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:: The History of FAST ::
The Fast Swim Team
began in 1964 as part of the Buena Park Swim Team coached by Howard
Black. In 1966, Hank Vellekamp assumed head coaching
responsibilities, and within a few short years Vellekamp produced a
number of top age group swimmers. The team attracted a
spectrum of new swimmers, one of whom was Shirley Babashoff who
later became a world record holder in several events.
During the early
years, the team was named the Fullerton Area Swim Team (FAST) ,
with practice locations at Sunny Hills High School and other pools
including the El Toro Marine base for long course workouts.
In 1969, team president, Don Spicer, appointed Margaret Goddard as
liaison with the City of Fullerton to determine the feasibility of
building a 50 meter pool in the City of Fullerton. After 7
years of hard work by both the City of Fullerton and hundreds of
FAST families, the Independence Park Swimming Complex was opened
July 4th, 1976.
In the 1972 Summer
Olympic Games held in Munich, two of the team’s swimmers
represented the United States. Dana Shroeder placed 5thin the
100 meter butterfly and Carolyn Woods placed 4th in the
women’s 200 meter individual medley. The FAST Swim Team
continued to produce national and international level
swimmers. During the 70’s years, Craig Brown and John
Urbanchek were the lead coaches of the team, and the team became
known as the Fullerton Aquatic Sports Team (FAST) . At the
1976 Olympic Trials FAST Swimmers included Mat Matsueda, Scotty
Gordin, Rebecca Goddard, Teresa Spicer, and Rod Strachen. Rod
Strachen eventually won an individual Olympic gold medal in the 400
meter individual medley.
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During the
decade of the 80’s Craig Brown retired as the leader of the
FAST swim program. Although suffering from Brown’s
Absence, the team learned from his leadership and recruited the
nation’s top quality head coaches. Martin Craig, Bud
McAllister, and Don Wagner were the outstanding head coaches of the
FAST Swim Team in the 80’s. In these years the FAST
Swim Team flourished. Thousands of swimmers reaped the
benefits of the exceptional FAST program provide by Craig,
McAllister, and Wagner.
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All these
coaching leaders held a common vision that every individual
deserves the opportunity to "be the best that they can be".They
were dedicated to the mission to produce an uncompromised
environment of excellence. They each played a large role in
the blossoming career of Janet Evans .
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One of the
proudest moments in FAST history was in 1988, when FAST
swimmer Janet Evans captured three Gold medals in the XXIV Olympic Games in Seoul,
South Korea. Janet was the first United States athlete to
win a Gold Medal in the 1988 Games when she won the 400 meter
individual medley. Janet continued her leadership in winning
the gold in the 400 and 800 meter freestyle events, with a world
record performance in the 400 meter freestyle.
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Janet Evans added a fourth gold medal by
winning the 800 meter freestyle in the 1992 Olympic Games in
Barcelona, Spain. This achievement sets Janet apart as the
one in only four female Olympians in the U.S. Olympic History to
win four Gold Medals. Janet Evans currently holds the world
records in the 400 meter, 800 meter, and 1500 meter
freestyle. Janet has earned many prestigious honors including
the 1988 "Sullivan Award", which is awarded to our nations top
amateur athlete. She continued her world dominance in
winning the gold in the 800 meter freestyle at the 1994 World
Swimming Championships in Rome. Janet’s
accomplishments, steadfast values, and endearing personality, have
proven to be a catalyst of inspiration to the youth of our
nation and the world. In the 1996 Olympic Games, Janet earned
selection as a leading member of the USA Olympic Swimming
Team. She also shared the spotlight with Mohammad Ali as
torchbearer in the Atlanta Olympics.
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As the FAST Swim
Team entered the 1990’s, Don Wagner continued to lead the
team to excellence. In 1992, Don accepted the assistant coach
position at the University of Southern California (USC), and was
replaced by head age group coach, Dave Ryland.
In the fall of
1993, Kevin Perry was selected to be the Head
Coach of FAST, and enjoyed a great deal of success in building the
program. Kevin’s credentials include a 24 year history
of producing national and ’elite’ level swimming
athletes. Perry has been selected by United States
Swimming to coach several of our nation’s top
national teams, including his service as the Head Coach of the
94’ USA National Junior Team and the 96’ USA Gold Medal
National Team. In 2008, Under Coach Perry’s leadership
FAST was awarded the Gold Standard of Excellance from USA
Swimmming. The
spring of 2008 Coach Kevin lost his personal battle with prostrate
cancer.
The summer of 2008 Assistant Coach
Bill Jewel was selected to the position of Head Coach. Bill
Jewell, a former All-American swimmer and Olympic kayaker who has
coached at both the high school and college level for close to 20
years and who recently led Golden West College (Westminster,
Calif.) to five consecutive California State Junior College
championships, coach Jewel also spent five years as an
assistant coach at USC.
Jewell graduated from Long Beach
State with degrees in physical education and biology in 1969
following a three-year stint in the U.S. Navy and time devoted to
Olympic training.
He was an All-American butterflyer
at Long Beach State, Orange Coast College and in high school and
was ranked as high as No. 11 in the world in the 100 fly during
college. His last coach at Long Beach State was former USC
assistant Jim Montrella. Jewell attended USC in 1961 and competed
for legendary Trojan coach Peter Daland. To contact Coach Bill Jewell please e-mail coach
at: Swimbill@sbcglobal.net
Currently, the FAST Swim Team
holds their daily practice sessions at two outstanding facilities
in North Orange County; The Janet Evans Swim
Complex (formerly Independence Park Swim Complex) in
Fullerton, California and the Esperanza High
School pool in Anaheim, California.
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