New swimmer makes immediate impact

Editor’s Note: This is the sixth in the series of 11 articles. We published installment No. 7 instead of this one last time. Next week we will publish article 8.

Part Nine: The Summers of 1962 and 1963

“The day of the summer swimmer is coming to a close in this area because so many clubs are now able to train the year around,” Cummings said to The Journal Times. “Also, our teams have set so many high standards that the competition has definitely taken notice. We are the targets in the Inland Empire and this state. But is it any wonder? We now hold 36 of 56 Inland Empire AAU course records, a dozen state records and several Canadian marks.”

That was more than double what any men’s or women’s swim team in the history of the IEAAU ever achieved. It is a remarkable testament to the members of the Ritzville Swim Club and their willingness to sacrifice for excellence. Cummings was the coach and mentor of some of the finest swimmers ever developed in the Northwest for over a decade. And, it was going to continue for several more years.

Summer of 1962

Most of the championship swimmers of the past two years were now at the age of having summer jobs. Working even part-time took significant training time away from Cumming’s summer athletes. Still, the Ritzville Swim Club would once again be bolstered by a few new swimmers eager to prove their worth. Chief among them would emerge a quiet, non-assuming 15-year-old.

After only a couple of weeks, it was obvious to Cummings that this young man, Bob Wood, was a special find. Now Cummings had juniors Brian Miller, Jim Thomas and newcomer, Wood. He also had senior standouts on a limited training program because of work, Andy Christoff, Jim and Tom Baumann and occasionally, Tom Jones, who was pool manager at Lind.

In the Spokane Daily Chronicle swim meet at the end of July, Cummings only had the services of senior Jim Baumann and juniors Thomas, Miller and Wood. The team was just getting their “swimming legs” after only a few weeks of practice but managed to place very well in the meet.

The results turned in by these four swimmers were very similar at the Kelona B. C. International Regatta. Coach Cummings was pleased with the performances of his junior swimmers as they improved their times each week of the summer.

“Brian Miller was spectacular in winning the Kelowna four mile race. These young swimmers are progressing rapidly and should do very well at our own meet next week,” Cummings said after the Canadian trip. His words could not have been more prophetic.

The 400-yard freestyle relay team of seniors Baumann, Jones, Baumann and junior Wood broke the 1960 Ritzville-owned IEAAU, state and pool records by an incredible eight seconds, becoming the fastest 400-yard freestyle relay ever swum in a sanctioned Northwest AAU meet.

Wood, in his first year of swim competition, stunned the Inland Empire swimming world by winning the 400-yard freestyle over the Inland Empire’s best middle distance swimmer, Pat Lavin of Spokane.

“He may have the greatest natural ability of any swimmer I’ve ever trained,” Cummings said of Wood after the meet. “And that is saying something when you consider the likes of Al Vermeeren, Vern Kiehn, Tom Jones and Tom Baumann.”

Summer of 1963

The pool manager for the summer was Jim Baumann with life guards, Christoff and Thomas. Cummings concentrated only on coaching the swim team.

Thomas started the Ritzville Swim Club’s summer assault with a record-breaking swim on Williams Lake covered by radio station KGA and the Spokane Daily Chronicle. Thomas swam the four-mile race in one hour, 34 minutes, 19 seconds. This was nearly five minutes faster than the old record.

The Spokane Daily Chronicle Swim Championships in the first week of August were all about Wood. After only four and a half weeks of training, he entered three races, winning three gold medals before 1800 swimming enthusiasts.

On Thursday afternoon he won the men’s mile in 20 minutes and 12.7 seconds, only seven tenths of a second from the record held by Ritzville’s Tom Jones. Later that night, Wood swam against the state’s best swimmers in the national AAU sanctioned 800-meter freestyle. He won by four meters over the favorite Rick Neale of Spokane.

It was a major upset and Wood became the IEAAU’s fourth swimmer, all from Ritzville, to be invited to the Nationals since 1936, this time to be held in Chicago.

But Wood was not done yet. Friday morning he competed in the 400-meter freestyle and won his third gold medal.

Coach Cummings put 16-year-old Wood’s time in perspective by saying, “Fifteen years ago, 21-year-old collegiate All-American, Bill Smith, won the 1948 Olympics in this race only eight seconds faster than Bob just swam.”

At the Kelowna B. C. International Regatta, Wood and Thomas shined. Thomas won the junior men’s 200-meter freestyle followed by Wood winning the men’s half mile in record time to capture the Wrigley Cup that had belonged to Ritzville’s Jones in 1959.

The next day Wood won the 100-meter backstroke in record time. The two Ritzville swimmers then teamed up to place first and second in the 100-meter freestyle, both breaking the Kelowna and IEAAU records. Finally, Wood placed second and Thomas third in the 400-meter freestyle.

In the Chicago Nationals, Wood shattered the IEAAU record previously held by Jones by 30 seconds in the final heat of the 1500-meter freestyle race. During this race he set a new IEAAU record for the 800-meters, 10 seconds below the old record.

On the same weekend, Thomas, Thomas and Miller brought home six first, second and third place medals from the Miles City Montana AAU Championships where they experienced 106 degree weather during two days of competition against swimmers from nine states and Canada.

At Ritzville’s AAU Olympic Development swim meet Bob Wood established two more IEAAU records.

In the 200-yard freestyle he eclipsed Tom Baumann’s previous record by an amazing 5.6 seconds. Then he sliced eight seconds off the 400-yard freestyle record. Jim Thomas placed second to Wood in this race.

Jim Thomas swam his fastest mile race and won handily. His time was only eight seconds behind the IEAAU record.

Tom Jones returned to the Ritzville pool to win the 100-yard butterfly, place third in the 100-yard breaststroke and win the 50-yard freestyle.

The oldest record in the Inland Empire books was the 200-yard freestyle relay which was set by the Moscow Idaho Swim Club at 1:52 in 1956. The Ritzville Swim Club was intent on breaking this record.

The team of Jim Baumann, Tom Baumann, Tom Thomas and Bob Wood “blistered the blue waves” with an astounding 1:41. Roy Gunderson, IEAAU chairman, declared after the race, “That, ladies and gentlemen, was the most incredible relay performance I have ever seen!”

And so the summer swimming competition of 1963 ended for the Ritzville Swim Club. The results of only five weeks of actual competition were 10 new IEAAU records; one by Tom Thomas, one by Jim Thomas, one by the club’s 200-yard freestyle relay team and seven by Bob Wood.