of swimmers.”

There is a tough balance between the competition and having fun. Ronnie is at ease with both. “Some people just can’t handle the competition. They really don’t want to be up there… I don’t know if they just get too nervous or what. Nerves for me help get the adrenaline going. To me it’s just a wonderful shot in the arm to be around all these vigorous people.”

“A lot of people think that when you reach a certain age you get the rocking chair out and that’s the end of your physical activity. But, particularly in swimming, you can do it right through to the end. I plan to.”

Excerpts from the Center Lanes – SWIMMER magazine Nov-Dec 2011”

Not a braggart, although she clearly has plenty to brag about, Kamphausen guesses she does well because she loves swimming and swimmers and ‘keeps at it. I don’t think I am pushing that hard. I just think there are fewer people in my age group. I love it, and I have been doing it for so long,’ she says. ‘In some ways, I’m afraid to stop. And swimmers are wonderful.’

Dan Rogacki

• 2019 Inducted into the New England LMSC Hall of Fame (Pool Performance)

• USMS Records – 2 lifetime, 0 currently held

• USMS All American – 14 (98 points)

• USMS Top Ten – 560 Individual

• NE LMSC All Time Top 3 – 450 points

I was born in Buffalo New York in the first half of the last century of the previous millennium (1947). I have two wonderful children and two grandchildren. My dear lovely wife Alison also swims and works for a non-profit watershed. I taught art for 33 years in Tewksbury, Mass., And have been asked back to judge this year’s high school art show. Into my ninth year of retirement, I keep occupied with coaching the Pittsfield Masters swim team, creating found ocean-oriented sculptures, doing acrylic and watercolor paintings, playing golf, cannoning, kayaking, hiking, camping, and I downhill ski and cross-country ski. We just got a sail boat, so I guess water plays a big part in my life.

Mike Ross

• 2019 Inducted into the NewEngland LMSC Hall of Fame (Pool Performance)

• USMS Records – 45 lifetime,17 currently held

• USMS All American – 106 (742 points)

• USMS All Star – 6 years

• USMS Top Ten – 175 Individual

• NE LMSC All Time Top 3 – 269 points

Mike Ross grew up swimming in northern Connecticut. He attended Princeton University where he swam the lead backstroke leg of two NCAA winning 4 x 50 medley relays, setting an American record in his senior year. Following college, he competed at the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Trials. At the age of 36 Mike began swimming Masters as therapy following a back injury. With the support of New England and Maine Masters, he has achieved 45 USMS records and numerous New England and World records, specializing in sprint backstroke, fly, and freestyle.

Excerpted from “From the Center Lanes,” SWIMMER magazine, Sep-Oct 2009:

Mike Ross, 41, lives in Shrewsbury, Mass., and competes for Maine Masters, as well as swims and coaches for the Bluefish Swim Club. Ross was an NCAA Division All-American Swimmer for Princeton University, was an American record holder in the 200 medley relay, a three-time qualifier for the U.S. Olympic Trials, and a member of the first United States Resident National Team for Swimming. He currently holds five Masters world records in swimming and nine USMS records.

From “Washed up? No way,” March 30, 2006, in The Boston Globe:

Ross first leapt from the starting block as a youngster growing up in Somers, Conn. He had a successful college career at Princeton, finishing as a captain while swimming on an NCAA championship relay team that also set a national record. He went on to compete in the US Olympic trials in 1988, 1992, and 1996, but never qualified for Olympic competition. He retired in 1996 at the age of 28, focusing more on full-time work and starting a family.

‘In many ways, it was disappointing,’ he said. '’I felt I hadn’t reached my potential.’

Ross stayed away from swimming for seven years, although it was never far from his mind. Ask his wife, he said, and ‘she would say I was pretty depressed about it.’

’At that point, I had swum for 20 years competitively and now all of a sudden, I didn’t have that. It was a bedrock in my life. I defined myself as a swimmer all those years and now what was I? I don’t think I had much direction at the time. I wasn’t the same old person.’

An unexpected turn of events led Ross back to the pool. In 2003, he ruptured a disc in his back. As part of rehabilitation from surgery, doctors advised him to stay off his feet and to use exercises that would strengthen his back muscles. Swimming was ideal.

’Three weeks later, I was in the water, and I just kept swimming.’

In 2004, he competed at a national championship for masters-level swimmers and set two world records. The success surprised him -- motivated him, too.

Greg Shaw

• 2019 Inducted into the New England LMSC Hall of Fame (Pool Performance)

• USMS Records – 32 lifetime, 0 currently held

• USMS All American – 74 (518 points)

• USMS All Star – 2 years

• USMS Top Ten – 199 Individual

• NE LMSC All Time Top 3 – 304 points

From Swim magazine, Jul-Aug 2005 “Timeout for Training” by Alice Phillips

You have to make that time for yourself, you have to be a little selfish. New England Masters swimmer Greg Shaw, a college professor, husband and father of teenagers, agrees. ‘Exercise is not something ‘extra’ – it shouldn’t be,’ he says. ;It is an integral part of who I am, and so is my life at work and at home.’

Shaw prefers to swim at the end of his workday because it’s easier to get a lane at his local YMCA and he also feels most energetic in the evening.

Diann Uustal

• 2019 Inducted into the New England LMSC Hall of Fame (Pool Performance)

• USMS Records – 94 lifetime, 18 currently held

• USMS All American – 4 (28 points)

• USMS All Star – 6 years

• USMS Top Ten – 257 Individual

• NE LMSC All Time Top 3 – 319 points

Excerpts from “2016 Top 12 World Masters Swimmers of the Year,” in April 2017 Swimming World magazine:

Uustal was first selected as a Top 12 honoree in 2011—one year after setting her first Masters backstroke world records. Since then, she has extended her swimming mastery into sprint free, fly and IM.

None of her accomplishments should come as a surprise, though, when one considers her family’s background in the sport of swimming. Uustal’s grandmother, Ruth Elizabeth Coburn, was a formidable open ocean and competitive pool swimmer, while her mother was a notable diver and swimmer in New England

Excerpts from “From the Center Lanes,” SWIMMER magazine Nov-Dec 2013:

While Uustal was growing up in Rhode Island, her grandmother, Ruth Elizabeth Coburn, was a central figure in her life and taught her to swim. Coburn was a noted open water swimmer in New England during an era when women weren’t allowed to swim; but she swam anyway by binding her breasts and swimming under a male pseudonym. She won often. ‘She more than introduced me to what it’s like to be free in and in love with the water,’ Uustal says.

Although swimming has always been her passion and something she’s excelled in, the path to world records and Top 10 times hasn’t always been easy. In 2003, Uustal was in a car accident that severely damaged her spinal cord; doctors said she might never walk or race again. Because he spine is still so damaged, ‘I balance on the razor’s edge. I race conservatively and am mindful that good stroke mechanics are key.’ A subsequent slip-and-fall in 2008 tore all three hamstrings off her leg and broke her arm and shoulder. Because of her injuries, Uustal hyper-focuses on technique rather than yardage to achieve improvements in time. And she’s had to keep her mind and spirit strong in the face of adversity. ‘I don’t give the injuries power, and I stay disciplined in my swimming. I’m grateful to be back in the water!’

Fred Schlicher

• 2010 Inducted into the New England LMSC Hall of Fame (Pool Performance)

• USMS Records - 81 lifetime, 5 currently held

• USMS Pool All American – 176 (1232 points)

• USMS Top Ten – 381 Individual

• NE LMSC All Time Top 3 – 398 points

Fred is originally from Greenwich, CT. He graduated from Culver Academy, class of 1966, where he held a number of swimming records including the 100 butterfly, 160 individual medley, 40 and 200 freestyle events.

From Around the NELMSC – September 2018:

New England swimming legend Fred Schlicher , who recently turned 70, set world records in the 200 free and 200 fly at the 2018 Pan American Masters Championships in Orlando, FL. He also set UANA records in the 50 back and 200 back. Two weeks earlier, at the 2018 South Central Zone LCM Championship meet in Texas, Fred bested the world record in the 100 fly, as well and set national records in the 200 IM and 400 IM.

Petey Smith

• 2010 Inducted into the New England LMSC Hall of Fame (Pool Performance)

• USMS Records – 31 lifetime, 0 currently held

• USMS All American – 74 (518 points)

• USMS All Star – 1 year

• USMS Top Ten – 313 Individual

• NE LMSC All Time Top 3 – 121 points

Clara Walker

• 2010 Inducted into the New England LMSC Hall of Fame (Pool Performance)

• 1948 Olympian

• 1995 Inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame

• 2003 Inducted into the Masters International Swimming Hall of Fame

• USMS Records – 146 lifetime, 0 currently held

• USMS All American – 341 (2387 points)

• USMS Pool All Star – 7 Years

• USMS Top Ten – 469 Individual

• NE LMSC All Time Top 3 – 143 points

Excerpts from the 1995 IMSHOF Induction Ceremony program:

When Clara Lamore climbed out of the pool at the 1948 Olympic Games in London after swimming the 200-meter breaststroke as a member of the United States Women’s Olympic Team, she swore she would never do it again. At 22 she had been swimming ten years and had had enough. After all, she was the winner of three U.S. national championships. She had done it.

It lasted for 33 years, until her doctor recommended, she start swimming to relieve the pain from a bad back. She was 54 at the time. She had worked for the telephone company, spent seven years in a cloistered religious order and became the first female graduate of Providence College in Rhode Island. She was married to Doneal Walker, a Naval officer and traveled through Europe with him for seven years until he died unexpectedly in 1970. She then taught school and became a guidance counselor at Western Hills Junior High School. It was then that she got back into the pool—for therapeutic reasons. Wasn’t much, just three days a week for a few months. But after she entered her first swim meet, maintaining somewhat the same stroke that Coach Joe Whatmore had taught her years before, she set a U.S. national record in the 50-yard breaststroke in the 50-54 age group. It re-inspired her and re-enthused her to train hard. It was as if all the years away from the water didn't matter. It was as though she were alive again back in the Olneyville Boys Club, her world defined by the borders of the pool.

Once again swimming became everything to Clara.

Win Wilson

• 2010 Inducted into the New England LMSC Hall of Fame (Pool Performance)

• USMS Records – 24 lifetime, 0 currently held

• USMS All American – 79 (553 points)

• USMS Top Ten – 299 Individual

• NE LMSC All Time Top 3 – 101 points

In his book “Good Swimming” Win shares a lifetime of swimming vignettes and the wisdom gained on his journey from a junior lifesaving swimmer in the 1930s to a top middle-distance college swimmer, and later on, record-breaking Masters swimmer.

At Brown University, Win set records in the 220-, 440-, and 1500-yard freestyle events. He was inducted into Brown’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1980. Even more impressive is the fact that he had never swum competitively before he entered Brown. The coach needed a distance swimmer, saw possibilities in Win’s stroke, and proceeded to “fashion a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.”

Win made his return to competition in the mid 1970s, earning many honors during his Masters swimming career.

Excerpt from the Brown University Hall of Fame website:

You don’t become a Master’s Swimmer merely by sending in your application fee. In Wilson’s case, the price he pays is between 2,500 and 3,000 yards in the Smith Swimming Center pool each morning, back and forth until his lungs curse at him.