Page 7 - The Friday Flyer • August 19, 2016

AUGUST 19, 2016 THE FRIDAY FLYER A-7 Olympic swimming brings back memories
BY SHARON RICE
EDITOR, THE FRIDAY FLYER
While many Canyon Lakers have been watching the Olympics as arm- chair fans for the past couple of weeks – cheering the athletes through the thrill of victory or agony of defeat – one sport in particular brought back memories of glory for Jack Wamsley, who medaled in three swimming events in 1973 at the age of 42.
Jack’s accomplishment took place during the inaugural California Fire- men’s Athletic Association Firemen’s Olympics in 1973; which brought back an even earlier memory of a time when he actually was invited to train for the U.S. Olympic Swim Team by the great swimming coach, Glen Hummer.
Jack’s road to the Firemen’s Olym- pics began many years earlier when he started swimming at the age of 10 in the crystal clear waters of a limestone quarry in Huntington, Indiana. It was when life was a little more simple and his adoptive parents were still alive.
Jack’s birth parents died in a train crash when he was just 2 years old. He was born Robert Glousier, though he’s not certain if that’s the correct spelling. After being orphaned, he was adopted by the Wamsley family. His adoptive mother died when he was 13, his adop- tive father a year later – both of cancer.
Suddenly without a permanent fam- ily, Jack was forced to work for his own livelihood since, in that era, there were no local, state or federal social services to provide a safety net.
He found odd jobs with the railroad, at Montgomery Ward, and at other lo- cations around Huntington. When he wasn’t living with one of five different families, he found a place to sleep at the
YMCA. One thing he did exceptionally well was swim.
He was discovered by Coach Hum- mer, who invited him to join the Hun- tington YMCA junior swim team. Jack began swimming competitively at about the same time he lost his parents; and, in 1948, he won the Indiana State Cham- pionship in the 200-yard breaststroke. While training for the state champion- ships, Jack swam five miles each day: two miles in the morning and three miles in the afternoon. Coach Hummer asked him if he wanted to train for the Olym- pics.
Glen Hummer coached Hunting- ton YMCA swim teams from 1933 to 1977. During the 1960s his teams won the national title seven times and fin- ished in 2nd twice. Hummer won the first National YMCA Coach of the Year Award in 1969 and his reputation as an outstanding swim coach spread.
In 1970, the Amateur Athletic Union of the United States honored Hummer by selecting him to coach the United States National Team for an extended tour. He was nominated for the coach- ing staff of the U. S. Swim Team for the 1971 Pan American Games, and in 1972 he was again selected for the coaching staff of the U. S. Swim Team for the Olympic Games in Munich. He attended four Olympiads: Rome, 1960; Tokyo, 1964; Mexico, 1968; and Munich, 1972. Two of his swimmers went on to win Olympic medals: Gary Dilley in Tokyo and Matt Vogel in Montreal.
Jack says his own National Cham- pionship picture is on the wall of the Olympic-size pool at Huntington Col- lege named for Glen Hummer.
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Wearing his Firemen’s Olympics medals, Jack shows the yearbook page where he was named outstanding high school swimmer by famed swim coach Glen Hummer.
PHOTO BY SHARON RICE