When Judy Chadima was 18 months old, her father tossed her into Lake Michigan. It was sink or swim. She swam and she is still swimming today.
In the summer of 1995 she won six gold medals in the 65-69 age group at the
U.S. National Senior Sports Classic in San Antonio. She swept the 50, 100, and 200 meter races in both backstroke and freestyle. She finished the 200 meter backstroke 35 seconds ahead of the second place racer.
From age three through high school Judy swam competitively. But she gave up swimming at Coe since there was no swimming team and as she once noted, "When you dive into the Voorhees pool you come up touching the other side." Judy was active as president of the Kappa Delta Sorority, member of the Student Honor Commission, and member of the Women's Athletic Association Council. Judy stayed out of competitive swimming for about 20 years while she raised six children, with some help from her husband, Bill, Class of 1951.
At age 43 she decided to get back into competitive swimming and in 1974
Judy and George Henry, Class of 1949, started the Cedar Rapids Master's Swim Club. Ten years later the club had grown enough both in size and skill to win the lowa State Championship in Master's Swimming. Soon her ability took her far beyond Iowa into national competition.
Here is just a brief sampling of her achievements. In 1985, at the National Master's Meet, she won the Gold in both 100 and 200 meter backstroke. In 1991, she took the Gold Medal in the 200 meter freestyle at the National Senior Olympics.
In 1993, at age 63, she broke the national record for the 60-64 age group in the 100 meter freestyle at the National Senior Olympics. From that meet she took home five Gold Medals and two Silver Medals.
Judy has credited her success in swimming to her first coach who trained her effectively in the fundamentals of swimming and also she notes that she grew up in an environment that encouraged fitness and proper diet.
Though there wasn't a letter to be won at Coe, Judy Chadima is a model of the Coe ideal that fitness and sports competition are a lifetime commitment.
Her national stature as a master's swimmer calls for this accomplished alumna of Coe to be a member of the Kohawk Athletic Hall of Fame.
