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Glory Days Entry Form |
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Glory Days |
Glory DaysPlease submit your favorite "Glory Days" memory/story - 1 or a few - via the Glory Days Entry Form at the top. Please submit superlative nominees (and standard & new superlatives) to webmaster@FairfaxFrogs.com. RIBBIT!!CLICK HERE FOR THE GLORY DAYS ENTRY THAT STARTED IT ALL-->"The Relay" and "The NEW & IMPROVED Relay"<--CLICK HERE
CLICK HERE-->"Northern Virginia Swimming League Celebrates 50th Anniversary" - 6/29/2005 Fairfax Times Community Newspaper interview with Hayden Codding; NOTE: Hayden's 50 fly record was not only a Fairfax Pool record, but also an NVSL record!<--CLICK HERE
Most Buoyant: Mrs. Drummond (defies physics)
Most Dedicated: The Valentino brothers, Henry and Vincent - Friday night rock'n'rollers turned Saturday morning wake'n'swimmers - after being roused out of bed by phone - or in-person...
Most Team Spirited:
Most Improved:
Hardest Worker:
Most Likely To Succeed:
Most Eligible Bachelorette:
Most Eligible Bachelor:
Lives Closest to Fairfax Pool:
Lives Farthest:
Most Famous: We have a couple, but perhaps there are a few - please let us know! webmaster@FairfaxFrogs.com
Almost Famous:
Most Infamous:
Least Likely to Write a Book: Vinnie Rannazzisi (CLICK HERE-->Today's Future by Vincent Rannazzisi<--CLICK HERE)
Leg Wrestling Champion: Deena Dick (the Frog formerly-known-as Deena 'Rannazzisi Di Falanci Antonio') NOTE: Deena once told me that 'Rannazzisi' was shorted from 'Rannazzisi Di Falanci Antonio'. I believed her.
Underwater Tag Champion: Elizabeth Colegrove NOTE: The baby oil applied to the powerful butterfly-kicking legs helped - a lot.
Best / Most Feared / Fiercest Friday Morning Water Polo Player:
Belly-Flop Champion: Hayden Codding NOTE: I thought Hayden puked afterward, but he says he broke blood vessels in his stomach and it turned purple; and he thinks Mike Fones called off the contests around then.
Best Butterfly Relay: Tracy Hartley, Elizabeth Colegrove, Mike Morgan, and Hayden Codding; annually @ the Fourth of July Relay Invitational @ Mosby Woods
Most Sexy Relay: The String Bikini Relay: Leesa Valentino, Marta Henry, Elizabeth Colegrove, and Sandy Andrews - for Leesa and Marta's last meet, as age 18 Fairfax Frogs, against a fast opposing relay. P.S. Nobody was watchin' the winning relay...
Worst (and therefore Best) High Five (and Most Embarrassing Moment OF HIS LIFE; thank you Tim Miller): Mike Morgan NOTE: Tim Miller called everyone's attention to my "high five moment" on the video that Mr. Codding took, that Tim played, rewound, replayed...and rewound and replayed...repeatedly...at the Coddings afterward.
Best Farm: Sandra Brower (the Frog formerly-known-as Sandy Andrews) and Alexa Pratt
Best 3 Miles Across Fairfax:
Best Dance: The Swa Dance - The silly dance the girls used to do on the front bench area by the volley ball courts. They would kick their legs back and pretend they were swimming in the air.
Best Start: The "15-18 dive" - a start with style points! We used to make the 8&Us do them. Vinnie Rannazzisi was pretty good at it!
Best False Start / Most Embarrassing Moment (Female Category) / Worst Moment that Haunts Her to This Day: Sandy Andrews' rolling double false start and subsequent DQ
at the 1985 NVSL All-Star
Relay Carnival, leading-off the 15-18 200-meter
freestyle relay of Andrews, Valentino, Henry, and Colegrove "It was Marta and Leesa’s
last year and I blew it. I think I cried for days and still feel horrible about
it.
Degree of Difficulty (DD)
"Jump! or Dive!"
Highest Degree of Difficulty (DD) Jump: John Toole jumping off the gazebo roof into the "deep end" FF pulled into the parking lot at 7 a.m., when Toole was supposed to be vacuuming the pool, and saw him standing on the gazebo roof ready to jump. Legendary Lifeguard status for that feat alone!
Highest Degree of Difficulty (DD) Dive: Andrew Zimmermann’s 2 1/2
Bingo Night
Lifeguard telephone call announcements: "_____...you have a telephone call. _____...you have a telephone call" vs. Mr. Ferguson’s telephone call announcements – "_____...GO HOME FOR DINNA" (in FF-speak)
Ping Pong - including games in approaching thunderstorms where the ball would turn 90 degrees in the wind
Lifeguards: Linda Henry, Mike & Bruce Wild, Adam Hogg, Claudia ???, Mike Fones, Kevin Henry, Diana Brown, Andrew Zimmermann, John Toole, TJ Welsh, Joe McDonnell, Dick McDonnell, Marta Henry, Kathleen Walsh, Elizabeth Colegrove, Hayden Codding, Mike Morgan, Matt Ackley, Adam Miller, Cally Codding, Carrie Hartley, Micky Andrews, Matt Franko *****HELP!!! No, no, no, we are not calling for a lifeguard - help us come up with the full list of Fairfax Swimming Pool lifeguards by e-mailing webmaster@FairfaxFrogs.com (although...we could look up the FF&Sons tax records - NAH, wouldn't want to do that!)
Minimum wage $3.35/hr - We looked up to the lifeguards (and not just because they were up in the guard chair...or on "The Wall"...). We always wanted to lifeguard, coach, and teach swim lessons. It was never about the $.
Getting benched Doing the benching: "You're benched, a--hole!" "Why?" "No cursing!!!"
Even today, gimme anything that resembles a lanyard & whistle, and I begin twirling it like a lifeguard, scanning the pool...watching...waiting...to save a life - and looking (well, thinking I look) cool doing it; and I (think I) can play a whistle like it's a blues harmonica
The "Cross-chest Carry" lifesaving technique. The Advanced Lifesaving manual must have been authored by David Hasselhoff from Baywatch...
Most Resistant Mock Drowning Victim for the Lifesaving Certification Final Test: BIG Joe McDonnell - As we swam up to him (Tarzan-like head-up freestyle), we could see a BIG smile on his face as he waited to pounce, thrash, kick, and flail. The guy was a monster. McDonnell Brothers Dick, Joe, and Jack were all powered by Double BIG Gulps from 7-11.
Was the cinder block @ the bottom of the diving well really part of the lifesaving test? Or was that a form of hazing?
"Lifeguarding" from "The Wall" instead of the guard chair
Talking - constantly - across the pool from one guard stand to the other. Drove Mr. Ferguson crazy, this always talking. He said we sounded like a bunch of girls. Surely Mr. Ferguson knew that lifeguarding was "the springboard to a future" - in business and socially.
Swimming - make that sprinting - across the pool from one guard stand to the other - and calling that a work-out
Food Hosting: Keeping slabs of cold cuts & cheese and a bottle of mustard in the guardroom fridge, and a loaf of bread in the "locka" (in FF-speak) and slapping together sandwiches during "BREEAAAAAAAK!!!"
"WAAAAAAALK!!! No running on deck!"
Ack wearing toddler sunglasses up in the guard chair
Unnamed Fairfax Pool lifeguards would say, "[When you grow up] Don't..."; and Clare Von Herbulis would finish, "Be a B".
Water Ballet
Water Polo
Penny dives
Greased watermelons
T-shirt Relays
Mike Fones..."This Is Your Life!"
Pull!!! Pull!!! Pull!!!
Sweep!!! Sweep!!! Sweep!!!
Best Relay Cheer: Codding, Codding, Codding, and Colegrove Codding, Codding, Codding, and Colegrove Codding, Codding, Codding, and Colegrove NOTE: No, not triplets - 4 kids, 3 of them girls. This is THE Mixed Age Girls Relay of all-time!
Name Most Often Mispronounced By Away Meet Announcers: Caddy Coating (= Cady Codding)
Best Camp: tie between Alexa Pratt's tent (please see Best Farm above) and Lake Saranac (all we expected was waterskiing, waterslides, parasailing - and girls; it turned out to be all that - and more - as a Young Life camp)
The Occoquan rock quarry - swimming and 75' cliff diving (well, cliff jumping) - "safe", as long we jumped out far enough to clear the rocks below - boy, were our parents worried - understandably worried now that we are parents!
Sky diving - Hayden Codding and Mike Morgan jumped out of a perfectly good airplane
Fastest Summer: 1988. There simply is no explanation for that summer of fast, record-breaking swimming. It had to be because it was our last summer as "The Relay". That, and the toga party @ Senior Beach Week @ 1st street in Ocean City, MD. The Relay left between ~2 a.m. and went straight to Fairfax Pool for the 1st meet. Hayden Codding and Mike Morgan broke Fairfax Pool records that a.m. and continued to drop time and re-break records all summer, through:
After this success, Hayden and Mike walked-on at UVA - with much help from Mrs. Henry (much appreciated help - her husband was a Virginia Football coach; I hope these reunion efforts reconnect us with her so that we can say THANK YOU!). At the first team meeting, Virginia Swimming and Diving Head Coach Mark Bernardino said, "Most of you have not been in the water since Olympic Trials". Proud Fairfax Frogs Codding and Morgan looked at each other and thought, "Or NVSL All-Stars...". Four (4) years of Virginia/ACC/NCAA and USS/SeniorNational swimming later, Mike missed qualifying for 1992 U.S. Olympic Trials by .01 seconds in the 50 LCM (= Long Course Meters) freestyle. 23.50 when the cut was 23.49.
Hayden decided to go to UVA - despite the fact that Mr. and Mrs. Codding went to William & Mary. I think Mr. Codding blamed me (Mike Morgan)... Cady, Cally, and Clare followed their parents' lead - not their brother's lead - and went to William & Mary. Betsy Miller and Cindy Neunert also went to W&M. In fact, all the Providence Way girls went to W&M - including Leah Tobin, who already went there.
All the guys pushed 1 earring through their left ear - all the guys except Mike Morgan, who got more attention from the girls because he didn't have an earring!
Mr. Codding wasn't too happy about Cady's rose tattoo when she returned from Senior Beach Week @ Ocean City, MD. Thankfully, it was a temporary tattoo.
The swimming hole with Mr. Hartley, Tracy, and Carrie. Napping on the way home - while sitting up in the backseat of the VW Bug, leaning against the rumbling back window
Flashlight tag
Swimming 25s @ the Mosby Woods Fourth of July Relay Invitational - taking great pride that drop-dead 12 1/2 - 25 summer league sprinters could kick butt against nationally-ranked year-round swimmers like 200 freestyler Lunn Lestina - then bee-lining (er, frog-hopping) to the parade in Fairfax. P.S. The best spot for scoping girls is the birds-eye view from upstairs at the firehouse.
Recently described by Joe Drummond as "one of the best nights of my life"; Mike Morgan and Ben Miller concur:
Swimming straight off the beach of Ocean City, MD, far out into the Atlantic Ocean - and having the OCBP lifeguards blow the whistle and yell - then come out after us - then beating them back to shore (in a swim race nobody told them about)
Bringing home a mattress
The Adult Scavenger Hunt (rated > PG)
Best Practice: any
Friday before a meet - swim-offs, water polo,
Bravest Frog: Michelle Morgan
- top of the
How fast can YOU roll up a lane line?
Pretending the lane line "spool" was The Price Is Right (T.P.I.R.) $howcase $howdown Money Wheel.
Deena Rannazzisi hit her head on the diving board! Our first (and only) accident. Hayden Codding sprung into action, with Mike Morgan right there with him. Deena appreciated that Hayden called her later to check on her.
Mooning - it's a guy-swimmer thing; and got worse in college...
Be careful of "Life pegs" (the pink and blue pegs that represent people in the board game "The Game of Life"). Never mind why. Just be careful.
The Drummond's cabin - playing Trivial Pursuit, listening to the album "Sports" by Huey Lewis and The News - when not lake swimming, of course
Mrs. Henry, Team Rep Mrs. Tani, Clerk of Course Mr. Hartley, Starter Mr. Colegrove, Stroke & Turn Judge Many parents were timers Mrs. Codding, Relay Split Mom Mr. Codding, Videographer Mrs. Andrews, Awards Mr. Valentino then Mr. Morgan, Announcers Mr. Andrews, Diving Judge Mr. Rannazzisi, Dee-Jay Mr. and Mrs. Caron, Best Disco Dancers Mrs. Rannazzisi upgraded the "meet snack bar" - moved it from under the trees and located it near the overhang where parents could work and watch their kids swim. She ran the snack bar for years, maybe six, can't remember. Mrs. Colegrove always had "carbs" for the kids after practice on Fridays to prepare us for the meets on Saturdays; and on Wednesdays for Divisional and All-Star Relay Carnivals. THANK YOU to all the parents that helped make our summers so special!
The Clerk of Course The clerk, of course...
Swimmers...Take Your Mark...GO!!!
Sportsmanship Award: Drummond, Codding, Morgan, and Rannazzisi (listed in order of the medley relay the time they switched it up against Donaldson Run)
"2nd in the NVSL is a disgrace?" replied Joe Drummond, respectfully, to the Head Coach of Donaldson Run
Most Likely to take a station wagon full of T.P. and Joe Drummond, Guy Caron, Adam Miller, and other proud, loyal Frogs in search of the Donaldson Run Head Coach's house - and get lost and get a flat tire in the Colonial Furniture parking lot off of Rte 66: Mike Morgan
Good, clean fun (in and around the pool); and hey we even used T.P. to "decorate" Somerset Olde Creek
Most Likely to Strut Around in a Speedo (the Classic kind; a.k.a. Banana Hammock a.k.a. Grape Smuggler) from morning practice through Teen Night: ???
Coolest Frog w/ 1 Blue Eye and 1 Brown Eye: Vinnie Rannazzisi
Fastest Swimmer in a Cast: 3-way tie between Joe Drummond, Brad Winsor, and Leesa Valentino
Next Fastest Swimmer NOT in a Cast: Adam Miller
Most Innovative: Hayden Codding, inventor of the underwater dolphin kick while wearing a nose clip in backstroke that caused the NVSL (and FINA!) to change the rule limiting underwater backstroke to 12 1/2 meters or yards only
Most Likely to wear his/her NVSL All-Star medal around his/her neck at Mr. Gatti's: ???
Most Likely to Keep Current on Lifesaving Certification and Keep the Card Posted on the Refrigerator in the Guard Room: Mike Morgan
Least Likely to Keep Current on Lifesaving Certification and Keep the Card Posted on the Refrigerator in the Guard Room: Hayden Codding and Matt Ackley NOTE 1: And Frank Ferguson said it 15 yrs before Donald Trump: "YOU'RE FIRED!". NOTE 2: Mike had to work every hour the pool was open for the rest of the summer. After closing the pool, Mike would meet Hayden and Ack under the lights at the tennis courts. And one week in August, while the rest of the Morgan family went to OBX (Mike had to "stay back to lifeguard"), Mike hosted HUGE parties, alternating nights with Rob McGough.
Most Likely NOT to Get Caught T.P.ing Somerset Olde Creek: Kevin Henry, Mike Rannazzisi, Joe Drummond, and Guy Caron Most Likely to Get Caught T.P.ing Somerset Olde Creek and Having to Clean Everything Up: Mike Morgan, Leesa Valentino, and Marta Henry
"Hey, hey, what's going on here?" asked Frank Ferguson. **SMACK**, hitting the ping pong ball with the white plastic ruler "Just playing a little baseball, sir" replied Mike Morgan, as Matt Ackley chased the towering drive down the imaginary 3rd base line
Frank Ferguson, FF&Sons, and the corporate car (= the brown VW Rabbit)
We were in shock when FF told us we could finally throw the (very old and broken) weed "whacka" into the "dumpsta" (in FF-speak). We made a ceremony out of it - while gettin' paid $3.35/hour.
OK, who put the Baby Ruth in the big pool? (Caddyshack attempt to close the pool early so we could hit an early movie)
Challenging my Dad to a swim race for movie $. I dismounted from the guard chair, walked over to the shallow end (too shallow for fully-extended Frog freestyle arm strokes), ready to swim a 50 free against him swimming a 25 free. But before I entered, I said, "Dad, you'd better get out. Now. We have a floater." Some kid crapped the pool. Thankfully, my Dad still gave me the movie $.
Why is picking up trash around the pool and lounge chairs in the grass area called "policing the area"?
17-year cicadas in 1987 when we were 17. It seems like yesterday that we were skimming them out of Fairfax Pool (BIG pool and little pool) and Hayden was taking Fairfax Pool ID Polaroids, posing little Chris Cosgriff with a cicada in his mouth! NOTE: The cicadas returned, on-schedule, in 2004 - when we were 34!?!
Paul Rennick a.k.a. Sugar Bear
I loved this guy and will never forget him.
Ping Pong champion: Larry Nottingham or Ack? NOTE: Ack says Mr. Nottingham - hands-down
Best Frog Mascot: Evin Shoape
The Triple Lindy: A high-DD dive from the movie Back To School with Rodney Dangerfield
Most Persistent Friday Swim Practice Swim-off Challenger for a Spot on "The Relay": Guy Caron
Most Likely to Take Swim Lessons Seriously (i.e., "I'll give you a lesson/tip: play baseball and golf”): Ben Miller - I can see him clinging to the wall, shivering, in the Fairfax Pool shallow end; helluva ballplayer and golfer; and I guess Tim Miller too since only Adam and Betsy swam; Tim just called everyone's attention to my "high five moment" on the video that Mr. Codding took, that Tim played, rewound, replayed...and rewound and replayed...repeatedly...at the Coddings afterward.)
Caravan [1]
Caravan [2]
Most Hospitable: Mr. and Mrs. Colegrove For hosting:
Most Likely to Break-out Cardboard or Floor Wax for Some Break-dancing: tie between Joe Drummond and Mike Rannazzisi - they would go around like Fab 5 Freddie from Yo! MTV Raps saying things like:
Thankfully, there was no Frog graffiti and no Frog "Bling Bling"
Although not skate rats, there was also a phase that included parachute pants and Vans and had them strutting around saying, "Get rad" (abbreviated from the long-form "Get radical")
Thankfully, we had no "Valley Girls"
Dude: just a saying , used interchangeably with 'man'; some wiseacre kid tried to tell me that the definition of 'dude' is "an elephant's butt hair"; whaddya think I'm stupid or somethin'?!!
Most Likely to Touch Underwater on an 8&U Relay Exchange, Triggering a DQ and Costing Us the Meet!: Michelle Morgan (yes, her 11-year old brother yelled @ her - in front of everyone; ummm, sorry Michelle...)
Most Likely to Swim Underwater for 75 meters: tie between Hayden Codding and Josh Tobin Hayden and Josh swam 75 meters underwater and (finally) came up for air - with faces dark purple. Larry Nottingham, Fairfax Pool Manager and Athletic Trainer at Robinson, Home of the Rams, said, "that’s not healthy" and "that’s enough". Josh had been talking about going for 4 laps...
Most Likely to Hold Breath Underwater at the Railing for 3 Minutes: Hayden Codding (and Dick McDonnell) NOTE: Official underH2O timing device: Hayden's watch with a compass
Best Fingernails for Harvesting Kevin Henry's Back: tie between Sandy Andrews and Tracy Hartley
Closest Thing to Lover's Lane (a 50s thing - place, actually) in Fairfax: tie between Fairfax Elementary and Van Dyke Park; whole lotta smoochin' goin' on
Best Method for Avoiding Long Lines @ Kings Dominion: Leesa Valentinio - hurt your foot, get a cast/brace, go to Kings Dominion and rent a wheelchair, and be allowed to enter through the exit of all rides to the front of the line - and bring up to 3 additional friends - and ride 2x NOTE: Recommendation to the current Frogs from wise old Frogs: hit the Apple Turnover 2x in-a-row BEFORE lunch...
Berserker (this back-and-forth, up-up-high, over-and-over, round-and-round kinda-sorta chariot ride @ Kings Dominion) Record: 13x in-a-row while yelling "SHAKE THE WEASEL!!!" loudly, repeatedly (this is a line from the R-rated movie Bachelor Party, which we snuck in to see at University Mall Theater)
Most Likely to Go Home and Take a Nap After a Meet Before Lifeguarding: Josh Tobin
The Peter Parsons Project / The Peter Parsons Diving Board Flexibility Test
"Pool Toe" (or toes, foot, or feet): no, not pruned toes or fingers - that's different; this refers to the scraping, scratching, and scuffing caused by the non-smooth (guess that would be rough) swimming pool bottom. NOTE: We used to be able to walk across a paved (well, not exactly paved...), HOT (hot enough to fry an egg) parking lot in bare feet. No longer. Our webbed feet are out of practice.
Team picnics and outings:
Movies and Movie Stars:
Concerts/Bands:
Songs (many one-hit wonders), Record Albums, and Cassette Tapes
Radio - on all day, on all night
Television:
Low-to-High-Technology: Computers, Video Games, the Internet/WWW, and Telephones:
Cola Wars:
Other Fads:
BIGGEST Hair: ???
Wildest Hair: 5 y.o. Andrew Cruz arriving at swim practice
The guys all parted their hair in the middle, and sported a mullet 'round back
I got a flat-top for our last hurrah as "The Relay" for the 1988 NVSL All-Star Relay Carnival - and shaved my legs (no training, therefore no taper) for 1988 NVSL All-Stars. It was an Olympic year!
1st and many sleep-overs 1st all-nighters
Hayden killed the grass outside his bedroom window
During the 9-month "winter" (i.e., that looooooong period of the calendar between Labor Day and Memorial Day, when Fairfax Pool was CLOSED), Hayden often rode his 10-speed over the hills (and, yes, through the woods), around the twists and turns of Fairfax Station Road to my house in the sticks of 22039. Once, during the school year, he stopped by for an early Saturday morning visit with his girlfriend and another young, happy couple - not thinking that the girl of couple #2 was my ex-girlfriend! Kinda awkward...sorta embarrassing... Thanks a lot, man!
We rode our bikes (10-speeds, 3-speeds, and no speeds...) on the W&OD trail from Vienna to Mt. Vernon. Ben Miller "bonked" riding his banana seat bike, and had to call for pick-up.
BYCOD
"Hayden...thanks for the van..."
The Miller Brothers (Tim, Ben, and Adam) called Betsy "Nude Tutti Frutti". She survived that. Does she really have a Ph.D. in Biology or Chemistry now? And Cindy Neunert is an M.D.?!! WOW!!!
Vinnie Rannazzisi called me "MORTGAGE"
Clare Codding called me "B.N." (= BIG nose) UPDATE: My first-year @ UVA, I (heroically) chased down a guy who pulled a fire alarm in our dorm. We scrapped (= fist-fight). He caught me once - broke my nose in 1 punch. I would say, "You should have seen HIM", but he never showed up in the E.R. So, I got my beak straightened. For free.
Saying hello to Cally Codding could result in getting your eyes scratched out
Cady Tobin did NOT like it when we called her "Lil' Tob"
Best Nicknames:
How is "Time in Water" calculated for NVSL division seeding?
"Getcha yer lanyard & whistle / rake / weed whacka / mowa" (in FF-speak) -Frank Ferguson
Mr. Ferguson called us "Gunga Din". Gunga Din is a poem by Rudyard Kipling; also a 1939 Hollywood film that was more inspired by than based on the famous poem. In the movie, a trio of British officers and best friends who form the core of the film are 19th-century three musketeers in India, threatened by the interventions of a woman who means to marry one of them. Gunga Din is the loyal water carrier in turban and loin who dreams of becoming a British soldier. Whatchou talkin' 'bout Mr. Ferguson?
When "The Relay" was "outside smoke" (i.e., outside lane 1 or 6), I/we used to pretend the dark drain cover @ the bottom of the deep end was an angry, hungry shark. This seemed to work, shaving time off our relay splits.
When Fairfax Pool hosted the Divisional Relay Carnival one year, we secretly reversed lane markers 1-2-3-4-5-6 to 6-5-4-3-2-1 so that the Team F (F = Fairfax) lane assignment would give us the outside lane by the deep end, instead of the outside lane in the shallow, turbulent water, against the wall. We kept this secret for years, so please don't tell anyone!
"Keep an eye on the guy in lane 3. He's kinda psyched" Joe Drummond told the 1988 NVSL All-Stars spectators @ Wakefield Chapel. Tyson Lewis held the NVSL record in the 15-18 50-meter freestyle - which he set @ his home pool, Cardinal Hill - which Joe wanted to measure, as it was rumored to be < 25 meters. Tyson Lewis got 2nd @ NVSL All-Stars that day. Have a nice day. Mike Morgan
"Who the hell is Fairfax?" asked a bewildered Mike Hutchinson, a year-round swimmer from Vienna Woods, the fastest backstroker in the NVSL, to Hayden Codding in the locker room before the 1988 NVSL All-Star Relay Carnival. "That’s us" Hayden replied with pride. The NVSL Division 1 teams had never heard of the Frogs, who were from lowly Division 7, but were seeded first in both relays. The other teams did not realize that Josh Tobin and Mike Morgan had practically grown a foot (vertically, horizontally, and strength-wise) and could hang with (or beat) the year-round guys.
Hayden was an early-adopter of high-technology, an original AOL customer, known as Hayfrog@aol.com. He later switched to Erols. Attachments. It was something about sending files as attachments.
Routine Maintenance Keeps Fairfax Pool Going...and Going...and Going...
Josh Tobin refused to pour muriatic acid (HCl). He wouldn't participate. He was glad to let us do it. Let's hope and pray that none of us get cancer from periodic exposure to that hazardous substance - very strong stuff. It would be interesting to know whether the County of Fairfax, Commonwealth of Virginia, or United States of America has banned the use of this toxic substance - at least for minors - @ swimming pools; of course, the female lifeguards were spared from exposure (but not from us...) and handling (but not from us...). Oh, and how 'bout chlorine? Hope it's OK long-term. And why was the other cleaning & sanitizing agent called 'HTH'??? Perhaps Dr. Betsy Miller, Ph.D. in Biology or Chemistry (some kinda science) or Dr. Cindy Neunert, M.D. would know?
Matt Ackley adds: Josh Tobin's classic fake sneeze of "BIGGULP!" when we were doing the pre-opening cleaning of the pools each spring. FF would give us some cash to go to 7-11 for Super Big Gulps. Oh, that's right, Morgan wouldn't remember those work days - you were playing baseball...
Lane lines, backstroke flags, and lane markers transformed lil' 'ole Fairfax Pool into this HOPPING, RIBBITING (NOT croaking), ROCKING, magical place - with a lot of team spirit, FAST swimming, and HIGH-hopping, HIGH-DD diving.
During swim practice, Kevin Henry sometimes called it "birth control" instead of "breath control". |
