Heroes In and Out of the Water

It was an evening of swimming heroes, on the dais and in the audience, as the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center (RBAC) hosted “Eat, Give, and Celebrate,” welcoming hundreds to its annual fundraising benefit at the Fig House on Tuesday evening.

RBAC Director of Marketing and Communications Vanessa Rivera Roberts welcomed attendees and introduced Melanie Sauer, the interim Executive Director and CFO, who highlighted the importance of donations for the center’s initiatives and thanked the staff, Board members, and sponsors.

Three-time Olympic Gold Medalist swimmer and NBC analyst Rowdy Gaines shared his inspiring swimming journey as well as the importance of promoting water safety through his foundation.

Currently, the RBAC provides, in cooperation with the Pasadena Unified School District, free swimming lessons for every third-grade student in the District every semester.

“Every time I hear of a child drowning,” said Gaines, “it literally breaks my heart. It takes me three or four days to get over it, because I know how unnecessary most of those drownings are. We found the cure, literally the cure for drowning, with our swim lessons. If a child takes swimming lessons, it reduces the risk of drowning by 88%. So it’s an answer to what we have found to be an epidemic in our country. So that’s one thing that I’m very passionate about.”

Gaines was joined on stage by RBAC Board Member and fellow Olympian John Naber, a USC graduate who earned five medals at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.

The evening also honored former Pasadena Mayor Bill Thomson with the Changemaker Award for his significant contributions to the RBAC and the community.

Said Naber of Thomson, “He was a business, legal, and civic triple threat who used his organizational skills not only as a conflict litigator, intellectual property but his civic skills as a politician and attorney to make a difference for others.”

Naber added that Thomson “made a tremendous impact in our community as a Mayor, as a past City Councilmember in the Rose Bowl Stadium operations,” attracting UCLA, two Super Bowls, and the World Cup to Pasadena, and as a founding Board member of the RBAC.

“He saw that the Center was built in collaboration with the city,” Naber added, “and then he served on our Board throughout most of the 34-year existence that we’ve had until recently. He always provided wise counsel on significant issues, and civic relations.”

Thomson’s son, Bill Jr., accepted the award on behalf of his father.

Darrell Walker, one of the Board’s longest-serving members, was also fêted by the Center.

An emotional Walker brought numerous city employees to the stage to join him as he thanked the Board and stressed the importance of teaching swimming to young minority children.

Naber recognized Walker’s dedication, remembering how “Walker was present in all the meetings, and I personally witnessed Darrel actually bringing the meetings to a halt until his genuine concerns about athlete safety were addressed.

“I’m talking about the training of the lifeguards. I’m talking about the pool covers of the drain at the bottom of the pool. I’m talking about the CPR paddles that now exist at the facility. There is no telling how many lives Darrell saved because he made the Center into a place where kids’ lives were not in danger.”

For more about the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center, click here.