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HE'S AN EX-NAVY FROGMAN, tutor of swim champions,
swim director at Lipke
Pool in the summer and Nolan Junior High in the winter and you'd guess
that with a background like that he learned to swim before he learned
to
crawl.
Wrong guess. Harry Hauck, 19729 Coventry, who's been
with the Department
of Parks and Recreation since 1950-with a four-year slice out for Navy
service-didn't even know how to keep himself afloat until he was
18.
"I was shallow-end goalie on a water polo team at St.
Clair Recreation,"
Harry laughingly recalled, "because I couldn't swim when I was 17 years
old. It wasn't until the next year that I learned-and I've been
involved
in some kind of swimming activity ever since."
Entering Wayne State University, he became a member of
the swimming
team there coached by Leo Maas, and developed his specialty in the
backstroke,
but the Navy beckoned then.
When he first entered service, Harry became an aerial
photographer,
but bided his time to await an opening in the frogman school in which
he
intended to enroll.
His opportunity came in '51 when he went to Little
Creek, Va., and underwent
training as an underwater demolition specialist.
"At the time I went into underwater demolition," Harry
mused, "there
were about 450 men in this country engaged in this specialty. To give
you
some idea of the demands you had to meet, out of a starting class of
138,
only 32 finished." He finished seventh in his graduating class.
In 1952, he became an underwater demolition, physical
training and diving
instructor, then went on to submarine escape training at New London,
Conn.
Following the completion of his courses, Harry's
assignments carried
him throughout the seas in the Western world, including the
Mediterranean,
Caribbean and Arctic areas. An assignment in the Arctic included
blowing
up icebergs which were breaking off of the Humboldt Glacier and
endangering
shipping.
While in the service, in 1954, he had a 10-day leave
and decided to
swim Chesapeake Bay. He accomplished the feat, and in doing so became
the
first amateur ever to complete the gruelling test.
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HARRY HAUCK'S HAD A FLUID CAREER
Following his discharge from the service in 1955, he
became swim instructor
at Eastern High School and the next year was transferred to Nolan
because
he wanted to concentrate on lower age swim groups.
"Years ago," he said in referring to his
pre-occupation with developing
young swimmers, "children could not compete until they were in high
school.
Now there are competitive events for children six years old. The
positive
results of the change can be seen from the fact that the majority of
the
national male and female champions are under 20 years of age."
Harry continued his education at WSU, combining his
swimming activity
as both instructor and competitor with work toward a degree in geology.
In personal competition, he participated in nine
national AAU water
polo tournaments as playing coach or captain, and his teams finished
third
twice, second once and won first place in the national outdoor
competition.
During his tenure as coach at Nolan, in both '56 and
'57, his team won
the Metropolitan water polo championship. His ability for developing
talent
is further illustrated by the record performances of his proteges,
including
Monty Blashill, Fred and John Savinsky and Carl Boyd.
Harry has taught skin diving in classes held at Kronk
Recreation, and
his tentative plans include teaching them again this year for the YMCA.
Harry and his wife, Caroll, are parents of a two-and-half year-old son,
Harry III.
His wife shares his enthusiasm for water sports, and
is a diving champion
in her own right. Recognizing the value of starting swimmers out young,
Harry has his 2-1/2 year old son swimming already.
"You might say he has the jump on me," Harry said with
satisfaction.
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