It was October of 2012 and my newly retired focus was to start swimming again. I knew how to swim, kind of, but was self-taught and hadn’t been swimming since my 20’s. Water aerobics and pretending to be a water lily was fun, but I wanted more. My goal was to start swimming in one of ACAC’s two lap lanes and gradually get better.
My first attempt to swim was an abysmal failure. I swam without goggles or cap. Ouch! After a few days recovering from my stinging red eyes, I tried again. This time with equipment. My goal was to work up to swimming 25 yds without stopping (failed that). As I was huffing and puffing at the end of the pool, an elderly gentleman with rose tinted glasses and dressed like Johnny Cash (cowboy boots, all black outfit with red belt and big gold cowboy buckle) leaned over me and said: “hey young lady, you have a nice stroke, you here for masters?” I sputtered and said breathlessly “I’d love to swim masters but I can’t even swim one length of this pool”. “No problem” he said, “that’s just endurance”. I was hooked and immediately loved the guy. I was committed, and once I researched him, I was blown away!
Wow, this guy is the real deal! What a privilege to be coached by a swimming icon!
His promise to me and others who swam with him was confirmed every day as he paid attention to detail, gave us gentle, and some not so gentle corrections, and pushed us to do it right. He worked seamlessly with novices and experts. His bark was always worse than his bite and we laughed a lot. “Suzi, your pull-out looks like rigor mortis.” “Rollie, I need an umbrella, you drenched me with that flip turn! What are you doing?” Without missing a beat, Rollie countered: “I was adding some pizzazz Coach!” Coach growled. Coach’s mastery of swimming helped us all and we found ourselves getting stronger and faster with time.
The idea of competing at any level was foreign to many of us at ACAC but there were a few open water and pool competitors. Coach always bragged on them. We all clapped in awe of their accomplishments! Then he said to us as he took out his timer: “you all are next!”
The two ACAC lap lanes were a bit of a deterrent to building a competition team as circling was common and a challenge given the swimmers’ different speeds and abilities. Fast swimmers often passed under those of us who were slower. Phew, the first time that happened, I was shocked, and as I struggled to recover, everyone following collided into me! We all laughed. Coach, well...the growl again.
Coach E taught two mid-day classes and an evening and early morning class. Each were an hour in length. He didn’t teach during the summer as he taught youth groups at other sites like Woodberry Forest. We had different substitutes, and they were fun, but were not Coach. Gradually with Coach’s encouragement and that of one of our swimmers (who also subbed and swam with us), a small group of us were willing to try to compete. Coach felt this was important to give us experience in doing so, and to feel a sense of confidence and pride in trying regardless of outcome!
In 2014 two of us went to our first pool meet, the Patriot Masters Sprint Classic. Untested, we made many mistakes. I started my 100 breast in the water because I had not yet done a dive off a block. Insult to injury, I stopped in the middle of pool because I thought someone was yelling at me. I DQ’d. The other swimmer, despite Coach’s words of wisdom, started her 100 free too fast and had to stop at the end of the lane to catch her breath. Regardless, we were proud to have competed and Coach had nothing but praise for us! We were ready to try again!
I had become Coach’s “go-to” for recruiting other swimmers who were not used to masters swimming and help them navigate. I was happy to do so and loved sharing my enthusiasm for swimming and being coached by Coach E. I just knew he was a gift and special! Who wouldn’t want to swim with him? Sometime in 2015, Coach leaned over the edge of the pool and said: “Suzi you are my Captain”. I looked at him with a stunned and somewhat stupefied expression and said: “ok but not sure what a captain does”. “You’re smart, you’ll figure it out” he said. Then he took out his Seiko and made me do timed 50s. Believe it or not, the fact that I survived was a thrill. I was ready to take on more.
The number of interested competitors grew but was still small. It included Shannon Barras, Nicole Goerge, Hillary Goldberg, Kathryn Stephenson, Pat Thackston, Jill Williams, Roland Walters and finally Christina Bowman who joined us in 2016. Coach encouraged us to swim at local meets. They included the David Gregory Memorial in Richmond (2015 and 2016) and the Dive into Spring in Lexington VA (2015 and 2016). To our surprise we set some pool records, did well, and had a ball. Prior to the 2016 Lexington Meet we decided to call our team “E Team” after Coach E. We unveiled our name with a cheer for E Team and took the picture below, to send to Coach. He was thrilled! “Now lets go to Nationals!” he said.
Coach wanted us to compete at the Spring Nationals in Greensboro NC. Jill and I agreed, but unfortunately Jill got the flu the week before and I went by myself. I was very nervous but Coach, as he has done for many others since then, coached me with texts and phone calls. He encouraged me and calmed my nerves throughout the meet.
The competition was inspiring though a bit scary. As I shakily approached the diving block for my first race, a sweet, elderly timer noting my nervousness said, “hey no worries you just get up there and do what you know you can do!” I did just that and thanked him afterwards! I also knew then if Coach said I could, I could, and would! I came back with two 4th and one 6th place medals! I was thrilled and Coach was over the top! I received a: “Holy moly Sapphire Brown...so proud of you!” and other encouraging missives.
The team competed in local/regional meets in 2016 and early 2017. In the spring, Coach encouraged Christina and me to swim the 2017 Spring Nationals in Riverside CA. We did, had fun, and came back with lots of medals and personal best times. Suzi came home with three 3rd place and three Top ten metals. Christina scored PB's in all three of her events.
We were texting and talking to Coach throughout the 3 days! Coach almost had a stroke when I texted him our times. He was so proud and we came home to lots of cheering from teammates! We both returned with a huge respect for the dedication of swimmers who competed. I kept learning what Coach had said many times: “Believe in yourself and enjoy your progress moving forward. It is not all about wins”. On the last day of the meet, I sat next to a very elderly gent, and he said he was nervous about his upcoming race. I said given his vast swimming experience he was a pro and could put it away easily. He turned to me and said: “Suzi, I am not nervous about the swim, I’m nervous about how they are going to get me out of the pool!”. I cracked up and so did he. Inspiring for sure! He hugged me after the race, he scored a 1st, and said: “don’t you stop swimming ever, it’ll keep you young like me!”.
Following Nationals in 2017, we came back as conquerors. WHOOOOO! However, Coach was increasingly frustrated with the lack of room to coach additional swimmers. I knew that the YMCA was slated to open in August that year and suggested we consider a move so Coach could develop a bigger team and we could compete as such. I contacted the Y and they were happy to have us. In August five E Team swimmers left ACAC to follow Coach to the Y. They included: Suzi, Christina, Hillary, Roland, and Pat. We started with four lanes to begin building our program and grew quickly. Some swimmers from Crozet, as well as walk-ons and those who heard we were at the Y, joined us. I contacted USMS and officially registered E Team. The USMS website resulted in an increased the number of swimmers seeking a masters program in the area. I spoke to each swimmer individually on the phone to make sure that their goals were clear for Coach. While Coach did want competitive swimmers, it was not a requirement. Within a year we had increased to 8 lanes and at least 35 swimmers. We swam 3 days/week for 1 1⁄2 hrs.
2018 and 2019 were full of regional events and E Team swam in most. We competed in the annual David Gregory Memorial, Richmond; Colonies Zones, Fairfax; Club Tribe Meet, Williamsburg; Dive into Fall, Lexington VA; Pickin’ Up Steam, Richmond; Tropical Splash, Alexandria; and Virginia Commonwealth Long and Short Course meets, in Lynchburg to name a few. Our results showed that E Team was a small but growing swimming force. We were gaining momentum.
Though many swimmers would have liked to swim in the 2018 and 2019 upcoming National meets, the commitment to do so was difficult due to cost, time away, and family responsibilities etc. Regardless, we knew we’d represent E Team if possible, in every National Meet even if only a few could go. And so we did.
In 2018 Rebecca Deaton, Emilie MacDonald and I planned on competing in the 2018 USMS Spring Championship Meet in Indianapolis. Unfortunately, I got a life-threatening pneumonia, was hospitalized for 12 days and was home for a month receiving intravenous antibiotics. This was my last national event until LCM Nationals in Richmond 2022. Though bummed that I could not join my friends, Coach and I watched them real time on our computers. We whooped and hollered together! Emilie scored one 3rd and a top ten win plus PRs in each of her 4 swims. Rebecca brought home 3 top ten wins and five PRs. We were inspired with their efforts and results!
In 2019, Amanda Sovik-Johnston, Shirley Loftus-Charley, Corey Krall, and Ann Lyttle, shattered records at the USMS National Championship meet in Mesa, Arizona.
Amanda scored a 1st and 5th place finish in her two races. Shirley got all podium wins with four 1st, one 2nd , and one 3rd place wins. Ann scored a 1st, and 4 top ten medals, and Corey scored PB’s in his races. All came back victorious, and we cheered them upon their return. Coach was beyond ecstatic!
E Team was continuing to grow but in March of 2020 COVID hit and all pools were closed. Vaccines started to be available and generally only those who were older, or had medical issues were able to get vaccinated. But the Y did reopen later that year. The E Team, in large part due to Corey, who wanted to coach masters and was certified as a level 2 USMS coach, negotiated to do so! For Coach it would take longer to return, his health was continuing to fail and he was both frail and weak. His mind and eyes were still keen and his desire to get back to coach his swimmers was great. I knew I could not bring him back until he was fully vaccinated, and precautions were put in place to protect him. To that end, we only accepted folks who were vaccinated and asked that they stay masked around Coach. As many more vaccines were available, we increased the number of swimmers who could swim with Coach. It wasn’t optimal, but the swimmers were great about it.
Local meets were absent until USMS announced the July 2021 Short Couse National Championship in Greensboro. Meg Clute, Harriette Fishburne, Pat Thackston and I planned to go but I got another pneumonia and Pat, though she traveled to Greensboro, had to return home prematurely to attend a funeral. Sadly, she missed all her events. Meg and Harriette kept their chins up, smiled and showed their spunk, determination and skill by scoring all top ten finishes and PB’s!
Upon return Coach extolled their victories at practice. He was thrilled and very proud of their accomplishments. Way to go ladies!
Finally, the USMS LCY National in Richmond meet was announced and both Corey and Coach set to work getting all swimmers ready. As we know, 27 swimmers competed for E Team and did great individually and as a team. (John has previously publicized this and a 1⁄2 page PR in the Daily Progress was published following the meet. I can send to you if you didn’t get it). Coach could not attend but was thrilled with the results. I texted all results each evening to him. He was so proud of every swimmer and delighted that we received the “5th highest scoring local club” at the meet!
The day we returned to the pool after nationals, Coach E commended us and spoke of his love and pride in working with us. He declared this was his “swan song”. He knew it was his last competition. We both cried afterwards. He officially retired in early October and E Team transitioned to Cavalier Masters.
This history of E Team is also a tribute to Coach E. Coach helped not just me, but many, many others to attain goals that otherwise seemed improbable or even impossible. Coach was supportive of us, and also inspired by us. He asked us to believe in ourselves, to swim for joy and improvement. “Hope is not a strategy” he oft said. But swimming to get better, having a positive attitude, and attending to “doin’ it right” are!
I will keep swimming and competing as long as able and hear his many funny sayings when I don’t do it right!
I hope you do too. Coach would want that. No meet or event is too big for us, nor just for elite swimmers. They are for all of us! We can reach for the stars each time we swim, enjoy being in the moment, and tip our goggles to Coach at the end of our races!
Coach died on Jan 14th. Even during his hospitalization, he asked about his swimmers. E Team is no more, but our fond memories will continue. He was an inspiration and I miss him very much. I know you do as well. Keep swimming!
With much love, Suzi, Coach’s Captain
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