1959's young swimmers construct a dynasty in the pool

The coming weeks will be devoted to one of this city’s sport’s heroes, coaching legend Benner T. Cummings. Here is the seventh installation. — M. M. Athey & The Ritzville Swim Club­

Part Seven: The Summer of 1959

“It is always a pleasure to see a group of young unknowns from a small community such as yours come through and surprise perhaps even the better known clubs. It is significant enough to note that one of your swimmers (Tom Jones) achieved the second fastest recording in the state last year for the mile swim. And others are to be credited as some of the youngest ever to place in the men’s finals. Certainly, this is an honor for Ritzville as well as themselves.”

Those were the words of Joseph F. Nolte, men’s swim committee secretary of the Pacific Northwest AAU, at a basketball halftime ceremony in February of 1959. Silver AAU medallions honoring the accomplishments of last summer’s swim team were handed to Tom Jones, Tom Baumann, Jim Baumann, Tom Thomas, Andy Christoff, Dick Hand, Larry Stanfield and Terry Carter. One was also mailed to swim member Del Chase.

All of the above honored swimmers returned for this summer’s events except Chase. Gary Chase, younger brother of Del and an All-American backstroke specialist, joined the Ritzville squad for the summer.

The first competition of the year was the open mile swim during the Diamond Cup festivities at Lake Coeur d’Alene in mid-July. Jones, Tom Baumann and Christoff placed second, fourth and fifth, respectively.

The last week of July saw the Ritzville Swim Club score an upset win in the Spokane Daily Chronicle meet over several highly touted coast teams.

Gary Chase won the 220-yard backstroke over the state record holder from Tacoma, breaking the record by a full second.

Jones beat Eddie LaMar of Everett, the state mile record-holder, in the 880-yard freestyle. Tom Baumann scored an upset over the reigning state 440-yard freestyle champ.

At the 53rd Annual Kelowna B. C. International Regatta, the Ritzville Swim Club scored in the top three places in a dozen individual races and relays against 300 of the best swimmers from Canada and the US including several stars from Hawaii. Gary won the 200-yard backstroke and 200-yard individual medley. He also broke the100-yard backstroke team record by a remarkable 7.8 seconds, just 1.2 seconds short of the American AAU record.

Jones brought 500 Canadian spectators to their feet when he won the men’s half mile race to receive the coveted two-foot tall sterling British Wrigley challenge cup, breaking his own team record by 25 seconds.

Jones placed second and Tom Baumann third in the open mile, both breaking the old team record by a full minute, previously set in 1954 by Coach Cummings.

At the Junior Olympics long course meet in Pasco the Ritzville Swim Club broke four records. Jones broke the 220 and 440 freestyle records by 13 seconds and 29 seconds, respectively. Tom Baumann set a new record for the 14 and under 200 meter freestyle. Stanfield, T. Baumann, Jones and J. Baumann set a new team and Pasco pool record in the 200 meter freestyle relay.

Ritzville was the host for the IEAAU Swimming Championships on August 22-23. It was the most dominated swimming event in the history of the AAU. The Ritzville Swim Club won the men’s division by 101 points over teams from Spokane, Pullman, Colfax and Ellensburg. The Ritzville men broke 18 state, association and pool records, winning 12 of 14 events.

One very notable record was achieved by Jones. As mentioned by AAU official, Nolte, Jones had swum the second fastest time for the mile in the state the previous summer.

With his time of 23:38.7 in this meet, Jones now held the state record, breaking the old time by a whopping one minute seven seconds.

Tom Jones and Gary Chase tied for individual high point honors, each scoring the most points possible by winning every event they entered. Tom Baumann was second and Dick Hand was third in the individual scoring.

The seven team members of T. Baumann, J. Baumann, Jones, Hand, Stanfield, Christoff and Carter smashed records in every event they entered at the Spokane IEAAU Junior Olympics the last week of August. By the end of the meet, Ritzville held five new Junior Olympic records.

The performances of the Ritzville Swim Club were so impressive all season long that an unprecedented six members of the club were named to the 1959 IEAAU Swim Team. These six swimmers were given 17 of 41 positions on the team.

Chase was chosen for six events. Jones and Tom Baumann were selected for four events each. Jim Baumann, Hand and Vern Kiehn, who only competed in the one meet at Ritzville this summer, were each named to one event.

Two “special awards” are given out each year by the IEAAU. This summer, both awards went to Ritzville Swimmers. Chase received the 1959 Outstanding Swimmer Award “for his outstanding work in backstroke.”

Jones received the 1959 Outstanding Swimmer Award “for his unheralded performances in long distance races.”

Two summers earlier, coach Benner Cummings had predicted the possibility of a “dynasty in the making.” The monumental success of the Ritzville swim program in the summer of 1959 was well above anything that Benner had expected.

This swim club from “Smalltown USA” was a better story than the 1954 Milan High School basketball team of “Hoosiers” fame.

Why? Because this team would last for more than just one season. It would last for six more summers!