Patton Pool Swimmers Current Events

Date	Item
4/10/97	Mark and Karen Manrique married 25 years May 5, 1997. Congratulations!
4/18/97	At an age when most men his age are out shopping for knee and hip replacements, Dennis Manrique is swimming faster than he did in high school! Dennis cleaned up at the Michigan Masters State Meet. Check out these times!  Won the 400 I.M.: 5:17.4 200 I.M.: 2:24.3 500 free 6:05.6 50 breast 31.99  Set two state records in the 200 breast 2:36.27 and 100 breast 1:10.32 (beat former Patton Pool coach Ron Alsobrooks' 18 year old record)  Won the High Point Trophy for the 50-54 age group.  Would someone follow Dennis to the fountain of youth and send me a few gallons!  Also spotted at the meet were: Ron Pohlanski, Doc, Mary Jo, and Dick Szuba
4/18/97	Sad to report Mrs. Szuba passed away March 27. Our sympathy to Doc, Mary Jo, Dick, Christine , John, Marty, and Tom.
5/19/97	Jason Hauck, Harry's youngest son is very enthusiastic about the web site and has offered to help in any way. He would enjoy meeting some of his father's swimmers.
6/13/97	About two weeks ago work sent me up to the Bay Area and I had a chance to visit Mike Fischer and family. I got to see his fantastic collection of swimming news clippings from the Patton era. Also attended a music students recital in which his daughter Elisa (11) exhibited nerves of steel as she gave a very solid solo violin performance of "The Happy Farmer" in front of about 50 people . His son Christian (15) is a computer guru and boggled my brain with some great web pages and image creations. He has offered to help with the web site. Mike has finally been able to realize a long-time dream of his: working on a chain gang! He drives around the neighborhood looking for people replacing their driveways, then carts the hunks of old concrete home to smash up with a sledge hammer to make gravel for a drainage ditch he is digging around his house (that sounds like fun, too). Anyway, if you ever dreamed of going to prison fantasy camp here's your chance. For $50 a week, he'll supply the hammer, concrete chunks, bread, and water (striped suit , ball and chain rental not included).
6/13/97	Mark and Karen Manrique's son Paul has graduated from middle school. Congratulations!
7/26/97	From Dennis Manrique:  Son Aaron is moving on to high school. His travel team finished last season with a Bantam "A" (13-14 yr olds) in the Michigan State Championship Daughter Danielle is moving on to jr. high school as a cheerleader Tina Solis and Carol Danboise are showing horses competitively. Tina's showing just recently won her Grand Champion
8/2/97	From Rick Skarbo:  What's current ? Ross , Brieanna and I are doing well way out here . Both my kids are in high school and, knock on wood, they're are doing what I should have done and that was study! I am self-employed and have been for many years. However, I have just ventured in to the deregulation of the local and long distance industry. I am currently on the ground floor of this new operation. It's really exciting with opportunities here in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and in Europe. Other than that, we just go to the beach and just enjoy the natural beauties of the ocean. Oh!. I almost forgot. I put an addition on my house that has been a real experience that every person should go through!!! HASTA LUEGO!.
8/3/97	The Web Site That Devoured Cleveland! There are now 138 text files and 188 image files that compose the Patton Tiger sharks website. There is room for a whole lot more so keep the information coming! Thanks!-Ed
8/3/97	From Ed Picard:  Peter Daland, retired coach of USC, was in Ventura at a masters swimming meet. He now coaches a masters team in Thousand Oaks, California. I took the opportunity to present him with a copy of Shakespeare Sully's tribute to the legendary swimming coaches of the 1960s. (See FF V2N2P6)
8/12/97	From Richard Szuba  On Aug. 6,1997 I swam in the Harbor Springs Coastal Crawl. I finished third in my age group and 50th overall in the one mile swim with a time of 43mins & 9secs. The waves were 2ft. and very choppy. Even though I am no longer a "stickman" I felt like a match being tossed about. Ron Polhonski finished 1st in his age group and 11th overall. He beat a lot of the high school and college swimmers. My dad has a cottage in Cross Village which is near Harbor Springs. He accompanied me to the meet and enjoyed talking to Ron, Jennifer Parks and Skip Thompson (a country club swimmer, a competitor of my brother John in the old days).
8/16/97	From: Rick Skarbo  It was just one of those days... a couple of friends of mine called me and asked if I was interested in going to a jet ski competition in Corona del Mar Beach. After we were there for about 30 minutes the Beach Boys showed up and it totally like Wow!..like no one expected! For two hours they played all their classics. It was unbelievable. These are times I wish I could share with my old family from Patton 'cause I know we would have really enjoyed it.
8/19/97	From: Dennis Manrique  Check out the Swimming Yellow Pages. (We're listed under "newsgroups and online magazines")
10/15/97	From Ed Picard:  You have to train yourself to look outside the frame of reference. Every affirmation implies an opposite, and somewhere along the continuum between them lies an infinity of possibilities. Learning to see those possibilities is what imagination is.--Sully. Now most people would probably, if not gladly, overlook at least one of the infinite possibilities available to people on a cruise ship, but not Sully! Somewhere on the possibility spectrum between shuffleboard and fantastic dining he managed to see and release the potential for entertainment even from the toilet in his cabin! "Highlight of the trip, however, is without doubt "Big Gulp," our cabin's vacuum flush toilet. The button behind your head is to keep you from falling asleep on the commode. One nod and you're gone, part of the great Caribbean food chain. But the name of the game is to unroll the roll such that the end of the paper dangles in the bowl -- then FLUSH! One snort from Big Gulp and that sucker spins paper like The Detroit News presses. The record is half a roll in one flush. I'm sure our cabin steward was mystified by our apparent dysentery."
6/5/98	If you've read Craig Dwyer's webpage, you know that he's been a physicist for 30 years and currently works on state-of-the-art radar-imaging problems. However, on a recent outing with his granddaughter, Dahlia, he broke a basic rule for solving any physics problem: "Never Assume!" While the young child climbed to the top of the play ground slide, Craig mentally calculated her terminal velocity assuming the coefficient of friction between Dahlia's wet butt and the stainless steel playground slide to be a very high positive number (like 6.035 times 10 to the quinzillionth power). However, if he would have checked the 1998 edition of Chemical Rubber Company's Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, he would have found out that it is not a positive number, but indeed a very high negative number (-3.71 times 10 to the quaddroolinth power, or the same as a bar of wet soap on melting ice). Read on to see the tragic consequence of the erroneous calculation.  From Craig Dwyer: Our summer pool club has opened, and we all went out yesterday. It was a gorgeous day, and I felt great. I even surprised myself in the water. Dahlia had a good time on the toddler play stuff. They have an old fashioned slide out there, about 7 feet high, with a stainless steel slide, not like the new all plastic stuff you find in the city parks these days. It is about twice as high as anything she has gone on before. So I was a little apprehensive about her going down it. But I thought, her bathing suit is wet, and she will probably stick to the slide. She climbed up ok, sat at the top and then proceeded to go down before I could move to the front to catch her. Much to my surprise and hers she went down like greased lightning with her wet suit, and fell off the end a couple of feet onto the ground. She was a little shaken, but not too much so. She did not want to try it again though. (Ed. note: Dahlia has since put a "Never trust anyone over four" sticker on her tricycle.)
7/31/98	From Ed Picard:  The Ventura Masters had a meet with Southwest Masters and Rose Bowl Masters last Saturday. They needed a warm body to help people the scene so yours truly volunteered. It was my first race in 14 years. I went faster than I expected and gained an even better appreciation of the times Dennis Manrique is doing. They have a handicap system for scoring the meets and it seems to be very generous. In the 50-54 age group: 200 Breast- 40 sec, 100 Free-11 sec and 50 Free-5 sec.  200 Breast-3:16 100 Free-1:15 50 Free-32.5 (My all-time best is 29.9!) Peter Daland (USC coach 1959-1992) was there helping to run the meet. He is very active in masters swimming and coaches the team in Thousand Oaks, CA. I asked him if he had ever been to Brennan Pools. He said he was there for the Olympic trials in 1956 and 1960. He remembered and was impressed by the three 50-meter pools, the seating for 7000, but especially how cold the water was! I dropped a few names on him and he remembered Ron Alsobrook, not as a coach, but as a breaststroker from U of M! We're talking 1949 or so. What a memory! He said he was going to be visiting Santa Clara's swimming coach George Haines soon and that Doc Counsilman is very sick with Parkinson's.
8/7/98	Sad to say that Phil Moosekian passed away about two weeks ago from cancer. Phil is Bob's older brother and swam on the team prior to when Harry came to Patton in 1960. Phil's swimming days at Patton started way back in the early 1950s soon after the pool was built (see News Clip 008), however, he had switched from swimming to racquet sports before most of us joined the team. He and his father, Barney, were a familiar sight in the gym at Patton playing badminton. Our deepest sympathy to Phil's family.  "Play it again Sam," "Here's lookin' at you kid," and "Round up the usual suspects." No longer will Casablanca be remembered as just the site of an old Humphrey Bogart classic. Instead of "Rick's Cafe,"Casablanca will now conjure up visions of Dennis Manrique blazing out some great times and setting records at the FINA World Masters Swimming and Diving championships. Most of us remember Dennis as a breaststroke specialist but he has also established himself as an formidable distance freestyler. Congratulations to Dennis on some great times. Part of the good old memories of Patton was rooting for your teammates and the enjoyment of seeing them swim well. Dennis has given us all an opportunity to still experience that 35 years later.  50 Meter Long Course 200 IM - 2:49.05 6th 200 Br - 3:00.36 4th (Michigan State Record 3rd place was 3:00.26!) 400 IM - 5:59.91 4th 100 Br - 1:21.83 5th (4th place was 1:20.97!) 800 Fr - 10:50.67 7th (Michigan State Record) 5K Open Water - 1:03:45 4th 1998 FINA World Masters results: http://www.usms.org/comp/worlds98/m50.shtml
10/2/98	From Doug Webster and Pete Adams:  Here we sit above Kealakekua Bay after a week of traveling the inner and out realms of our imaginations. Peter, returning from his conference in California, graced me with his presence for an all too brief period, but long enough for some laughter, insights, philosophy and b.s. He's promised to stop by more often once he's become rich and famous as the dynamic environmental artist/activist for the trees of the planet. He is my brother and I love him! Mahalo Peter for a great time!! Douglas And now from me, Pete...... Yes, it has been an all too brief stop over, but the rest stop was filled with enough water to remind me of our past time together in Michigan's finer pools and open lakes and rivers; except this water was so much more inviting and, instead of following a line for hours, there was coral and countless colorful fish, a pod of thirty dolphins and plenty of stops to chat while floating in the warm Pacific. My home is next to Roaring Beach, where there is plenty of water action, but nothing as soothing and comfortable as this. The big plus in being here is to make a "real" contact with an ol' buddy. Talking on the internet is valuable, but the best communication takes place face to face, over a Kona coffee and danish overlooking a beautiful landscape.  Another special part of all this is to be in a friendship that spans nearly 40 years and is still growing. There is no competition anymore, just a mutual desire to help the world find a better way to stay healthy. For both of us, art is this avenue of expression.  The reason I'm in Hawaii is that I gave a lecture in San Francisco at a conference of art collectors and museum curators on the role of museums in contemporary society. My focus is that art has to reflect our sacred human connection to this very sacred and beautiful planet Earth. Someday, I'll be able to stay around a little longer on this side of the ocean, but I need to get back to my property, Windgrove, in order to prepare it for the Sculpture by the Sea exhibition in November when 26 artists will be placing sculptures on the land. I'm offering a $2,500 prize called "Spirit of Place" for the piece of art that best fuses the areas of ecology and theology. Cheers for now, Peter
11/6/98	From Ed Picard  It looked like just another day. I had stopped by the house with my footlong tuna sandwich from Subway and was sitting quietly eating it, when Jeani came home after picking up her business mail at the P.O. box. She waved a large, thick brown envelope in the air and said, "this is for you." Right away my heart started beating faster because the only mail I get at the P.O. box is stuff sent in for the website. I looked immediately at the return address and realized my dream had come true. It was from Puerto Rico! Inside the envelope were tons of photocopies of old Patton photographs and newspaper articles. One item was the original newsclipping about the Hauck family swimming the English Channel. It is a very extensive article and starting today it will be published in installments on the website. Enjoy! News Clip 033a (part 1)
11/6/98	From: Lynn Makkonen Ebinger  As of the 25th of March give or take a week or two, Chuck and I are going to become Grandparents. Sara, our youngest, will be having her first. Sara had an ultrasound and the baby had its legs crossed...must be modest. So we do not know the sex yet. Grandpa Chuck really wants a boy but I'll take what we get. We are both very excited about our first grandchild. The Ebinger family will continue to grow as our oldest Jennifer (named after Jennifer Parks) will be getting married to a Texan in August. He was a age group swimmer. I love him already. They will reside in Princeton NJ after they are married. He working on this PhD at Princeton.  I started a new position with the school system as a job coach. I work with young adult special needs students developing job skills. Hopefully they will be placed in a "real world job". With all these changes in my life one would think I would have a little stress. Actually its a real kick to have all these new adventures.  Heard from Sully, I always knew he was a special person. Dennis Manrique must of found the fountain of youth the way he is swimming. Way to go Dennis. We are proud of you. It is so wonderful to hear how many of the Patton Gang have grown into successful adults in spite of the ups and downs life through our way. I am sure those RAT RACES helped.  Take care. Lynn
12/13/98	From: Richard Szuba  Tom (my brother) and I swam the Harbor Springs Coastal Crawl last summer. Of course, Tom finished first in his age group. I was second in mine but I improved my time over the previous year by 16 minutes. Last week I swam in a meet at MSU. Got Lynn's note on Harry's birthday and sent him a card. Waiting to hear from you, Harry, if you're on the Internet. All is fine in Dearborn with me and my dad. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!
6/4/99	Bob Moosekian reports that Leslie Taliaferro passed away a few years ago. Leslie was a very sweet girl and lived across the street and only two houses down from Patton. She swam at Patton in the very early 60s. Perhaps you remember when Leslie's father had a fatal heat attack and Harry ran across the street to give him artificial respiration.
8/6/99	From Ed Picard  Got a call from Harry last Sunday. I told him about the plans for a reunion in August 2000 and asked if he would be coming and his quintessential Hawkian reply was "I am the reunion." I took that to mean he wants to be placed in the "will be there" category. He also confirmed that they do have a computer and will probably be getting online soon. In fact, the same man who told me about a year ago that he hopes he dies before he needs to use a computer may have his own website soon. Is the world ready for TheHawk.com? Harry has made a series of diving instruction videos that he hopes to hawk (pardon the pun) on the Internet. They will be targeted toward people heading for the Caribbean on vacation who want to scuba dive and have never done it before. The tapes will help get them up and running faster once they arrive. He is also going to be running a diving school out of his home. Harry said he is sending more articles for the website and that he will be getting together with a friend to get his photos scanned. I've got poor photocopies of the original photos and I've got to tell you these are going to be great! There are lots of them and they are large, professional quality prints. He seemed very sad to hear that Leslie Taliaferro had passed away and remembered the day that her dad had a heart attack and he tried to save him and ended up in the emergency room standing around in his Speedo. (By the way, if anyone remembers Leslie's brothers' names or her stepfather's, please let me know.) Harry is going to start to train soon for a swim around the old city of San Juan. It's about a 4.5-mile swim and will be done to generate publicity for an environmental fair focusing on the need to keep the ocean clean. If you haven't given him a call yet, you're missing out on a real treat. From Richard Szuba Just returned from the Harbor Springs Coastal Crawl where I finished first in the 50-54 age group. (Ed. Note: Congratulations, Richard!)
8/13/99	Congratulations to Tom Sullivan! THE MARTYRING has been nominated and is a finalist for the World Fantasy Best Novel Award. Awards will be announced at the Rhode Island convention in November. From Renee Rienas Cheryl Kee passed away a few years ago from breast cancer.
8/20/99	From Doug Webster: Pete Adams has a new website for his Earthlinks. From John "Loud Pipes Save Lives" Savinsky: For the last two weeks I've been the Duty Officer. That means that the Fire Dept. can call you at anytime of the day or night, but only when there is something serious going on that the firefighters can't handle (which means quite often). Just this morning, I got a call to respond to Lumley Street--that's around Michigan and Lonyo area--strong odor of gas in area. Just ahead of me going down Lumley I saw the ladder truck pulling up in front of the address. All of a sudden I saw and heard this huge explosion, debris flying everywhere. Hey! how do you say "Check your shorts?" I just hate to be awakened at 0200 A.M. that way. Turns out some Wacko tried to check out and take his wife with him, all the gas jets turned on, windows and doors closed, he just waited for someone to show up to make it more spectacular. Fortunately, this guy couldn't even do that right. Hey, if you want to die ...go ahead but don't take innocent people with you! As the E.M.S. crew carried him out, I walked over to him, pointed my finger at him and said in the best "HAWKIAN" accent I could, "Don't be Phoney"...A few seconds earlier and I would have been knocking at his door when the s--t hit the fan! Good thing I didn't flip my last turn. Pete was right. See the things we learned at Patton continue to help us even now. Thank God not all the nights are like this, just most of them! Adios, John. P.S. I've been two-timed by Daisy! Thanks a lot Sully!!%$#^@&^.
9/17/99	Stopped by to visit Mike Fischer and family on our annual trip to visit Jeanie's dad who lives north of Sacramento.   Mike "The human back hoe" is still having fun working around his place. The novelty of digging large trenches and piling up compost so high that it's become a hazard to aviation has worn off and he's gone on to more interesting things like reshaping large slabs of concrete with a hammer and chisel. Seeing a man Mike's age (50) do all this excruciating manual labor has always had us expecting a call saying that he dropped dead from a heart attack. Not to worry. Mike, who does no other form of exercise, recently took a treadmill stress test and achieved a level that only 50% of the NBA players can reach.   Mike dug up a great Patton team photo taken at Brennan in 1966 and his son Christian scanned and sent it to me. At last we old timers will be able to put some faces with some of the newer names on the team list. We were treated to a nice lunch by Mike's wife Pamela and afterward enjoyed a violin solo of "As Time Goes By" from the movie Casablanca by their daughter Elise.
10/4/99	From Lee Davis: Harry, you always predicted that I would do great things, and I did, I got the world record. Thank you, Harry. I went on to marry a fellow world record holder, Luis Nicolao, had three beautiful children that all swam, and later divorced due to the fact that his heart and homeland was in Argentina. I started the biggest master swim club in California, and even had Pablo Morales training with me. I am now living in Texas to be close to my daughter, but am hating every minute of it. I might end up in New Jersey where my son is the head coach of the Princeton Water Polo Team. Fascinated by all of this, and would love to hear from everyone. The e-mail address is at my daughter's house, so if anyone would like to call me they can at (request number). Harry, you left me with some of the fondest memories of my life.- Lee From: Tina Solis Just a note to say hi all and to let you know that I finally bought the farm! A horse farm that is....I'm literally up to my ears in horse you-know-what and loving every minute. Still have to keep the regular job but get to spend a lot more time riding. I'll be talkin to you guys more often now that I got a decent computer and setup. (Ed. note: Mike Fischer might be interested taking some of that excess "you-know-what" off your hands or should I say your boots. *See 9/17/99 entry)
11/26/99	From Ed Picard: Talked to Harry and Caroll last weekend. Their hard drive crashed from power fluctuations, so if you've written to them and haven't got a reply, that's why. The good news is that their email hasn't been lost, just inaccessible at the moment. Caroll is the family computer guru and as soon as you mention anything connected with computers, she gets handed the phone. Harry, who turned 71 this month, is showing no signs of slowing down. He has submitted a proposal to the Caribbe Hilton to run their diving school concession and is looking for sponsors for a nonprofit environmental organization he has formed to help clean up the ocean. The last hurricane there in Puerto Rico was the first one in recorded history to come from the west. They usually come from the Atlantic over by Africa. When I told Harry that the reunion date was set for August 12, 2000, he said he would start looking for a pair of shoes. He wanted me to ask Doug if that Kona Coffee is on the way, yet.
2/11/00	From Doug Webster: On the first day of the Gregorian cycle, a group of nearly one hundred of us swam in close proximity of a young Whale Shark.  At 18 feet, small by adult standards, but a perfect looking specimen of the most fearsome beast within the ocean.  People, freely interacting with such a creature was not only a thing of beauty, but to me, a huge inspiration of hope for the planet.  Here were all these people getting in the water with what looked like a man-eating behemoth, but instead, it was a 'lap dog'; the friendliest, most loving creature one could imagine, who wanted nothing more than to cuddle with everyone. She'd go to every new boat and put her head up for petting, and when she needed a bit of clearance, one gentle but powerful swoop of her tail had her several meters away in an instant.  Most of the time though it was harder to stay out of her way.  When I saw a picture of my own feet dangling in the water with several others while directly below and coming up to us was this gigantic shark, it blew my mind!  Such a perfect symbol: Our greatest fears only look like killers, but in fact are nothing but a toothless nanny. :)
2/13/00	From Richard Szuba: Just got back from the FAST swim meet where I was a timer. Jewel Cooke (age 92) set a world record for the 200 meter short course free. She is interested in the reunion and expressed a particular interest in seeing Harry Hauck.George Neuman (the starter) was also there and would like to come.
4/7/00	From Ed Picard: Got a call from Ron Alsobrook last night.  He told me some interesting things about Patton Park. There used to be a stream running through it and he and his buddies would ride their bikes out their and go swimming. Ron said he worked at Patton Pool in 1950 when it was dedicated. It was one of only two indoor/outdoor pools in the world. The other one was located, I believe he said, in Denmark and the Queen of Denmark came over to dedicate it. He's not on the Internet, but I have his phone number.  Got a call tonight grom Bruce Norvell. Bruce is up near Sun Valley Idaho where he goes evey year to enjoy winter sports like ski skating (kind of like cross country skiing). He said he enjoyed looking at the website and would like to come to the reunion.
8/12/00	From Mary Luevanos: We are proudly celebrating our fifttieth  anniversary at Patton. Come on out and join us, September 12, 2000, for cake and ice cream to celebrate all of your old memories and make some new ones!!! Wouldn't it be nice for you to share your Patton memories with the up and coming youngsters? We're  not sure of the time, yet, but call 313-297-9377, Karen Peltolla, Director. I can be reached at: quetzal27@earthlink.net.
9/22/00	From Craig Tesch: On September 10, 2000 I swam the USMS 5K Championships in Chicago and won the  55-59 age group. My time was 1h15m18s. Next year I'll be in the 60-64 age group. (Ed. note: Good work, Craig! For those unfamiliar with masters swimming, being at the top of your age group is not an advantage!)
4/6/01	From Mary Luevanos: As you may have heard, Patton Park will be the site of a CSO (combine sewage overflow)  A Federal mandate  requires this to be built on Patton grounds.  This is because waste water is going into the Rouge River when it rains.  Because of  this, the Water Department will be paying for renovation of the building (not the recreation department). The figure is now $20 million. In the meantime, the building is crumbling, but there are many caring people and many great kids. The kids are little tadpoles.  Patton is still there. Consider making your next reunion a splash party.
6/22/01	From Bruce Wright:  Birmingham Seaholm and MSU swim star of the 1970s, Bruce Wright, has enjoyed the Patton Pool website so much that he has started his own site for MSU swimming alumni. Be sure to check it out and register if you were a Moo Yooer: http://www.spartyswims.com/
5/24/02	From: Kathie Wilhelm Just thought I would pass on that The Villages here in Florida has finally started a Masters Swim Team. We are small and have only 12 members but I know we will grow. I hope I can find someone here from Mich. that used to swim in Patton Pool. I am going to run an ad in the Village news paper. If anyone reading lives in The Villages, please call me Thanks, Kathie 352-750-2827
8/16/02	From Mark Manrique After fiighting the ravages of old age for almost two years, our mom finally passed away on Tuesday, August 6th at the age of 85. We all miss her, but truly believe she has finally found the peace that eluded her for so long. We had a memorial service and dinner for a small gathering of family and friends on Thursday.  Like everyone else who had been touched by the Patton experience, our mom was full of fond memories of swim meets, practices, crazy stories and crazier characters. She always enjoyed having a living room full of tired swimmers waiting for her chicken and mole, rice and beans and tortillas to be done so we could chow down.  Seems like the hot food helped us get over the lingering chill of those cold Brennan mornings.
11/6/02	From Richard Szuba Our family is heartbroken to report that Marty, age 44 died on Oct 3,2002 of pancreatic cancer. He was diagnosed June18 just after attending our niece, Mary Chris' wedding party in Michigan. The funeral was Oct 12 in Haddonfield, N.J. (See related article: Marty Szuba)
4/22/03	From Don Cox There's an article in the May 2003 National Geographic about the mailboat J.W. Westcott II.  I don't know if you knew this, but John was John W. Westcott IV, and this boat is part of John's history. I believe the picture  of the man in the article was the John's great grandfather. John's mother edited the local Notice to Mariners.
8/11/03	From Tom Sullivan There are people in the Patton pantheon whose influence was obvious, and there are others whose equally great influence was subtle.  Mr. Savinsky's was one of the latter.  He passed away this August, but the thing that made him permanent at Patton still makes him permanent in my memory.  I think he had the most persistent smile I can remember.  And that may seem like a small thing, but when you were in the water dealing with "hurt, pain and agony," it wasn't small at all.  You wanted to see that on someone's face.  You could catch a hint of it on John or Fred, because they inherited that smile from their father, but the full specimen belonged to the head of the family.  Mr. Savinsky listened to you, and whether you were complaining or celebrating, the smile stayed.  Sometimes it was sympathy, sometimes it was agreement, sometimes it was encouragement.  Didn't matter.  He raised the atmosphere by several degrees of brightness whenever he was around.  People like that have courage and are never defeated.  Even in death.  I know I'm not the only one carrying the strength of the "Savinsky smile" around with me.  It's another of the plusses that came out of that training for living known as Patton... With gratitude,  Sully
2/28/04	From Dennis Manrique, Redford, Michigan senor_manrique@yahoo.com Just thought I'd let everyone know two things: I got back into the Detroit School system to teach and especially coach swimming.  I have just finished the season as Assistant Swim Coach at Western High School with the intent of taking over the team from Linda Jones next year. There might even be an opening at Western for me next year through other retirements. Ran into a few oldies you might remember: Clyde James, Herbie Hayden, Peter Roberts, George Neuman and Edith Glusac (she was reffing our meets when we were at Western and still is for DPS as well as breaking swim records in the 75-79 age group). The other thing I wanted to mention was that in May '04 the city is closing Patton for 18 months while making a multi-million dollar renovation which will include the pool.  The center as we know it will cease to exist.  So anyone wanting to see it they way they remember it has until May of this year. By the way - I went to Belle Isle this year to swim across the River and back with the DPR lifeguards. Something I always wanted to do but haven't up until now.  Hi to all and write back, Denny
3/5/04	Hey, Denny --  Thanks for the update.  The Patton of old consigned to a memory?  Alas.  But then, does that really change anything?  Few of us would ever have returned to the site.  In a way, it's best not to.  The past is safest when not confused with the present...or the future.  I think what I miss most about Patton are the echoes.  And those were the acoustics of our voices.  So they only existed when we were there.  If they have any permanence, it's in our memories alone.  We are Patton, and we are a Diaspora, and that's how legacies bloom into new things.  Sort of like shaking one of those kaleidoscopes with the broken bits of colored glass.  New symmetry, new form.  You have to keep going.  Life was a pool then, but it's an ocean now...-- Sully
3/7/05	From Caroll Hauck: We got word last week that Frank Toomey passed away, after a long illness, due to diabetes. Harry talked to his widow, Patt, a couple of days later. Frank worked for Parks and Rec. in Detroit and after he retired, he moved to Rhode Island, where he spent the rest of his life.
6/7/05	From Dennis Manrique: Just talked to Bwana (Ken Karasik), now a lawyer in Flint, Michigan, yesterday and he informed me that Alan McDaid passed in October from Lou Gehrig's Disease. The last time I saw Alan was in 1989 when he was part of our Pan Pacific Water Polo Team. Thought you might want to post this information.  I am also including a letter I sent out to the team once we returned from Indianapolis after the Games. Team Photo
10/7/05	From Ed Picard: Harry and Caroll Hauck will be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary November 4, 2005. If you would like to send them a card, give them a call, etc., you can get their info from me: pattonpool@aol.com
10/25/05	From Ed Picard: If you haven't heard, Patton Park is getting a new pool with a new name. Dennis Manrique is leading an effort to have it named after Harry Hauck. If you would like to help in this effort, please contact Dennis and he'll tell you what he needs. Dennis' email: senor_manrique@yahoo.com
10/28/05	From Ed Picard: What can you get for 49 cents? Not much, unless you spend it for Sully's short story: "Specimens." It is available as a digital download at Amazon.com. Click here to download.
12/16/05	From Ed Picard: Sully will be writing a monthly article for Storytellers Unplugged. Check out the December 16th column, if you have time.
3/30/06	From Ed Picard: The Deep Blue Journal interview with Tom Sullivan
4/25/06	From Dennis Manrique: Just got word from Mary Luevano that Patton is having a Reopening Reception at 5:30 pm May 2. (Please contact Dennis if you would like to join him and some of the other Patton swimmers: senor_manrique@yahoo.com)
6/03/06	From Ed Picard: Sully has a new novel and a new website. Check them both out at: thomassullivanauthor.com
10/25/06	From Dennis Manrique: Harry just informed me that Arne Largerkvitz passed away last week.  He says he got a call from Joe McNichols. (Arne was a water polo player from the early days of Patton.)
1/26/07	From Dennis Manrique: Jewel Cooke has passed away at age 98. For more about Jewel, check out Michigan Masters Newsletter June 2004 Pages 6 and 7.
7/17/2007	From Dennis Manrique: Just to let you know that I got a call from Harry yesterday and he's coming into town July 23 for 3 weeks and would like to get the gang together for a mini-reunion. Please contact Dennis Manrique, if you are interested: senor_manrique@yahoo.com
8/18/2007	Dennis Manrique just sent the link to a promotional video for the Patton Pool Piranhas. It's pretty cool to see the swimming program being revived there. Piranha Video
12/30/07	From Jennifer Parks (jenswims@aol.com):  Hi Everybody; I saw Tom"my" Szuba signed in September.  Thought you might get a kick out of the fact that I'm back to coaching.  Am the (volunteer) assistant I always wanted to have at MSU (except you, Tom, you were great!) at West Ottawa High School in the north Holland area. Get along with the boys best- they love to tease me.  Swam with them this morning...with fins on, I'm able to keep up more or less.  They love to tell me when I don't streamline like I constantly tell them to do! Great to swim in Lake Michigan. Still swimming in Masters. They have a great Aquatic Center about 1 1/2 mile from me.  Hope all is well with all of you "guys" and "gals".  Just got a message from Fred MacMillan...hear from Jimmy occasionally. Keep the website going.  We had a great time swimming in Detroit wherever we practiced!  Love, JP (easier to say with a mouthful of water...so that's become my nom de plum.) p.s. I have John Hussy, Jr.'s # in northern Mich. but haven't contacted him yet.
12/30/07	From Ed Picard: Sully, has received a nomination as one of the 1000 Best Special People.  If you'd like to read more or give him a "boost" at the site, click here: the 1000best.com
5/24/08	From Ed Picard: Mark Marnrique, who has been putting himself out there for years as a "just plain folks" T-shirt and Levis guy, has been unmasked. This photo ( Photo338 ) is reportedly from a super-secret induction ceremony of the Illuminati at their annual Bohemian Grove meeting in Northern California. Mark was presented the Life-Time Achievement Award by David Rockefeller for designing the global currency to be used in the New World Order: Photo339. (Mark has said that he'd be happy to take requests to make any of our former teammates materialize in their character of choice. No charge. You may contact Mark (a.k.a. Dr. Foto) at: mkrique72@comcast.net ).
4/21/14	From Jennifer Parks: Hi guys (including all females).  Bob Crosby just retired this year coaching at West Bloomfield HS; don't know if he's still coaching Western G&C Club? Thinking of most of you at various meets, practices.  Always loved your intro., John Pheney,when we were kids swimming for Post P &R.  Loved your amazing butterfly, Laura.  And Dave Dixon when you asked me how to shave your legs.  Love your missives Pete Adams, from Tasmania...and yours from the west, Tom Sullivan.  Loved having you, Tom Szuba, be assistant at MSU that year....didn't you also run rats?  Water Wonderland...swam my best 100 back the week after OTs in '60...that's how I learned about rest/taper!   Oh, and my old kid pal, Jimmy Mac; just love hearing that you're still swimming... Traverse Bay might be a little nnnipppyyy this year (even more than Bbbrrennnan) after this winter.  Saw my hero, Bumpy (and Clarke, too) a few years ago...thanks for the pic, Jimmy!  Anyway, I hear from several MSU mostly women swimmers via Facebook, a few men, too, so if there are older ones who swam in Detroit area, I'll try to connect them.   On my way to go swim with the new Masters group at Holland Aquatic Ctr.  If you ever get near the big Lake, come on and swim at our pools...lap swim all day, most every day!   p.s. The tulips are struggling to get up but I do believe spring is on its way.  Jennifer Parks ( "J.P." - think it said "Jennie" in that news clip), swam at Oakland Hills, Women's City Club, Red Run (and occasionally Patton, remember the Patton Mile?-did it backstroke one year); have swum Masters, since 72 in New England, then in MI since 74;  coached/taught: Red Run, WCC, OHCC, SUNY-Cortland, Wellesley College, MSU-'73-'88 minus 77-78 when I coached at EMU, taught at Ferris, Sports Psych, etc., 88- 04, volunteer coached at West Ottawa HS 61/2over here in Holland, boys and girls, 05-'11, occasionally coach privately, mostly just swim, among other things ;-)   Have a great spring, everyone. Love ya' all, dear swimmers!
10/30/2015	From: Dennis Manrique   Hope everyone is dong well and wanted to past this on to you.  Some of you remember Tosh.  He swam at MSU and was for years was on deck assisting with meets and being part of the Alumni Swim Meet, annually winning the Plunge and Glide event. I received the following on 10-26-2015 regarding Tosh Imai from John Hershey.   "The New York Times today published a picture of the Great Salt Lake along with an article about the annual round-up of American buffalo on Antelope Island. I Googled Tosh and as many of you know, he is still the record holder for the Antelope to Saltair (the lake side pavilion) swim race which he won in 1958, (I think)."   I've attached the original article, embedded in another Utah swimmer's blog, along with some comments and Tosh's obituary. The article can be found here.
6/18/2016	From: Mary Lou Shefsky   Fulfilling Paul Newman’s Dream—‘Raising a Little Hell’ and Healing at The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp by Howard A. Pearson, MD, (my father-in-law) and me is the amazing story of a magical place created for children with life-threatening diseases under the leadership of actor and philanthropist Paul Newman.    Paul relied on my father-in-law (Doc) to make The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp (“Camp”) in Connecticut safe for the children.  In this memoir, Doc describes how it all happened and conveys the dynamics and exuberance of Camp that have helped children and their families experience healing since 1988.  Included are 200 photographs that bring Camp to life, as well as the stories of the nine towering totem poles that Doc carved to reflect camp’s history, promise, hope, whimsy, and fulfillment.        Fulfilling Paul Newman’s Dream is now available from on-line vendors (e.g., amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com) at a list price of $19.95 (plus any tax or shipping they might charge).  Any profits from the book will be donated to The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp.      For more information on the book, please visit my website:  www.fulfillingpaulnewmansdream.org.  We are hoping that this information will be shared with anyone who might be interested in reading the book.