| School: Jackson | Graduation Year: 1974 |
Year Inducted: 2020
Sport Played: Swimming
High School Honors: 4 Swimming Letters. PIL 100yd Freestyle Champion as a Freshman. 100yd and 200yd Freestyle Champion as a Sophomore. PIL 50yd and 100yd Freestyle and 100yd Butterfly Champion and 2nd in State in 100yd Freestyle as a Junior and Senior.
Post High School Career: Swimming scholarship to Northwestern University (BA degree in History, 1978). Earned 4 Letters and team captain final three years. Big Ten Conference Championship finalist and NCAA qualifier 1975-76. Masters of Divinity degree in 1986 from Chicago Theological Seminary. Ordained minister, United Church of Christ. Taught at Kent State University, served as missionary in Zambia, and as pastor with congregations in Connecticut, Illinois, Ohio, and now Irvine, Calif.
Commentary:
Though it was nearly 50 years ago, I continue to remember and be grateful for the experience of swimming with Jackson High School:
I was a pretty miserable teenager, so I’m not sentimental about high school and have forgotten much of it. But I do recall and cherish swimming for how it helped me get through those years and strengthened me for the years that would follow. I swam in college and I’m swimming still… and on a team… ‘cause it’s more fun that way!