In 1952, at a segregated 50-meter swimming pool in Columbia, South Carolina, something remarkable was taking shape. The Drew Park Sharks, an all-Black co-ed competitive swim team, wasn't just producing fast swimmers. It was producing astronauts, judges, Secret Service agents, doctors, educators, and community leaders who would go on to shape American life for decades.
The Drew Park Sharks is a collection of oral histories from the men and women who swam, trained, and grew up at Drew Park. In their own words, former Sharks recall the lifeguards who became father figures, the summer mornings spent swimming laps before dawn, the intra-team meets that drew thousands of spectators, and the lifelong friendships forged in chlorinated water.
Among them: Charles Bolden Jr., who went from diving off the three-meter board at Drew to commanding space shuttle missions and leading NASA. Ellis Pearson, a self-taught swimmer from public housing who joined the Marine Corps Fleet Swim Team. Tony Thomas, who parlayed his diving skills into a college scholarship and a fifty-nine-year career in karate. And JD Lewis, who became only the fourth African-American rescue swimmer in Secret Service history.
But this book is not about racism or segregation, though that history is honestly addressed. It is about what happens when committed mentors, loving parents, and determined young people are given an opportunity and refuse to waste it. It is about a community that built something extraordinary within unjust constraints and produced generations of excellence that endure to this day.
This is a deeply human testament to the power of opportunity, mentorship, and the bonds that form when young people are taught to believe they can touch the wall first.
