Editor’s note: This is another column in Bill Boyd’s new series, “The Way It Was,” about growing up in Marysville. Bill continues to work with the Union County Historical Society to obtain information for his stories. With Marysville and Union County celebrating Bicentennial anniversaries in 2019 and 2020, respectively, these articles help depict what life was like in those early years.
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It was the summer of 1941, and I was nine years old. A few days earlier I had passed the swimming test at the Marysville swimming pool. To pass the test, a kid had to swim across the pool and back without stopping. Once that was done, he/she was allowed to swim in the deep end of the pool.
It had been a pretty hot summer, so the pool was really crowded every afternoon. For that reason, I started going to the pool in the mornings when it wasn’t so crowded. There were things you could do that early that you just couldn’t do in the afternoons with all those people in the water.
For example, one morning I was talking with one of the lifeguards, Jack Griffith. He was my sister’s boyfriend, and I often sat and talked with him. We were watching kids go off the high diving board when I said to him, “Wouldn’t it be great if there was some kind of canon, like they use in a circus, that would shoot kids up in the air over the water?”
Jack thought about what I had said and then he said, “We don’t have a cannon, but do you want to try something?”
Then he summoned another lifeguard and the three of us walked to the deep end of the pool where Jack had me lie on my back at the water’s edge. Then he had me extend my arms above my head and he grabbed my wrists, while the other boy grabbed my ankles.
Jack said those two guys were going to swing me back and forth, and on the count of three, they were going to throw me as high as they could over the water. I just knew it was going to be fun.
They counted aloud as they swung me back and forth. Then on the count of three, they threw me into the air above the water. It was a totally different experience then jumping off the diving boards. I had no control over how I was going to hit the water … head first? feet first? or belly smacker? But, oh man, was that fun!
Then a really small boy named Jimmy Reed asked them to throw him. Jimmy was a year or two younger than me, and he was really small. I wasn’t very big myself, but I weighed a lot more than he did. But as small as he was, he wasn’t afraid of anything, and he could swim like a fish.
They laid Jimmy on his back along the edge of the pool and grabbed his wrists and ankles. Then they started swinging him back and forth as they counted aloud. Because he was so small, they were able to throw him so high you wouldn’t believe it. And when he was at the peak of his toss, the real show began.
Instead of just falling into the water, Jimmy started to perform. He would do a forward somersault in the air. Then the next time they threw him, he might do a backward somersault. Or maybe he would just spin his whole body. I mean, that kid was really good, and every time he performed a new trick, everyone would yell like crazy.
After that day, word got around pretty fast, and more kids started to swim in the morning so they too could enjoy the fun. More lifeguards also joined in. They took turns throwing kids into the air. Many of them tried to do their own tricks, but most of them were too heavy to be thrown very high. And none of them could do things that Jimmy could do.
I think some people started going to the pool in the mornings just to watch the older boys throw Jimmy. That’s one of my favorite memories of the swimming pool. It ranks right up there with those “end of season” days, when kids could bring their dogs to swim with them. That’s just how good it was.
Those wishing to contact Bill Boyd can e-mail him at bill@davidwboyd.com