Former Eagle Keller Still Swimming After All These Years

Jim Keller was an Ashland College swimmer in the early-to-mid 1970s.
 
The word "was," however, doesn't seem to fit in Keller's vocabulary. That's because Keller, a member of the AC Class of 1975, continues to swim and compete to this day.
 
Keller swam at Ashland for Sandy Wilson, the founding father of Eagle swimming and diving, for four years – coming to campus from Toledo.
 
"I have swam my whole life," Keller said. "My high school (Bowsher) did not have a swim team. Started swimming when I was in grade school, YMCA. In high school, we had a nationally-competitive YMCA in Toledo that we would go to nationals with."
 
He also competed for St. Francis High School in the summer prior to joining the Eagles – for a program which was in the NCAA College Division, then Division III, when Keller was a student-athlete.
 
"I looked at the University of Miami, because my parents lived there half the time," said Keller of Florida as a possibility. "I looked at Ohio State, and my parents thought that was way too big for me. So I started looking at…Kenyon, Denison and Ashland."
 
As it turned out, Keller was the only male swimmer in his event Wilson recruited that year.
 
"It just worked out," he said. "It all worked out."
 
At Ashland, Keller was teammates with national champions Brad McCoy and Jeff Rogers.
 
"We had a great group," Keller recalled. "There were very competitive national champions in my group. I never got to that level, but swam very good, swam very competitive. Just really enjoyed it."
 
As for competing for Wilson, Keller said, "He was a good coach. His wife was great. They would have us over for barbeques. He wasn't just a hands-off guy. He had relationships with all of us. He'd stay in touch with us in the summer, wanted to make sure we weren't just sitting on the beach not doing anything."
 
He keeps up with Eagle swimming and diving, and with the AU athletic department as a whole, mentioning the success of the women's basketball team.
 
"Some of the teams have just done extremely well in D-II, and more power to them," said Keller. "Most of us who went to Ashland at the time, D-II, there wasn't much consideration, at least in our group. There weren't any strong schools swimming at that time. It was either D-I or D-III."
 
Keller stopped competing after graduating, because he said there wasn't such a thing as United States Masters Swimming.
 
"For most of us, that was it, unless you were going to try for the Olympics. Find some team where you can compete for the trials and stuff," said Keller, now residing in Louisville, Ky. "Kentucky had an organization, they still have, Kentucky Bluegrass State Games. All different age groups. And we got our daughter into horses when she was very young, and my son would compete in sailing.
 
"My kids came and said, 'Dad, they have swimming.' I was out of the water for probably 20 years. I competed in my first meet in Lexington, and got bit. Came back to Louisville and was looking for teams. Masters had been in place…when I started snooping around, there were two if not three very strong Masters teams here in Louisville. My kids got me into it…and I tried out for a couple teams. And I've been with the same team now since I was 49. I am the swim coach, and swim with another local Masters team, also here in town."
 
Keller, who will turn 73 later this year, is heavily involved in two of the Masters teams in Louisville, as well as with the state of Kentucky's Masters organization.
 
Not the only former Eagle swimmer who has continued to compete, Keller mentioned former Eagle All-American Rudy Vazmina, as well as 2016 AU Hall of Famer Craig Pickering.
 
"He may be the best swimmer to come out of Ashland who's competed in Masters," Keller said of Pickering.
 
Keller has turned in numerous top-10 swims at U.S. Masters events, including earning All-American status for being No. 1 in his event.
 
So how long does Keller plan to continue to swim competitively?
 
"Depends on how long it holds together," said Keller of his body, which has seen a total shoulder replacement and both knees arthroscopically repaired. "Do I want to swim until I'm 80? I don't know. As long as I enjoy it and feels good."