wooden boat: Golden years bring O.C. man gold medals
By ERIKA I. RITCHIE
The Orange County Register
A 92-year-old man in a blue Speedo and purple neoprene swim cap focuses through tinted goggles.
He's clinging to the side of the pool waiting for the 50-yard backstroke at the Senior Games. Woody Bowersock of Laguna Woods Village takes a look at his rival in the next lane.
Bob Christians, 90, has trained hard to stop his friend and neighbor's incredible winning streak.
But Bowersock has trained in the backstroke rigorously for three weeks, knowing that this was his vulnerable event. His strategy: Sprint all-out at the start and finish fast.
Since turning 90, he has set more than 20 world records in his age group.
Today, the race starts in the water. Advantage: Christians.
The horn sounds, and Bowersock pushes off. Christians is to his left. Both submerge for a few yards before surfacing - arms windmilling through the water.
Bowersock can't see Christians as they approach the turn. He has no idea how close this race really is.
CONQUERING FEAR
Woody Bowersock was afraid of water.
At 5, on vacation at his family's summer cottage at Wind Lake, Wis., Bowersock was standing on a
wooden boat dock when he fell face forward into two feet of water.
"I had a rush of fear when I hit the water," he remembers. "I felt my head go under and I couldn't breathe. The ground was squishy and I couldn't push myself up. My brother pulled me out."
It wasn't until he was 12 that his family persuaded him to get his feet wet in Wind Lake.
"It was shallow enough I started to get my body wet," he says. "Then when I was in the water one day, I jumped back to shore, fell and got my face wet and it wasn't frightening anymore."
To get into the high school physical education class with the athletic boys, Bowersock had to swim a pool length.
"At first I stayed in the shallow end and just dog-paddled around," he says. "It took me the whole semester, but I built my confidence and one day swam the whole length."
After graduating from high school at 16, the once-scared kid made the swim team at Milwaukee State Teachers College. In 1936, he swam in the first ever Wisconsin Intercollegiate swim meet.
It was the Depression, and his ability to swim helped get Bowersock a job. He became head lifeguard at Grant Park Beach on Lake Michigan.
FAMILY LIFE
His interest in swimming waned when he started a family. He and his first wife, his childhood sweetheart, Vera, moved to Arizona, where Bowersock earned his master's degree. The couple had three daughters.
Bowersock, with a budding career as a school principal, came to Orange County in 1953. He started at Mildred Morrow Elementary, opened Arroyo Elementary School and then went to Sycamore Elementary. He retired 28 years ago.
Vera died in 1998. Today, Bowersock is a grandfather of five, great-grandfather of seven and great-great-grandfather of one.
And he's a swimmer.
RETURN TO THE WATER
Bowersock decided to get back into the water to stay in shape. But he soon discovered he was pretty fast for his age.
"I realized I was capable of holding my own against guys more than 10 years younger."
At 65, he joined the Long Beach Masters swim team and set a world record in the 50-meter freestyle. For the next 25 years, he would keep setting records in his age bracket.
"When I started setting a couple of records, I really got charged up," he says. "I felt like I wasn't over the hill."
At 75, he entered a meet in Los Angeles for the 100-meter freestyle. He out-touched his opponent by a fraction of a second but knew something was wrong.
"I felt logy in the water," he says.
At home that night, he could barely move.
"The doctor said I had arthritis," he says. "He told me, 'You may as well take your Advil and sit in your rocker.' I had no energy, my body ached and I thought, 'This is how it's going to end.'"
Eleven months later, he won the 50-meter freestyle at the Masters World Meet in Tokyo.
After turning 76, Bowersock had a year he will never forget. He won 13 gold medals at the Masters Regional Championship in Mission Viejo, but later that evening he had a heart attack.
"The doctor said I had a tear in the outer layer of my heart," Bowersock says. "He told me, 'When it heals, you'll be as good as new.'"
At 80, Bowersock set a world record for the 50-meter freestyle at the World Masters Meet in Oregon that stood for 12 years.
In the late 1990s, Bowersock needed more swimmers to participate in a senior race, so he took out an ad in the newspaper. One person who responded was a woman named Lousje, who wasn't a technically great swimmer but had a lot of determination.
Lousje didn't really like Bowersock, and he eventually set her up with his friend, Bob Christians.
But like a competitive swim meet, things changed quickly.
Lousje says Bowersock began pursuing her. She didn't think it would work out. He is a Republican, a Baptist and rarely drinks wine. Here's what she liked about him: He has a great character and unending drive to win.
FINAL PUSH
Lousje runs along the pool as Bowersock races the final few yards against Christians in the Laguna Woods Village Senior Games.
With 30 yards to go, he glances at Christians, almost a body length behind.
He feels himself pulling ahead.
When his hand hits the wall, he has the gold medal, one of eight he wins that day.
"He's a phenomenon," says Lousje, who is now Bowersock's wife.
His charm and character finally won her over.
"Once when I was swimming, he was lying on the diving board and wanted to kiss me when I made my turn," she says. "I thought, 'He's like a teenager.'"
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