November 30, 2014 ·
Dave Guinther
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Uncategorized
400+ swimming and diving friends and alumni received letters last week requesting Heritage Project donations. We have commitments from donors in the form of a $50k matching challenge to help us meet our $75k goal. Every $1 donation means $3 in funding.
A big THANK YOU to these dedicated alumni who understand the importance of finishing the Heritage Project VIKING STRONG.
If you received the letter or email you already know you can DONATE HERE.
For those of you who are tracking our team via social media (or have moved and we don’t have your contact information) you can SEE WHATS UP. You can also SEE THE VISION FOR THE POOL GRAPHICS.
And we can’t forget to also thank all those who supported the Champions Campaign to upgrade The Robert F. Busbey Nataorium with a new video scoreboard, record boards and championship banners. If you haven’t seen it yet you should WATCH THE TEAM THANK-YOU VIDEO.
And please pass this link along to other Fenn College / CSU swimming and diving alumni so everyone has the opportunity to help cement, literally and figuratively, the heritage behind the 9 DECADES OF ATHLETIC AND ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE created by Bob Busbey and Wally Morton.
If you have questions about the Heritage Project, want to talk live to an alum from your team or would like to pass along suggestions for the pool graphics let us know – send an email to: heritage@csu-swimming-diving.com
For the CSU Swimming and Diving Heritage Committee,
Wally Morton ’74-’14, Dave Guinther ’64, Jim Smith ’78, Joe Stockwell ‘81
In the splash zone:
We know there are swimming and diving alumni whose mail/email addresses we don’t have. PLEASE take a few seconds to pass this blog along to one or more teammate or alumni so we can be sure and get the word out on this matching gift!
November 11, 2014 ·
Dave Guinther
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Uncategorized
UPDATE: Monday, 24 November – The general campaign to finish STRONG and support the Heritage Project was launched with letters and emails sent to swimming and diving friends and alumni. We still need relay captains to make follow-up phone calls to all alumni.
Next week we launch the direct mail campaign for the CSU Swimming and Diving Heritage Project. Our two goals: connect with all alums and fund the remaining portion of the Heritage Project (more GREAT NEWS on that next week).
The purpose of this post is to ask for help in making follow-up calls to ensure the direct mail arrived and answer any question friends and alumni might have. We’re looking for “Relay Captains” who are willing to make 5-6 calls to other alums in their era. We will provide a list with contact information. Ideally these would be past teammates to help minimizing “cold calls”.
We’ll provide a “cheat sheet” with guidelines for the call and background information in addition to the contact list. Just a few hours of your time would be a GREAT HELP.
Link to Calling Tips is HERE
If you can help please let us know by this Friday, November 14th so we can create the lists. Send email to: captains@csuvikings-swim-dive-heritage.com
For the CSU Swimming and Diving Heritage Committee,
Wally Morton ’74-’14, Dave Guinther ’64, Jim Smith ’78, Joe Stockwell ‘81
October 12, 2014 ·
Dave Guinther
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Uncategorized
Thanks to all who helped make the 5th Annual Cleveland State Splash Bash in the Robert F. Busbey Natatorium a huge success. 150 swim team, alumni and O*H*I*O masters swimmers raised over $4,000 for the CSU Swimming and Diving team.
CSU coach Paul Graham and his assistant coaches Kate Inozemtseva and Kevin Rapien get the first round of thanks. They organized the event, publicized it and took care of registrations and seeding.
The meet officials were on the line for the entire event. Thanks Tom Fattlar, Jim Starrett and Kat Torok for your volunteer effort. With 150 swimmers there were plenty of stats (results here) and starts; Tom Gorman and Ron Ezzo ably handled that job along with Daniel Cox and other members of O*H*I*O Masters Swimming.
With 45 CSU swimmers on hand we were also able to tap into our superb core of team parents and friends of the CSU program who served as our volunteer timers. Thank you all.
The meet offered Paul Graham, the new CSU Swimming and Diving Coach, a chance to meet friends and alumni in and around the pool. Gerry Meyer introduced Paul and thanked Wally for his 39 years of service to CSU. 
Wally has been outstanding in his support of community events in the Busbey Natatorium. One of the features of the Heritage Graphics that will be installed next year will be a “Community Corner” to acknowledge and thank the many community organizations, volunteers and supporters who have both used the pool as well as given back to CSU through volunteer efforts and financial support. If you have suggestions or ideas about the best way to utilize the soon-to-be-installed Community Corner or if your organization’s name should be on on the poster please let us know (heritage@csu-swimming-diving.com)
For many, especially out-of-town CSU alumni, this was the first visit to the pool since installation of the new video board, record boards, and championship banners. The video board adds state-of-the-art capabilities to the fast pool.
The Championship Banners add visual history to the pool.
The Record Boards replaced aging displays that could no longer be properly updated – oopps, does that white cap seem to be getting a little jump on the field?
The date for this year’s Splash Bash was selected to overlap with the CSU 50th Anniversary. Here’s a link to the first CSU Swimming Team, 19645-65. You can see all the teams, men, women and co-ed, from 1932 – 2014 HERE
Thank you (again) Champions Campaign friends and alumni who enabled us to keep the Robert F. Busbey Natatorium in competitive shape. We’re looking for the same level of “team is forever” support from all our alumni and friends as we enter the fund raising phase of the Heritage Project.
Regards, and thank you Jim Starrett, Kevin Rapien and Paul Graham for contributing to this post, Dave G
In the splash zone:
Here are a few more pictures from the Splash Bash. If you have pictures you’d like to share send them along to heritage@csu-swimming-diving.com
Tom Fattlar, Chris Kantorak, Jim LaMastra and Mike Lehto getting ready for the 5th annual Splash Bash at the 50th CSU reunion.
Jim LaMastra, Brad Burk, Chris Kantorak, and Wally Morton teamed up for the opening medley relay.
Meet officials Jim Starrett and Tom Fattlar watch as Gerry Meyer congratulates Wally and introduces Paul Graham.
Wally and I shared a lot of text messages preparing for Heritage Weekend. Many of them were swapping tips and stats from our daily workouts. John Parry was kind when he later said that “Wally touched out Dave in the 50”. It wasn’t that close.
Splash Bash was only one of many races for John McCreery on Saturday.
September 25, 2014 ·
Dave Guinther
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Uncategorized
What a great weekend. Celebrated 9 decades of Fenn/CSU swimming and diving heritage with 165 friends, many brand new! So many stories and memories. Wally deserved the honors he received for the smiles he created, his awesome career, and always giving back.
As we begin to relive last weekends great times there’s no way we can begin to highlight all the highlights. Those will begin to roll out as we share stories and pictures on the new Heritage Website and Facebook.
Enclosed are a few of my favorite times from the combined CSU 50th Anniversary Celebration and our CSU Swimming and Diving Heritage Weekend honoring Wally and all he’s done for the program.
Wally’s induction into the Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame Thursday night started the weekend off. Wally was a happy and deserving inductee. A highlight for me was meeting Peter van Dijk and hearing the story of his first meeting with Bob Busbey, how they later became partners in designing the fastest and most advanced pool for its time, and seeing the architects drawing from the construction files of the pool. Stay tuned for a few pictures from the construction book.
The weather for Friday’s golf outing was amazing; everyone appreciated the time to connect with each other and meet Paul Graham our new coach. Kudos to Rob Salisbury for all his work setting up the event. And the reception at Mark Krusinski’s home provided time to meet so many of the swimmers, divers and coaches who had many Wally stories to share (and a number of stories from Becky’s and training trips we won’t share :). Wow, the grilled shrimp courtesy of Brian Bailey’s Carolina Barbecue team were out of sight!
My goal for Saturday’s Splash Bash was to break 50 in the 50 at the 50th. Mission accomplished, however serious work needed if I’m going to catch up to Wally at next year’s event.
The Splash Bash is in its 5th year. Thank you O*H*I*O Masters for the “packed house”. Your support of our team, the community and Busbey Natatorium has been tremendous.
The reception and roast were the main event of the weekend. Wally deserved every compliment and honor and hug for his unselfish dedication to Bob Busbey, to our natatorium, to CSU, and to a program that positioned swimmers for success across Cleveland and around the world. He’s the one who built the dynamite program then fought to keep it alive. Without him we wouldn’t have been there celebrating 9 decades of athletic and academic excellence that will radiate from the Busbey Natatorium for decades to come !
Thanks AGAIN to Brian Bailey and his team. Because of his generous donation of dinner Saturday night the CSU Swimming and Diving Heritage program was able to raise thousands of dollars toward Wally’s goal. Here’s a picture of Wally and Brian with the “other” Wally.
Herb Fletcher, CSU Hall of Fame Diver, certainly had the most memories to share. He was on the 1946-49 teams with Bob, and was still actively diving into his eighth decade. Here’s a picture of Herb with Wally, Rick Karban and Mark Krusinski, other great CSU divers.
The celebration continued on at Becky’s over on 18th street. Thanks and a tip-of-the-hat to their team for fun Saturday. And ESPECIALLY for their very generous donation to the CSU Swimming and Diving Heritage Program.
On Monday we met with our graphics designer to plan next steps for design and fabrication, received a swimming lesson from the master, and a finished with a lunch-time replay with Wally of the wonderful weekend.
Then is was off to CLE for wheels-up at 4:40. Weekend was over, however memories of the stories, honors, smiles and giving back by Wally and his swimmers and coaches will be there for a long, long time.
Regards from the Left Coast,
Dave G
In the Splash Zone:
We set two goals Saturday night to help wally meet his goal to leave The Busbey Natatorium in better shape than when he took over from Bob: 1) Fund the Heritage Project graphics in 120 days, and 2) obtain a contribution from every swimming and diving alumni. Swimmers especially know meets aren’t won by just the fastest swimmers, they are won by the entire team. So EVERY donation is significant The on-line donation page is available 7/24 whether you’re on a desktop, laptop or mobile device.
You can donate on line, make a contribution by check or volunteer your time and talents HERE.
September 10, 2014 ·
admin
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Uncategorized
Thanks to the many CSU swimming and diving alumni, friends and donors who supported the Swimming and Diving Champions program launched in September, 2009 the Robert F. Busbey Natatorium now has a new video board and wrap, pool and varsity record boards and Championship Team Banners. And thanks also to AD John Parry and President Berkman for the new pool paint job and crystal clear filtered water !
The one-minute team thank you video is here: www.csuohio.edu/alumni/swimming/
The new video display was installed in September of 2011 then enhanced with a graphics wrap for scoreboard incorporating both the video board and lane timer. 
All CSU Conference Champion team banners from 1974 thru 2013 were hung from the natatorium rafters in November, 2013. These banners include the three conferences Cleveland State has been a member of: the PENN-OHIO Conference from 1965-1994; the Mid-Western Collegiate Conference for the years 1994-2001; and the Horizon League (name changed from MCC) from 2001 until the present.
The new record boards were installed in February, 2014.
The CSU Swimming and Diving Heritage Project is the third phase of the Robert F. Busbey Natatorium upgrade program. The goal of this project is to assemble, preserve, share and promote the heritage of the Fenn College / Cleveland State University swimming and diving program. This rich heritage includes the history, traditions and values of the program and everyone connected with it – past and present.
Next steps include:
- gathering team photos and rosters from all men’s and women’s teams (done),
- posting them on the CSU Swimming and Diving Heritage web site for all to see (done),
- installing interactive touch-sensitive kiosks in the second floor entry way to the Busbey Natatorium and in the hallway of the PE building next to the ticket office for for visitors and swimmers ; and
- designing and installing WOW ! graphics in the pool to celebrate the rich heritage of the Fenn College/Cleveland State University Swimming and Diving Program and motivate all who swim and dive in the Robert F. Busbey Natatorium thanks to the outstanding men’s and women’s program driven by Wally Morton for the last 39 years.
The CSU Swimming and Diving heritage committee is now seeking additional photos, memorabilia, suggestions, offers for gifts-in-kind and cash donations to support phase III of the pool upgrade. Please email heritage@csu-swimming-diving.com with your ideas and offers of support.
Please join swimming and diving team members and alumni as we celebrate 80+ years of swimming and diving heritage and roast Wally Morton on Saturday, September 20th. Details are here: http://csu-swimming-diving.com/golf-splash-roast/
