The
Huntsville Lakers
The
Huntsville Lakers Swim Team began in 1974 under the direction of Grace
Bohan, who at that time was the recreational coordinator in Elkins Lake.
She both organized and coached the Elkins Lakers Swim Team.
During the six-year period from 1974 until 1980, the team competed
with Houston swim teams in the AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) division.
This involved considerable travel as the meets were in Houston
every Saturday. In 1980
the Elkins Lakers left the AAU and applied to the Northwest Aquatic League
(NWAL) for membership.
Since the Elkins Lakers competed in the AAU, the NWAL imposed a
one-year waiting period before allowing the Elkins Lakers to join their
league.
The Forest Hills subdivision also had a swim team at that time, and
in the summer of 1980 merged with the Elkins Lakers to form the
Huntsville-Elkins Lake Swim Association.
The team name was to become the Huntsville Barracudas.
The Barracudas began competition in the summer of 1980 with
Madisonville and Navasota.
In 1981 the waiting period imposed by the NWAL had expired, and the
team officially became a member of NWAL.
At this time, the team changed its name to The Huntsville Lakers,
to reflect the total city involvement in the swim team.
Membership in the Huntsville Lakers was no longer based on any
subdivision in the city, but was open to all the youth of Huntsville and
Walker County area. The
team practiced in the Olympic pool in Elkins Lake and at the indoor pool
at Sam Houston State University. All their competitions were held at the
SHSU pool.
In the winter of 1997, Sam Houston State University closed their
indoor pool. This left the
team without a pool to compete in. The
Lakers had all their meets out of town during the summer of 1998 but
continued to practice at the Elkins Lake pool.
During the fall and spring of 1999, two Laker board members, Joan
Westerdahl and Kim Hamilton did a proposal to the city of Huntsville to
use the city pool at Kate Barr Ross Park for practice and competition.
The proposal included using the city pool as well as getting the
pool ready for competition and buying the needed equipment.
The Lakers split the cost with the city 50-50 and with the help of
the Huntsville Parks and Recreation board, and Huntsville City Counsel,
the Lakers began practicing in the city pool in May of 1999.
Mrs. Gibbs was a strong supporter of the Lakers and assisted us in
paying our 50% of the proposal.
The Lakers had six successful years at the KBR pool.
Our team grew in size to more then 160 swimmers.
KBR was an old facility and no longer met the state standards for a
public swimming pool. The pool was officially closed at the end of the 2004 swim
season.
Poncho Roberts, whose grandchildren swam on the Lakers, made a pledge to
the team in 2002 that he would get us a new pool.
We knew that the pool at KBR was not in great shape and that the
Lakers as well as the community would need a new facility.
Poncho did a lot a research and found that the Texas Parks and
Wildlife offered a $ 500,000.00 matching grant to assist communities in
improving public parks. The
City of Huntsville put together a proposal and sent it to the Texas Parks
and Wildlife. We did not get the grant, but found out what we needed to
improve our chances. The
first thing the city had to do was create a master plan for the city’s
Park and Recreation Department. The
city held many meetings to determine what the citizens of Huntsville
wanted from their parks and recreation department.
The city then re-did their proposal to the Texas Parks and Wildlife
to develop the park at Eastham-Thomason to include a swimming pool as well
as many other items from the master plan.
The second time the proposal was sent to the Texas Parks and
Wildlife, we came in 11th and the top 10 were awarded the
grant. It was recommended
that we get more money from the community towards our ˝ of the matching
grant. The Huntsville Laker
Board voted and agreed to donate $33,000.00 towards the project over a
3-year period. Huntsville ISD,
Walker County and many other organizations and individuals also donated
towards the project. The
proposal went back to the Texas Parks and Wildlife and on the 3rd
attempt we were awarded the $500,000.00 matching grant.
Poncho’s hard work and dedication to the team became a reality.
During
the summers of 2005 and 2006 the Lakers once again, were without a pool to
compete in, but this time we had the new pool to look forward to.
TDCJ-ID allowed us to practice at the Goree swimming pool at the
Goree Prison Unit and we had all of our meets out of town. It was hard on our team parents to travel every weekend and
by the end of 2006 our team was down to under 70 swimmers.
Our
team has had to do a lot of fund raising to cover the $33,000.00 we
pledged towards the new pool. We
had two very successful fundraisers under the direction of Johnny Amick.
Our first big fund raiser was a raffle of a 4-wheeler during the
2004 season and our second large fundraiser was during the 2006 season
when we started the Raven Ride. The Lakers will make the final payment on
their pledge in 2007.
April 30th, 2007 the Huntsville Lakers will move into
the new pool at Eastham- Thomason Park.
This new pool is something to be very proud of and will strengthen
the aquatic program for the youth of Huntsville and surrounding areas for
many years to come. The Lakers hosted a very successful
Divisional Swim Meet at the new aquatic center June 2007, attending were
College Station, Bryan, Brenham, Navasota and Lee County. All six
teams fit inside the gated area around the pool.
If you
have any History about the Lakers you would like to share - Please email
to: Laker
History
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