Baylor Swim Club was created in 1977 by Jim Stover as a senior
team of mostly Baylor School athletes, and
three years later, the legendary Martha Bass
joined him as assistant coach. Together they
began a highly successful age group and senior
program developing swimmers from all over
the Chattanooga area. During Coach Stover's
six year tenure, Baylor swimmers set the
standard for success with 49 individual Prep
All Americans and 15 Division I college scholarship
recipients, several individual and relay
Junior National Champions and records, two
national prep records, and one national age
group record. One swimmer, Geoff Gaberino,
was world ranked during that era and went
on to win Olympic Gold in the 1984 Los Angeles
Summer Games as part of the United States'
800 meter freestyle relay team.
Above: 1980 Honorary Olympic Hopefuls gather
at Baylor Pool: Geoff Gaberino, Baylor Swim
Club Coach Stover (L-R) stand behind Roger
Vredeveld
Left: A 1980 newspaper article
about Baylor
Swim Club members who attended
Olympic trials
in Irvine, CA. Click on the article
to the
left to read.
In 1982 with Jim Stover's retirement
from
coaching, Baylor Swim Club transitioned
to
Greater Chattanooga Aquatic Club (GCAC). During the 1980's GCAC continued on at
Baylor's Calvin Smith Natatorium and
primarily
focused on developing young age group
swimmers
while swimming at the senior level
happened
mostly with the prep school programs
in the
Chattanooga area. Coaches during this
period
included Paul Mielke (1982-84) and
Steve
Panzram (1984-86). In 1986 Martha Bass,
who
had developed a whole generation of
young
swimmers in Chattanooga as assistant
coach
for The Chattanooga YMCA, Baylor Swim
Club,
and GCAC, stepped in as head coach
and served
in that capacity until the fall of
1989.
Nationally known coach, David Marsh conducts
a stroke clinic at Baylor's old pool- the
Calvin Smith Natatorium for all Chattanooga
area swimmers
In 1989 GCAC and Baylor School joined
together
to hire Joe Goeken to develop a complete
program that at the senior level integrated
the best of both club and high school
worlds.
At the helm for seven successful years,
Coach
Goeken led a renaissance in Chattanooga
swimming
that produced numerous Southeastern
champions,
Prep All-Americans, and Division I
scholarship
recipients. In 1996 John Roy took over
has
head coach and continued GCAC's success,
which included the distinction of placing
Will Brandt on the USA's National Junior
Team in Sydney, Australia, in 2001.
By the early 21st century, Baylor's Calvin
Smith Natatorium was ageing and needed to
be replaced. In 2002 Rick Bishop took over
as head coach and helped to oversee the construction
of the new Baylor School Natatorium, opening
in October of 2004. With the school's demonstrated
commitment to swimming and to the club's
mission of developing young people through
the sport, school officials and the GCAC
board agreed to return the club to its roots
and bring back the Baylor Swim Club name. During the first two years in the
new facility, Stephanie Napier earned the
distinction of being the only female swimmer
in history to win back to back national high
school titles in the 50 Freestyle.
In August of 2006 Dan Flack became the eighth
head coach, and the tradition continues.
above & below- photos of the construction
of the Baylor School Natatorium)
(Above)- The beautiful state of the
art Baylor
School Natatorium is one of the finest
aquatic
facilities in the country
