Frederick “Fred” Allen

• USMS Pool All American Honors – 8 years (33 individual)

• USMS Top Ten Achievements – 73 individual

Fred Allen, a native of Nottingham, England was educated in New York’s Stuyvesant High School and at Springfield College (class of 1924). He received a master’s degree in education from Boston University in 1936. A World War I Army veteran, Allen also was a physical education teacher in the Providence public school system for over 40 years, retiring in 1968. Although Fred was active in sports and physical conditioning all his life, it was not until 1977 at the age of 78 that his competitive swimming career began.  

He was “horsed” into swimming Masters by his son Monroe, a NEM member. There was a mini-meet in Seekonk and Monroe suggested that Fred bring his suit with him, so that he could swim between heats.  When he arrived at the pool, he was advised “the first event is a 200-yard handicap race and you’re in it.”  Fred had not swum that far in at least 15 years, but he started (crawl) and finished (backstroke). When he learned that his time would have placed him in the Top 10 nationally in his age group, that, as Fred put it, “really fired up the furnace.”

At the 1980 Short Course National meet in Fort Lauderdale, Fred who was over the age of 80, was summoned from the bleachers to take the place of a missing teammate in the men’s 35+ freestyle relay already in progress. The relay team won no medals, but Fred won the hearts of his teammates. 

“Well, I finished, didn’t I?” The quotation was characteristic of Fred’s attitude towards competitive swimming. He liked the training and the good physical condition that it brought. Although he didn’t object to the medals, the attention, and the records (he held several age-group long course world records at the time of his death at the age of 87 in 1986), he never became obsessed with winning, or thought that he was a phenomenally good swimmer, or lost his ability to chuckle at himself.  Once when asked why he participated in the Masters program, he said, “first, I was ‘horsed’ into it. Second, I like it for the health of it. I enjoy trying out new techniques in the art of swimming the different strokes. And third, where could you find a better group of people to share your experience with?”

Marguerite “Mardie” Brown

• USMS National Records – pool individual 7 lifetime

• USMS Pool All American Honors – 12 years (32 individual)

• USMS Long Distance All American Honors – 5 years (individual)

• USMS Top Ten Achievements – 239 individual

• USMS Profile

Mardie was born in Portland, Oregon, educated in the schools of Portland and received a bachelor's degree from Mills College. She met her husband, Donald Brown, while getting her master's in art at New York University, moving to Palermo Maine in 1949 and raising their three children Tony, Mike, and Dino   there.

Mardie taught art at a one-room schoolhouse and swimming lessons to the local children. She was a member of the Palermo Grange as well as the Farm Extension. Later in her life, Mardie worked as a probation and parole officer.

Mardie describes her pre-masters swimming history as “rather short.” It consisted of her swimming 400 meters in a telegraphic net at Mills College to pace another girl. Mardie set too fast a pace and won the race. She first became involved in the Masters program in 1976 participating “in a little meet in Augusta” and found she had the killer instinct, so she joined New England Masters.

She regards as her most memorable Masters race the 1500-meter free at the 1985 Long Course Nationals at Brown University because she swam 1600 meters instead of 1500! The year before she had set a national record for the 1500 in the 60-64 age group, but the record stood for only 10 days.

Mardie was a very athletic person, participating in competitive running and swimming events well into her 80s and receiving world recognition for holding records in swimming in various masters age groups. She was an inspiration to many with her commitment to working out and setting the example that physical fitness can be an activity for life. 

Mardie’s son Dino says: “She would have been very proud to receive this honor. Mom was very competitive but not to a fault. Her winning was less important than her knowing she had done her very best meeting the thrill of the challenge.”

Irving Katz

• USMS Pool All American Honors – 11 years (39 individual)

• USMS Top Ten Achievements – 206 individual

Irv swam for Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, New York, class of 1941. He captained the team for three years, set a school backstroke record, and finished undefeated in his last year. His best events were the 50 and 100 free and the 100 back. He started his college career at Brooklyn College, where he broke the college and pool record for the 150-yard backstroke in his first varsity season. Teammates voted him “most valuable” after his first season.  

He continued to swim at Cornell University starting in 1941 by setting backstroke records for the 100 and 150 distances. Unlike most college swimmers in those pre-Masters days, Irv kept competing for several years after graduation. He won the NY State AAU backstroke title in 1948. In 1953, at the then-seemingly-advanced age of 29, he scooped up two golds, a silver, and a bronze at the 1953 Southeast AAU Conference Championships.  

In 1954 Irv and his wife Rosalie moved to the Portsmouth, New Hampshire, area and then to Rye, in 1977. It was at a long course meet at Brown in August of 1979 that convinced Irv that Masters swimming competition would provide him a worthwhile diversion in his then-imminent retirement as a consultant in management technology. “That, was a most pleasant experience: good people, good swimming, a most beautiful college town weekend.”

John Merrill

• USMS National Records – pool individual 6 lifetime, 2 currently held

• USMS Pool All Star Honors – 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009

• USMS Pool All American Honors – 17 years (25 individual)

• USMS Long Distance All American Honors – 1 year (1 individual)

• USMS Top Ten Achievements – 350 individual

• USMS Profile

John Merrill was born February 12, 1917, in Buffalo, New York. After high school, John attended the New York State Merchant Marine Academy. There he continued his tradition of strong swimming established in high school. On one occasion in 1936, he swam an exhibition backstroke event with Olympian Walter Spence in Bermuda. He swam in a meet against the Panamanian Olympic Team in Balboa, Panama.

Merrill served in the United States Coast Guard from 1938-1951. His assignments included International Iceberg Patrol (1940), Ketchikan, Alaska (1942-1944), U.S. Coast Guard Radio Engineering and Maintenance School at Avery Point Groton, Connecticut (1944-1951). He was employed at the Navy Underwater Sound Laboratory from 1951 to 1979, eventually becoming head of the submarine electromagnetic systems department there.

After WWII, John stopped swimming competitively until the early 1970s when he caught wind of the fledgling Masters program. He held many national titles and age-group records in U.S. Masters Swimming, most recently being affiliated with the New England Masters Swim Club after many years with Connecticut Masters.

Following his retirement, Merrill wrote several books and articles on marine subjects. He served as president of the Waterford Library Board, was a member of the Connecticut State Library Board, and was a fellow of the Blunt White Library at Mystic Seaport. Among other honors, Lafayette High School in Buffalo recognized him as an outstanding alumnus in 2007. The Town of Waterford named him Citizen of the Year in 1987.

From long time Connecticut Masters Teammate Ronnie Kamphausen “John has to satisfy himself. His satisfaction comes not just in winning, but in measuring his performance against what he's done and hopes to do in the future.” 

John’s youngest son Justin swam for the University of Maine and his grandsons Colin and Liam swam for Connecticut College. The Merrill swimming legacy is on its third generation!