Contact:

Photos:

• Patton Swim Team Summer of 1966 Photo
• Look Ma, No New Cavities: (John Sherk, John Szuba, John Allred, Greg Penn, Doc Szuba) c.1963
• Doug, Move Your Big Fat Head!: (1st row: Randy Penn, Unknown, Sally Williams, Susan Williams, Elaine Cooper, Sally Sherk, Diane Greer; 2nd row: Peggy Sherk, Barbara Foster, Mary Beth Ceresko, Mary Lou Shefsky, Tina Solis, Alice Ceresko, Janice Enck, Susan Roll; 3rd row: John Szuba, Tom Koch, Sue Spilski, Marcy Snyder, Jackie Jones, Christine Szuba, Linda Foster, Carol Danboise, John Sherk, Randy Cooper; 4th row: Joyce Allen, Bonnie Danboise, Stan Johnson, Fred Johnson, Carl Boyd, Craig Dwyer, Greg Penn, Ron Enck, Doug Webster, Tom Szuba; 5th row: Rick Skarbo, David Sahagian, George Saldana, Pete Adams, Mark Manrique, Ron Boyd, Larry Dalton, Richard Szuba, Jay Osrowske, Ed Picard, John Powser, Harry Hauck) c.1962

V1N9P3, V1N10P4, V2N4P6, V2N6P3, V2N11P2, V2N11P3

067, 076, 108, 136, 141, 146, 174

I went to Fordson H.S. in east Dearborn and was All State and All American in the 100, 200, & 400 freestyle. I went to the Olympic trials in '68 for the 1500m. After H.S. I went to Notre Dame, where swimming was treated more like a club sport than a varsity activity. I still have the pool record in the Rockney Memorial (They stopped having meets there in the late seventies and nobody broke my time for the 1000). The Fordson Pool Record Board is solid J. Sherk. The only way you can tell if it's me or my little brother Jimmy is to look at the dates. I'm now a "Sales Engineer" for a manufacturer's rep. company selling HVAC stuff. My wife Lorraine and I have been married for over 20 years and have a daughter, Elizabeth, who is now attending Oakland University.

My favorite memories are of the practices, when we used to break up in groups and rotate turns working out in the water. I enjoyed the conversation and comraderie of those days. Circle swimming might have been an improvement in time management, but it really cut back on the social interaction with teammates.

Whenever I make a social fau paux my wife excuses it by saying, "You spent way too much time with your face in the water when you were a kid." I do believe that swimmers are different. We probably know our inner selves better than those around us, because we challenged ourselves in the privacy of the water where you couldn't look anyplace else but inside yourself for strength and willpower.