Locker Room Renovation Underway

Supersizethatorder-mutt

Supersizethatorder-mutt

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travgt01 said:
Okay I've heard about the class many times....so what did you do/learn in it?
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As PInglett said his dad told him, one of the prime purposes of the class was to learn not to panic. Among the things we had to do was bob up and down for several minutes in the pool, first with our hands tied together, then with our feet tied together, and finally with both our hands and feet tied together. As PInglett's dad said, we learned how to make a flotation device out of our pants (jeans). We had to jump off the high dive, a requirement for passing, which a surprising number of guys could not or would not do. And we had to swim two lengths of the pool underwater without coming up for air. I was a pretty good underwater swimmer, but at the 3/4 mark I convinced myself I couldn't make it, and I can still hear Freddie Lanoue screaming at me, "SUCKER ! SUCKER!" That was his unorthodox way of "encouraging" us, but it didn't work on me, and I quit, shy of the goal. You cannot believe how much I hated the man for that, but he was obviously right; I WAS a sucker, because I know I could have made it. Ahh, the memories.....LOL
 
tech_wreck47

tech_wreck47

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Supersizethatorder-mutt said:
I received a personal email from Ken this morning asking about my memories of the old pool. It appears he used some of what I told him in this article. I have fond (???) memories of Freddie Lanoue's "drownproofing" class; it was quite an experience, to say the least. The one thing that neither Ken nor I had an answer for was how or why the remains of the old pool were not noticed when the current north stands and locker room were built. If it's a problem now, why wasn't it a problem in 1995. Anyone have any knowledge or thoughts about that?
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In construction you take things that may or may not be an issue and fix it to be on the safe side. Back then they probably just didn’t care lol. You’d be surprised at the “corners cut” by builders in construction, it’s absolutely ridiculous.
 
Essobee

Essobee

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pinglett said:
My dad said you learned to not panic, not tire yourself out, and I think he said they even made a lifejacket out of blue jeans? He also said someone almost drowned in the course.
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The "lifejacket" was made simply by tying each leg in a knot below the knee and swinging it over your head to trap air so you could float on it by inserting your upper body between the legs.
 
jwsavhGT

jwsavhGT

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pinglett said:
My dad said you learned to not panic, not tire yourself out, and I think he said they even made a lifejacket out of blue jeans? He also said someone almost drowned in the course.
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Another rumor floating around was if you drowned then you would get a posthumous degree in good standing. If your roommate drowned then you would get a 4.0 for that quarter.
 

danny daniel

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Things I learned
pinglett said:
My dad said you learned to not panic, not tire yourself out, and I think he said they even made a lifejacket out of blue jeans? He also said someone almost drowned in the course.
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I would add that the course made you man up and do some things you were terrified about before you did them. The course taught you to learn the process and trust it (otherwise you would waterboard yourself). It certainly added to your self confidence and gave you a great feeling of accomplishment, and you did not have to be an above average athlete to accomplish the course requirements. Passing the course was much more mental than physical and fit well into the typical GT "shaft overcoming" training of the 60's. Passing this course may well have been my most proud accomplishment (except getting out) at GT.
 
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