When Tom Mitchell’s young grandson wanted to swim in a grandparent/grandchild relay back in the early 1970s, Mitchell wrung out his old swimsuit and dove back into competitive swimming.
Since then, he has won a multitude of local and national medals as an individual competitor and a member of the San Diego Swim Masters team.
Just turned 90, the Laguna Woods resident earned four gold medals in swim events in the recent Village Games. While he swam with others in adjoining lanes, no one was competing in his age category, he said.
“I kept one medal and gave a whole box of others away to a woman who works for the Special Olympics,” said Mitchell, who usually retains only one of each type of medal for his personal collection.
Mitchell can usually be found four afternoons a week swimming laps at the Clubhouse 2 pool.
“I usually swim 71 lengths of the pool, since 70 and one quarter lengths equals a mile,” he said.
He prefers Pool 2, he said, because it has lane lines and is usually available without much of a wait.
Mitchell grew up in Northern California, where he learned to swim at age 10. While working at a pool locker room a few years later, he was asked to teach a children’s class, leading to summer jobs as a swim teacher and lifeguard.
“I even taught my mom and my future wife to swim,” he recalled with a smile. “My mom even dove off the diving board,” he added with a touch of pride.
More recently, Mitchell taught his partner of 20 years, Jackie Sieber, 78, to swim.
“She was a total non-swimmer and now regularly swims 60 lengths of the pool,” he said. She has yet to dive into competitive swimming but is thinking about it, he added.
After graduating college and serving three years as an Air Force pilot, Mitchell enjoyed a 60-year career with Bekins Moving Company, where he worked in residential and commercial sales in Los Angeles. He retired eight years ago at age 82.
Through it all, he has remained competitive in his swimming…
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