Stanley McIntosh
Never have the words “life altering” been more appropriate than when used to describe Stanley McIntosh’s involvement with the Drew Park Sharks. Born in Germany in a US military family in 1956, Stanley, following his mother’s wishes for him to learn to swim, signed up for swim lessons at Drew Park. Stanley’s family had relocated to the Greenview area of Columbia, and at the age of nine, Stanley was learning to swim. By the age of 10, Stanley was a member of the Sharks swim team. Stanley’s mom was a stay-at-home mom and each day she drove him and his brother, Stephen, to the Drew pool which was about ten minutes from their home.
For Stanley, being a Shark, ignited a passion that’s firmly remained intact for decades and guided his life’s work. Being a Shark offered not only a life skill set, but relationships which have endured to today. At age 15, Stanley became a lifeguard at the Drew Park pool. Stanley stated that his father gave him an allowance of 99 cents each month, but as a life guard, he earned 99 cents per hour. It was a staggering amount to him, and made possible only through his involvement with Drew Park. It was just the first event in Stanley’s life where his association with Drew Park and the Drew Park Sharks impacted his life’s decisions.
Stanley swam for the Sharks throughout high school and that experience, once again, found benefit and meaning when he was awarded a small swimming scholarship to attend South Carolina State University. During high school, Stanley swam the 100-meter breaststroke and at South Carolina State University he swam the 200-meter breaststroke. When Stanley arrived at South Carolina State University, he was in awe of the level of swimming skill and competitiveness displayed by his teammates. Many had been involved in long-established swimming programs from a number of states and Stanley could not believe such talented swimmers and programs existed. That knowledge and experience would once again impact his life, as he developed a commitment to pursuing quality swimming programs. When the South Carolina State University swim team had a swim meet, it was always scheduled on the same day as the men’s basketball team game. In that way, the two teams could travel together on the same bus with the swim meet always in the afternoon prior to the evening basketball game. Stanley swam at South Carolina State for three of his four years in attendance. He thought he might enjoy football but after just one year, he returned to the pool. He graduated in 1978 with a major in Fine Arts and a minor in Education. After graduation, Stanley worked as a middle school teacher for two years. Following that, he became the Assistant Director of Greenview Park. He also served as Pool Manager during the summer months.
Since becoming a Drew Park Shark at the age of ten, Stanley’s passion has only grown during his lifetime. He has committed his life to the development of youth, many of whom have gone on the achieve success in a variety of endeavors. Today, Stanley serves as Coach of the Greenview Dolphins Swim Team though coach does not seem to encompass all that Stanley is able to achieve as a city influencer and promoter of minority programs throughout Columbia, the State of South Carolina and beyond.
Ellis R. Pearson
From the outset of your conversation with Ellis Pearson about Drew Park, it is obvious of a love and a respect for the park and facilities that gave his life direction and a sense of achievement and satisfaction. His voice is honestly unable to hold back the appreciation for what Drew Park gave him both in the form of opportunity, as well as keeping his life straight and decent, and out of trouble.
Ellis was born in 1955 and raised in Columbia, though he lived in other places as well, since his father was a military man. Ellis’ mother cleaned houses and worked in her sister’s family restaurant. They lived in Saxon Homes barely 100 yards away from the Drew Park swimming pool. The area was later demolished to build the current Drew Wellness Center. Ellis recalls how massive the Drew Park was, as it included an outdoor basketball court, baseball field, tennis courts, an indoor recreation center, a huge parking lot and concrete stadium seating overlooking the pool of 55 yards complete with four diving boards. To Ellis, it was like a country club. African Americans from counties and towns near and far often visited Drew Park because of the facilities and of particular, the pool. Few facilities were available for African Americans of such quality and frequently summer holidays saw massive crowds.
Ellis was a self-taught swimmer. He was eleven years old when he began swimming. He mowed grass for the Saxon residents to earn money to pay for the pool fees. He swam every day of the summer and at nights, he often had difficulty sleeping, because of his excitement for the next day at the pool. On his first dive from the pool’s diving board, Ellis had to be rescued by the lifeguard. After that, he was determined to learn to swim in order to use the diving board. At age 12, Ellis joined the Sharks under the coaching of Nathaniel Stevenson, whom he often called “Dad”, “Big Daddy” or simply “Steve”. “Steve” had been a lifeguard at Drew pool before getting drafted to go to Vietnam. Upon his return, he became the coach of the Sharks.
Coach Stevenson worked Ellis and his friends hard and following the first day of practice, several of Ellis’ friends sneaked away not to return to practice. Ellis was too afraid to follow his friends so remained at practice. After practice, Ellis told his mother he no longer wanted to swim. The next day his mother took him to swim team practice.
In his first competitive meet, Ellis did not do well. The next summer Ellis started swimming laps with Jimmie Ruff. Jimmie was a good distance swimmer but Ellis, now age 16, had worked hard and was confident. He felt he could beat Jimmie. At one meet Jimmie didn’t participate. Ellis won both the 880-yards and the 440-yards events. Ellis also swam both the individual medley as well as the medley relay. Ellis stated his backstroke was his weakest stroke, but he made up for that shortcoming with a very strong breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle. James Ruff went on later to be the team’s assistant coach/pool manager. Ellis worked as a lifeguard in addition to swimming competitively. At Drew pool, lifeguards also gave swimming lessons as part of their job responsibilities. Ellis stated he gave his mother part of his weekly pay to assist with the family’s expenses.
In 1971, Ellis met Pete Combs. Pete was the white coach at the University of South Carolina and he was coaching an AAU team at Trenholm Park, a 25-yard indoor pool. In an 800-yard race, Ellis beat Pete who was in his late 20’s or early 30’s. Following that race, Pete invited Ellis and another swimmer, Benjamin Jeffcoat to join the team at Trenholm Park. In 1970, the pool had integrated, but Pete needed a month to convince parents to allow Ellis and Benjamin to swim on the team. During that month, Ellis and Ben swam early mornings, and alone, before school. Once approval came from the parent group, they became the first two African Americans to swim with the team. He felt very comfortable and accepted by the team. They traveled with the team to a meet in Aiken, the only two Black kids on the two teams. The relay team did well as Ellis recalled.
Ellis wasn’t bothered by being a Black member of the all-white team. It didn’t really phase him. Being a military kid, he had gone to first grade in an integrated school in Washington State where his father was stationed. Entering restaurants through the back door, sitting in the back of the bus, and watching movies from the theater’s balcony were just things that happened. Ellis never allowed the racial situations to bother him.
In addition to swimming, during his senior year in high school Ellis joined the track team where he ran the one mile and two-mile races. He was as successful running distance as he was swimming distance races. Running remained part of Ellis’ life and he competed throughout the years after high school. Following high school, Ellis decided to join the Marine Corps. Although he had been offered a four-year scholarship to swim at South Carolina State University, he had his heart set on the Marines. One day while at Camp Lejeune, a captain saw Ellis swimming and encouraged him to join the Fleet Swim Team. The captain was also a swimmer and depending on whether the captain swam in the competition, determined whether Ellis placed first or second. Ellis was stationed in Italy for a couple of years and raced in several running competitions, generally doing very well. In 1975, Ellis was stationed in Quantico, Virginia. The base had a very nice pool and was used by a white AAU team for practice. Ellis worked out with the team and assisted their female coach. After seven years, Ellis left the military and returned to Columbia. He returned to the Drew Park pool, swimming in their competitions. Drew Park encouraged swimming and to maintain that interest, had a variety of categories which allowed for the maximum number of competitors. Levels began as young as 6 years old and there was even a category for men and women 18 years and above. Once again, Ellis was offered a scholarship to swim at South Carolina State University but after a year, wanting to earn more money, Ellis left the university. Ellis currently is employed by the Richland County Sherriff’s Department.
Benjamin Lindbergh Jeffcoat
Whether you know him as Ben or Lindy, the one thing you know for certain, is that in everything he has done, this man has always displayed a strong work ethic, commitment, determination and the motivation to win. Lindy believed firmly that “swimming just depends on me being first”. He attempted to play football and basketball but quickly realized he didn’t need to depend on a team. He only needed to “touch the wall” first and in the fastest time, to earn the respect and support of those around him. It was his mindset that he didn’t need other people, because at the pool you were accepted by everyone if you captured first place. This is in no way to say that Lindy was not interested in his teammates. To the contrary, he was respected as an admired and appreciated member of the Drew Park Sharks and he personally valued the camaraderie of the other swimmers. Being an only child, it felt to Lindy that his teammates were more like his brothers and sisters. He always said at the end of the day his fellow Sharks went home to their families, while he always went home to his parents. Lindy was well aware of what his success meant to the team’s overall success. Whether in high school as a member of the Sharks or as a member of the South Carolina State University swim team, Lindy swam the race that was needed for the team’s success. Lindy even swam medley events where he was required to swim the backstroke. It was a stroke he called “controlled drowning” and one that caused his teammates to jokingly run down the side of the pool carrying a ring bouy ready to throw it to him at any point. Fortunately, Lindy was a strong, fast swimmer and his other strokes in the medley race were more than sufficient for him to be successful even with his backstroke. The South Carolina State University mascot was the Bulldog, and the swim team called themselves the Aquadogs.
Born in 1956, Lindy and his family lived on Farrow Terrace in Columbia, SC. In 1966 the family moved to Grand Street where Lindy was raised. Lindy’s father was an Assistant Principal at W.A. Perry Middle School and his mother was a Social Worker for the Columbia Housing Authority. Each day during the summer, one of Lindy’s parents dropped him off at Drew Pool, and one brought him lunch each day. As other’s have stated, Lindy too, said Drew was his “summer babysitter”. Lindy said he was told he was about 2 years old when he first got “thrown into the water”. As a Shark, he swam Midget Boys at age 9 or 10. He set the record for the Midget Boys 50-meter freestyle at 27 seconds, a record that still stands today. He swam in every age bracket at Drew Park including Midget Boys ages 0-10; Boys ages 11, 12, 13; Junior Men ages 14, 15, 16; and Senior Men age 17 and higher. Because Lindy’s birthday was in September, he often was the youngest in his classes. He graduated at 17 and entered South Carolina State University on a four-year swimming scholarship. He turned 18 that September. Lindy’s dad was always involved with him in his endeavors. Lindy recalls asking his dad once if he took him to the pool each day and always offered to have his friends visit at home in order to keep an eye on him, and to know where he was at all times? His father responded, “Yes”. Lindy’s dad assisted in managing the team a couple of summers with Jimmy Ruff, Mr. Martin and “Steve” Stevenson. Lindy referred to his dad as a “hands off/hands on” dad.
There’s a perception that the Drew Park Pool Sharks rarely competed against other teams. There was the large intra-squad competition at the end of each summer which drew huge crowds from the community. Each swimming event had as many as nine participants competing. But, in reality, the Sharks swam against several other all-Black swim teams from towns such as Charleston, Greenwood, Greenville, Aiken and Orangeburg. Each year, teams would rotate hosting and unfortunately, some years, some teams did not participate. On those years, it appeared the inter-squad competition was the major event of the summer that took place. For swim meets not hosted at Drew, the swimmers traveled in parents’ cars to the meets.
After being noticed by Pete Combs, the swim coach of the all-white Trenholm Park team, Lindy was joined by Ellis Pearson to be a part of the team. Trenholm pool was a short course pool due to being 25 yards. Lindy recounted the story similar to Ellis, that they had to practice alone each morning prior to going to school, due to needing to get the permission of the white parents to swim at Trenholm, even though the pool had integrated in theory the prior year. Lindy believed it was a considerably longer period to get that approval than what Ellis recalled. Lindy said they practiced alone for nearly three months. While swimming for the Sharks, Lindy focused a great deal on speed, but under the guidance of Pete Combs, at Trenholm, Lindy’s attention and focus was more on technique and stroke alteration or as Lindy stated, “finding new water”. Lindy and Ellis swam year-round. At the Trenholm pool in the winter months they swam yards, and during the summer at Drew pool, they swam meters. Swim practice was 2 hours in the afternoon with swims of 4000 to 5000 yards Monday through Friday. At Trenholm (Richland County Swimming Association) Lindy swam the 50-yard freestyle, the 50-yard breaststroke, 100-yard freestyle and the 100-yard breaststroke. Acceptance at Trenholm Park was made much easier when Ellis and Lindy began winning competitively and again, Lindy’s belief that “touching the wall first” made all the difference. The team at Trenholm Park swam against a number of other teams from around the state, but no other team had integrated, leaving Lindy and Ellis the only African American swimmers in the competitions.
Like Stanley, Ellis and many other members of the Drew Park Sharks, Lindy was a certified lifeguard and a certified Water Safety Instructor. In addition to being a lifeguard, they were qualified to teach swimming lessons. As returning lifeguards received first priority in positions, when Lindy was old enough to be certified, there were no positions available at Drew pool. He found a position at a Girl Scout campground and one in a subdivision called Crane Forest. Once Lindy obtained a lifeguard position at Drew, Lindy worked every summer and even returned each summer during college to work as a lifeguard. Generally, the pool had six lifeguards for the summer. The morning shift usually gave swim lessons and the afternoon lifeguards generally assisted with the swim team. The swim team usually had one workout each day, practicing from around 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm. The pool hours were 9:00 am to 9:00 pm. It had 9 lanes and 5 lanes were set aside for the team to practice. As a lifeguard Lindy earned a modest income of around $1,000 - $1500 per year.
Unlike many of the other swimmers on the team, Lindy was a student school bus driver for Columbia High School during his junior and senior years of high school. He had an elementary school and a middle school route each day, and on occasions he drove a high school route. Lindy recalled you could obtain a permit to drive at age 14, then required to wait thirty days before obtaining your driver’s license. You could get your bus driver’s license at age 15. This position paid him an additional $1000 per year. This position provided him with additional income, independent of what his parents provided him, and as a youth he was able to open a bank account which taught him to be responsible financially. This contributed to his preparation for his adult life.
Although a sprinter throughout high school as a member of the Sharks, as a college freshman, the team already had a sprinter. He was a senior named Nate Madison. The coach at South Carolina State University, Robert Bradley, another previous Shark, preferred having swimmers place first in events, as opposed to an event with a first and second place win. Lindy was asked to swim distances. Being a freshman, he swam the 200, 500 and 1000-yards freestyle events. He remained a middle and distance swimmer throughout his college career as other sprinters continued to enter South Carolina State University. The longer swimming events required attention and an experienced swimmer, causing Lindy to fill that role for the good of the team. He also swam anchor in the 4x100 freestyle relay team and anchor on the 4x100 medley relay team. In college Lindy had two workouts each day swimming 2000 to 3000 yards between 6:00 am to 7:00 am, as well as swimming 4000 to 5000 yards between 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm
Swim season generally ran from November to March. It was typical for the team to travel on Thursday and swim Friday and Saturday. In addition to traveling with the basketball team, on occasion the wrestling team traveled with them on the team bus. South Carolina State University had a large stretch limo which the swim team utilized from time to time. The swim team competed head-to-head against a large number of colleges and universities throughout the season. Some of the schools with swim teams included Howard University, Morgan State University, Delaware State University, Maryland Eastern Shore University, Texas Southern University, Albany State University, Furman College, The Citadel, the College of Charleston, and Morehouse College.
Each year on Thanksgiving Weekend there was a large relay meet with four HBCU relay teams for every stroke, as well as a 4x100 individual medley relay competitive team event. Generally, the four HBCU teams came from a list of teams including Albany State University, Morehouse College, Texas Southern University, Howard University, Alabama A&M University, Hampton University, and Johnson C. Smith University. Lindy was selected Most Promising Freshman swimmer at South Carolina State University and selected Most Valuable Player his sophomore, junior and senior years in college. He graduated from South Carolina State University with a degree in Business Administration. He worked for the State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company as an adjuster, Claims Supervisor and ultimately, he became a Claims Superintendent, always moving up within the system after being promoted several times to more responsible positions. In addition to his employment at State Farm, Lindy sold cars where he assisted customers with financial counseling, thus customers could purchase cars, secure financing and build their credit.
After taking some time off from collegiate swimming, Lindy took up both “open water” swimming and the occasional triathlon. He swam on the “Master’s level in open water. The distances varied but included 2.5 miles, 3 miles and even a 5-mile course. He swam a number of swims in the Caribbean as well as Siesta Key, Florida and Charleston, SC. In 2016 he swam his final event in St. Croix. You could probably categorize his triathlon competitions as short lived. Lindy said it was not unusual for him to finish in 100th place among 100 athletes. He stated he struggled with the runs. To Lindy, running was like a punishment. He was late to practice once and was required to run laps, so he never liked the “running” component of a triathlon. For pleasure now, Lindy has become a certified scuba diver and is up to 60 dives as of this writing. He has remained faithful to the water. Lindy currently is retired and resides in Haines City, Florida.