Competitive Swimming in Black Public High Schools of Texas

If you don't set goals for yourself, you are doomed to work to achieve the goals of someone else.

~Brian Tracy~

With the organization of the Colored Teachers Association in 1920 came the formation of the Texas Interscholastic League of Colored Schools, the governing body (league) of athletic and academic competition for Black high schools. The league was comprised of 40 schools. The Texas Interscholastic League of Colored Schools became known as the Negro League or Prairie View Interscholastic League (PVIL) from its inception.

Over the next twenty years the number of schools increased and the league in 1940 held state championship contests in various sports at Prairie View A & M.4 Prior to the merger of the PVIL and the University Interscholastic League (UIL) in 1967, the PVIL membership had grown to over 500 schools.

A historical account of competitive swimming programs in the Black high schools of Texas reveals that the number of Black high schools increased between 1940 and the beginning of the integration of schools in the late 1960s; only a few of these schools had swimming facilities. The lack of swimming facilities in Black high schools resulted in a shortage or the nonexistence of competitive swimming programs.

Prior to and including the 1940s the Black high schools offered a variety of sports programs. Their sports teams were highly competitive, and most competitors processed a myriad of fundamental skills. The sports programs included football, basketball, and track and field. The sports of volleyball and tennis were included some time later. Other minor sports like golf, baseball, softball and swimming were not offered until the mid-1950s. A lack of facilities was often the reason golf and swimming were not included in the Black high schools programs. Moreover, girls' sports activities were limited to one or two activities. In the public Black high schools of Houston only volleyball and limited tennis programs were offered for girls prior to and during the early 1950s. Therefore, offering competitive swimming for both boys and girls and golf for boys in 1955 was a real boost to the morale and delight of many students.

The initial PVIL competitive swimming and diving programs in Black high schools began in 1955. Teams competing during the first year were Lincoln High of Port Arthur, Texas; Central High of Galveston, Texas, and Jack Yates and Phillis Wheatley High Schools of Houston, Texas. The first district meet for both boys and girls was held at Central high school. The second district meet (1956) was held at Lincoln high school, and the third and fourth meets (1957-58) were held at Jack Yates high school. All district and city meets beginning in 1959 through 1967 were held at Kashmere Gardens High School in Houston. Prairie View A & M University sponsored the first state invitational meet in 1965. PV's second invitational meet was held in 1966 and the final meet in 1967.

Most of the information/meet results for the early competitive programs are unavailable as records and meet results were destroyed or misplaced as a result of integration of the PVIL into the UIL. However, information and accounts of programs and meets were taken from newspapers i.e. the Houston Informer and the Forward Times supplemented by anecdotal accounts by former participants. The first four years of competition are recollections by individual participants from Jack Yates high school.

Although Booker T. Washington High School (1893) was the oldest Black high school in Houston, located in the Fourth Ward community, it did not offer instructional or competitive swimming until 1959 due to a lack of swimming facilities. When the school moved into its new facility located in the Independence Heights community its students became involved in competitive swimming.

Although competitive swimming in Houston Black high schools did not begin until the mid-1950s, Black competitive swimming meets were a part of the Houston Parks and recreation programs during the summer months beginning back in the 1940s. An annual competition for both boys and girls was held each August at the Emancipation Park pool located in the Third Ward community. In an article entitled "Swimmers in Park Tank Meet Thursday" the parks department conveyed information concerning the upcoming meet scheduled August 18th. 7 (see appendix 2). Moreover, the article specified the events to be swum and the age divisions. It is assumed that these competitions began in the early 1940s and continued throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Historical records indicate the Emancipation Park swimming pool opened in 1939, and competitive swimming events followed soon after the opening. Beginning in 1949 other swimming facilities in the Black communities began to host competitive swimming meets during the summer months and were a part of the city's Houston Parks and Recreation, Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) Junior Olympics competitive swimming programs. Leon Richardson, a Yates high school swimmer (1962-64) and participant in the summer Jr. Olympics competitive swimming program, said, "I think if it were not for an AAU/Junior Olympics program in Houston, there would have been significantly fewer Black Americans who learned to swim and learned to swim competitively. Even when these swimmers were talented they often opted to participate in what was considered the high school sports of the period i.e. football, basketball, track and baseball."

All of the meets offered were segregated during this time period. Coaches of the park teams prior to 1957 included: Robert Tapscott, (Hester House), Leslie Minfield and Harry Torry, (Clinton Park), Wilbert Williams and Hebert Allen, (Independence Heights), Bennie Roy and Joe Harris Emancipation Park, Raymond Daniels and Bennie White, (South Central YMCA) and James Regan, Lloyd Powell, Marion Ford, and Bro's Henry, Finnegan Park, (Houston Informer Aug. 31, 1957).

Houston High Schools Competition Begins

During the spring semester of 1953 swim teams from Wheatley and Yates high schools began to compete against one another in dual meets. These meets were exhibition only as no official scores were kept.

Although Jack Yates High School opened in 1926, a natatorium and new gymnasium were completed and opened in the fall semester of 1952.

For the first dual meet between the Lions and Wildcats the new natatorium at Yates was filled with students and the atmosphere was electrifying. The sheer spectacle of it was amazing. The boys and girls teams from both schools were extremely competitive. It was obvious that they had received prior training in stroke techniques as they swam up and down the pool.

It was interesting watching these swimmers maneuver through the water with such grace and speed. In addition to the swimming competition there was also a diving exhibition. The clamor of the diving board and grace of the divers as they approached the end of the diving board was exciting and amazing. Watching the divers hurl themselves into the air with poise, grace and eloquent control, sometime twisting and somersaulting was thrilling and a wonderment to all.

The following year (1954) the same event occurred with no less fanfare. The foregoing exhibition meets of 1953-54 gave rise to the first district swimming and diving meet in 1955.

The first district swimming and diving meet for Black boys and girls was held in Galveston, Texas at Central High School. Established in 1885, Central High School of Galveston was the first public Black high School in Texas. A newly constructed Central high school opened in 1954. The meet followed the Interscholastic High School swimming meet format.

Coaches

During the early years of competition the coaches for the various teams included: Raymond Daniels and LaVonne Herring, Yates; Wister Lee and Georgia Harris, Wheatley; Rayon Dillion of Central; and Coach Vendon Beck and C.V. Simien of Lincoln. Raymond Daniels began his tenure at Yates in the fall of 1954 succeeding Joe Harris who taught swimming and coached the swim team. Wister Lee taught swimming at Wheatley and began to coach boys swimming at Wheatley in the early 1950s. Beck and Dillion also began their swim coaching endeavors during this early period.

Prior to the first district meet during the spring of 1955, the swim teams at Phillis Wheatley and Jack Yates participated in three dual swimming meets, the first held at Phillis Wheatley high school. The second meet was held two weeks later at Jack Yates high school, and the third of the three dual meets was held at the newly constructed South Central Branch Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) on Wheeler Street in the Third Ward community, just east of the Texas Southern University campus.

A competitive swimming and diving championship meet for Black high school students was unique in the state of Texas and in the southern United States during this period. Competitive swimming was somewhat a novelty in Black high schools due to a lack of swimming facilities. The absence of facilities made it impractical to conduct competitive swimming events. Some outdoor swimming facilities, mostly municipal pools were available for swimmers during summer months, but not during the school year.

All competitive sports require interest in the activity. Student interest is usually generated by individuals who possess advanced techniques and fundamental skills in an activity. Fundamental skills in swimming are not naturally inherent traits like running, jumping, throwing, but all swimming skills are taught and learned in a progressive manner. Therefore, the coaches who initiated the district swimming competition had to teach basic swimming skills to many individuals trying out for their teams. The majority of individuals who comprised those early teams had limited or no competitive swimming experiences.

Over the period of thirteen (13) years, interest among students grew significantly and the competitive swimming and diving programs progressed both in the number of schools, and participants. The quality of the competitive swim programs improved at a rapid pace during each successive year. Two additional high schools in Houston, Kashmere Gardens high school and E.E. Worthing high school, joined the original schools in 1957 and 1958. Booker T. Washington high school of Houston joined the competition in 1959.

During the early stages of the competitive swimming programs, most swim coaches had limited training techniques for competitive swimming. These coaches were familiar with techniques for training individuals in a variety of sports except swimming. However, they developed their own unique techniques by trial and error and became proficient in relative short periods of time. The quality of the swimming programs progressed rapidly due to the newly gained experience and dedication of the coaches. Students' interest and mastery of competitive swimming skills also contributed to the growth and quality of the competitive programs.

In the annual program booklet of the Prairie View Interscholastic League Coaches Association (PVILCA), Vicki Peaks-Minor, who participated in the first meets, said she was part of a winning swimming team at Jack Yates High School. She said, "Coach Daniels taught us to strive to be the best that we could be. He also taught us to take pride in what we accomplished." 4 Most of the participants took pride in their own accomplishments as well as pride in their teams and schools.

District Swimming Championship Meets 1955-58 Personal Recollections.

Always concentrate on how far you have come, Rather than how far you have left to go. The difference in how easy it seems will amaze you.

~Heidi Johnson~

Established in 1926, Jack Yates High School was originally a junior/ senior high school consisting of grades 7-12. It became a senior high school in the fall of 1958. In the spring of 1955, the newly formed swimming team was coached by Raymond Daniels. Coach Daniels allowed several individuals the opportunity to become members of the swimming team because they had completed a beginner's swimming class he taught doing the fall semester. Coach Daniels gave students the opportunity to compete even though their swimming skills were marginal at best. The team trained everyday for three months prior to its first dual meet.

The Wheatley and Yates teams competed against each other in three dual meets prior to the first district meet. My performance in these meets was less than stellar and left much to be desired. I was truly a novice swimmer during this time period. Moreover, my stroke techniques in freestyle and backstroke were less than adequate and I had no butterfly stroke efficiency.

When Coach Daniels informed his team that they would be participating in the first district swimming meet against three other teams in Galveston, Texas they were all extremely excited. On a Friday morning in early May, the team boarded a chartered Greyhound bus and left Houston; our destination was Central High School on Galveston Island. What a joy, what a thrill! The joy of missing school to compete in a championship swimming meet, the first of its kind in Texas was overwhelming, exhilarating, and inspirational.

The first district swimming meet for Black high schools in Texas was somewhat a novel event. To witness Black boys and girls swimming competitively was truly a rare feat during this era. Surely, there were other similar programs throughout the country, but rarely in the southern states of America. In Texas where there were twenty-one Class AA Black high schools, only four schools were participating in competitive swimming. Surely the organizers of the meet invited all of the schools in the district including: Booker T. Washington of Houston, and Beaumont's Charleston Pollard and Hebert high schools. Aside from these teams, there were three other district Class AA alignments who may have been invited (see other district Class AA alignment and teams Appendix I). Invited or not these four teams answered the call for competition.

All of the traditional races were held, including the freestyle events, breaststroke, backstroke, and diving. The butterfly was not a separate event at this time. Prelims swims were necessary to qualify for finals to be swum in the afternoon. The order of events were girl's events followed by boy's events. In the prelims, each of the competing teams were allowed three contestants per event. Inasmuch as there were both boys and girls competing, the prelims consumed the morning and lasted until noon. The finals began at 2:00 p.m.

It appeared that most contestants were excited about these swimming championships. School cheers, yells and chants from each team created a festive, spirited, lively, atmosphere. Many of the swimmers were experiencing their first championship swimming meet. A few of the swimmers from Yates and Wheatley high schools had experienced championship swimming during the summer months with the Houston Parks and Recreation AAU Junior Olympics programs.

Memories of the entire meet are somewhat limited except for one or two events. Most of the events were dominated by individuals from Wheatley and Yates high schools. Wheatley swimmers captured most of the first place awards.

As a participant in this first district swimming and diving championship meet, I was entered in the 100 yard breaststroke. As fate would have it, I was placed in the first of two heats. There were six individuals entered in each heat. Of the five other swimmers in the first heat, I recognized Bob Hoffman of Wheatley. Bob was Wheatley's best breaststroker. He and Ronald Wilson my teammate would trade-off wins in the dual meets between Yates and Wheatley earlier in the swim season. In previous breaststroke races, Bob and Ron had beaten me by 20 or more yards. Bob, the top seeded breaststroker, was placed in lane three, and I was placed in lane five. Ron Wilson, the second seeded breaststroker, was placed in the second heat. Only the top six times would qualify for the finals.

In 1955, the breaststroke event was a combination of the breaststroke, butterfly, and underwater swimming. A swimmer could swim any portion of the race using either technique. Most good breaststrokers would swim the first portion (25 yards) of their races underwater. The second portion of the race would be swum utilizing the conventional breaststroke. The butterfly technique was used to complete the final portion of the race. These maneuvers and techniques allowed the swimmer much latitude and made the race interesting.