Anthony “Tony” Bartle was a four-year high school All-American swimmer who competed at LaSalle College before attending North Penn HS for his senior year. He as a two-time Catholic MVP. While at North Penn HS, Tony was the PIAA State Champion in the 200 and 500-yard freestyle as well as a member of the 400 free relay. After high school, Tony attended UCLA on a full scholarship where he was a 9 time All-American and NCAA finalist in the 500 yd. free, 200 yd. butterfly, and 800 yd. freestyle relay (1977-1980). Other accolades at UCLA were: Team Captain, MVP (1977), Most Inspirational Swimmer (1980), and Coaches Award (1980). On the National and International level, Tony was a 6-time High Point Award winner at the Middle Atlantic Swimming Championships and a two-time Kiputh Award winner at the Eastern Long Course Swimming Championships. Most impressively, Tony is a two-time American record holder. He placed fourth at the US Olympic Trials in the 200-meter butterfly and was ranked fifth in the world in that event. Tony was a silver medalist at the US National Championships on three different occasions and was a 5 time US National team member. Over the years he was ranked in the top 10 in the world in 4 events (200 butterfly, 200, 400 and 1500 freestyle). Tony closed his career at the 1980 US Olympic Trials with a 4th place finish in the 400 Freestyle and a 6th place finish in the 200 Butterfly. In his last swim at that meet, all 8 finalists bettered the silver medalists time from the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. Tony proudly joins his brother Bill, as a member of the PA Aquatics Hall of Fame.
William Ronald Forrester, Jr. was born in Darby, Pennsylvania and is an Olympic medalist and former world record-holder. He represented the United States as an 18-year-old at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, where he won a bronze medal in the men’s 200-meter butterfly, finishing behind U.S. teammates Mike Bruner and Steve Gregg. At the 1975 World Championships, Bill Forrester won the gold medal in the 200m butterfly and the bronze in the 100m. He bettered that performance at the 1978 World Championships, winning golds in the 200 freestyle and on the 4×200 freestyle relay, adding a bronze in the 400m free. Forrester also won
the AAU 200m butterfly in 1976. He graduated from Auburn in 1980 and later became a swim coach, founding the Georgia Coastal Aquatic Team in 1994.
G. Michael Gobrecht has been a part of the Central Pennsylvania aquatic scene his entire life having swum all of his life for teams such as Elizabethtown Aquatic Club, Hershey Aquatic Club, and the West Shore YMCA (WSY). Mike has been the Director of Competitive Swimming at the WSY since 1989. Mike has coached High School teams at Central Dauphin East (1992-1994), Trinity High School (2002-2013) and since 2014 has been the Head Coach for Cumberland Valley High School. Mike’s philosophy, in and out of the water, is one that allows the ambitious student-athlete to excel both in the pool and in the classroom. In this philosophy, goals and preparation must match and athletes are taught and expected to budget their time effectively. Coach Mike participates actively in swimming legislation and political bodies. A member of the Olympic International Operations Committee, Coach Mike has served on the Olympic International Operations Committee, as well as previously served on the YMCA of the USA Coaches executive committee and the Middle Atlantic Swimming Inc, Board of Directors. Mike has also previously served on the YMCA of the USA National Swimming and Diving “Steering Committee” as well USA Swimming Open Water “Steering Committee.” Under his leadership,
WSY student-athletes have been accepted to and have earned athletic and academic scholarships to many prominent colleges and universities in the United States. Mike has also coached athletes that have represented the United States at major swimming championships including the FINA World Championships, USA Swimming National Junior Team, USA Olympic Team Trials, and Open Water Pan American Games. Coach Mike has won awards such as YMCA National “Coach of the Meet” and well as the American Swimming Coaches Association “Awards of Excellence.” Mike was the appointed head coach of the FINA Open Water World Championship Team in Roberval, Quebec Canada in 2009 and has been an assistant coach for the USA Swimming Junior Team at the FINA World Youth Swimming Championships, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2006.
Henry Jamison “Jam” Handy was born in Philadelphia and was an American Olympic breaststroke swimmer, water polo player, and leader in the field of commercial audio and visual communications. Handy was noted for the number of training films that he produced over the years. As a swimmer, Handy introduced a number of new swimming strokes to Americans, such as the Australian crawl. He would often wake up early and devise new strokes to give him an edge over other swimmers. Swimming led to him earning a bronze in the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis, Missouri. Twenty years later he was part of the Illinois Athletic Club water polo team at the 1924 Olympics in Paris, France. He broke the record of the longest period of time between first and last competition. The team won the bronze at that Olympics. Handy briefly attended the University of Michigan and competed for the Chicago AA and the Illinois AC while working for the Chicago Tribune. He was forced to do most of his training at 3 AM after the newspaper had been put to bed. Handy was an innovative swimmer and would have won more championships had all his ideas stood the test of competition. However, in many fields he was years ahead of his time; he was, for example, the first to use the alternate arm style in the backstroke. He also pioneered underwater photography for stroke analysis and in his later years, set up the Jam Handy Corporation, which specialized in motivational and training films, notably producing many films for the auto industry. The Jam Handy Organization was probably best known for producing the first animated version of the then-new Christmas story Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer directed by Max Fleischer.
Stu Marvin is a 1978 graduate of Bloomsburg, Stu was an 11-time All American performer for the Huskies, winning five PSAC titles, and setting six conference records. He was a two-time winner of the school’s Underclassman Athlete of the Year award and received the Robert B. Redman Award as the school’s top male senior athlete in 1978. He was the first swimmer inducted into the university’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1990. In 2002, the YMCA of the USA named him the recipient of the 2002 Joseph G. Rogers Award for outstanding service to their National Competitive Swimming & Diving Committee. In addition to the BU Athletic Hall of Fame, Marvin has been enshrined in three other Halls of Fame: the Florida Gold Coast Masters Hall of Fame (2005), the Broward County Florida Sports Hall of Fame (2011) and the Upper Dublin High School Athletic Hall of Fame. Marvin is a two-time FINA Masters World Champion and former world record holder, a 28-time US Masters National Champion, and a 13-time YMCA Masters National Champion. He is a certified Level 5 member of the American Swimming Coaches Association, as well as a member of the College Swimming Coaches Association of America. Coach Marvin spent 30 years in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he oversaw the operation of the aquatic complex at the International Swimming Hall of Fame. He was involved in coaching with the Fort Lauderdale Swim Team and Fort Lauderdale Aquatics. Marvin was also an administrator for the College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) during their annual Swim Forum. Stu returned home to become the Head Coach of the men’s and women’s swim teams at Bloomsburg University in 2008. Since his return, Marvin has coached 16 All-Americans, 34 individual PSAC champions, and 56 All-Conference performers between the two programs. Under Marvin’s guidance, the women have broken 19 of the school’s 20 records, including the PSAC championship meet record in the 200 medley relay, and his swimmers now own 169 of the 210 times on the all-time top ten list. On the men’s side, the Huskies now hold six PSAC Conference records and six PSAC championship meet records. Every team record has been broken multiple times since his arrival and his swimmers occupy 197 of the 210 spots on the BU All-Time Top Ten list. Additionally, Bloomsburg posted its first-ever undefeated season in program history when it went a perfect 7-0 in 2016. As a result of these accolades, Coach Stu Marvin has been named the PSAC Coach of the Year multiple times during his tenure.
John Bayes Norton was an American water polo player who competed in the 1924 Summer Olympics. In 1924, the USA won the bronze medal with John playing three matches and scoring three goals. He was also a member of the Chicago AA team that won the AAU indoor water polo championship in 1926 and 1928. He lived most of his adult life in Lebanon, Pennsylvania.
Michael H. Orstein hails from Lancaster, Pennsylvania where he was an All-State swimmer, an All-District III track and field athlete from Manheim Township in 1974. He attended Springfield College (MA) where he was a four-time All-American swimmer under the legendary Coach Charles E. Silvia. Upon graduation, he gained international experience through his position in Bermuda as the first Aquatics Director at Warwick Academy. During his time in Bermuda, he coached numerous national champions and record holders, and was integral in the revival of water polo through his position as the player/coach for the Belmont team. Next stop in his coaching profession was at York College where he built them into a perennial power. In 1988 he made Washington & Jefferson College his home where his accolades are endless. Over his 30-year career at W&J, he became their winningest coach with a record of 487-219-3 (his career record is 547-244-4) and was named the Presidents’ Athletic Conference Swimming Coach of the Year award an impressive 15 times. His other accomplishments during his career at the college include producing eight national champions, 17 All-Americans, 36 NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championship qualifiers and 251 PAC Champions. He has coached teams to nine PAC titles, 221 school records, and 61 conference records. While coaching at W&J, his Women’s and Men’s Teams consistently earned Scholar All America Recognition by the CSCAA. Some of his most prized accomplishments: The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Distinguished Service Award for outstanding leadership in 2005, the prestigious Master Coach Award by the CSCAA in 1996, and the American Swimming Coaches Association with a Certificate of Excellence for Outstanding Achievement 2006-2008. Coach Orstein was responsible for the emergence of water polo at W&J when he secured a $60,000 grant from the USOC in April 1999. During his four seasons as head coach, both men’s and women’s teams were ranked nationally in the Top 10 every year. The women’s team traveled to the Collegiate III National Championships, where they finished 7th in 2000 and 6th in 2001. In this short amount of time the team produced three All-Americans. Orstein also received the honor of being named the Division III Tournament Championships Coach of the Year in 2002 and as well as earning CWPA Southern Division Coach of the Year that same season. Coach Orstein to date has been enshrined in three prestigious Halls of Fame: PA Sports HOF for Washington-Greene County Chapter (2014), Western PA Jewish Sports HOF (2015) and PA Sports HOF for the Susquehanna Valley Chapter (2016).
Susanne Marie Shields , also known by her married name Susan White, is a former American Olympic champion and world record-holder. Susanne represented the United States as a 16-year-old at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, where she received a bronze medal for her third place performance in the women’s 100-meter butterfly, finishing behind Australian Lyn McClements and fellow American Ellie Daniel. Shields was born in Erie, Pennsylvania, and retired from competitive swimming after graduating from high school in Kentucky. She later earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from the University of Louisville and has worked as a teacher and swim coach. Robert Raymond “Bob” Sohl was born in York, Pennsylvania and represented the United States at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, where he received a bronze medal for his third-place performance in the men’s 200-meter breaststroke, finishing behind fellow Americans Joe Verdeur and Keith Carter, and completing an American sweep of the event. Verdeur, Carter, and Sohl had finished in the same order at the 1948 U.S. Olympic Trials. Sohl attended the University of Michigan, where he swam for the Michigan Wolverines swimming and diving team in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) competition from 1947 to 1949.