Somewhere around 1959 a couple of teams (Shepherd Hills and Cumberland) got together and did a little swimming competition. They swam two dual meets with Shepherd Hills winning the first meet and Cumberland winning the second one. There were only about 60 swimmers and it was very informal. Now there was competitive swimming going on in Chattanooga long before that time, over at the private schools. But those were considered "Big time" swimmers. Not everyone could swim on those teams and there was a bunch of community swimming going on as well.
The organization of the Swim League fell right into place after those first few meets. I'm sure some would disagree, but these two teams were instrumental in the Leagues beginnings. The very first “Cumberland Youth Foundation Invitational” was held in 1960 with Cumberland winning and Shepherd Hills taking second. Cumberland won a lot in those early years (13 out of the first 15). While Cumberland and Shepherd Hills were the only officially organized teams in the beginning, other swimmers from Fairyland, Signal Mountain, Murray Hills, Brainerd Hills and Golf and Country Club came to participate in the Invitational event.
The level of competition increased in 1963 due to a lot a lot of recruiting and by the summer of 1969 the swimming competition had grown by 100 times to 600 swimmers and divers and a host of eight teams. There were no computers or electronic timing systems back then and a lot of effort by a lot of parents was needed to pull off a large championship meet. During this time, volunteers had to put every child’s name on a 3x5 index card for each event they swam. Then they had to put the children’s time on the cards and start laying them out to determine who would swim which events in the finals. This was a very time consuming effort and required a lot of patience on the part of the volunteers, the parents and the swimmers. By 1971 there were 9 teams in the league: Cumberland, Signal Mountain, Stuart Heights, Red Bank, Cleveland, Brainerd Hills, East Ridge, Country Club-Shepherd Hills, and the Jewish Community Center.
Dalton, Fairyland, and the north River YMCA joined the league in 1972 and the season was opened with an event known as the “Big Splash” with around 1150 swimmer and divers. Also, in 1972 the League made history, without even noticing it, when a young black swimmer by the name of Sylvester Harris, Jr., a 9-year old from Cleveland, began swimming. When the meet director for City Meet that year was approached about the historic event, he simply responded “Come to think of it, he is the first Black boy to participate in our meet. But, in case there’s any doubt, I want to make it perfectly clear that he is most welcome.” In 1973 Turner Club and Fort Oglethorpe joined the league swelling the number of teams to 14 and the number of swimmers to 1250.
In the 80’s and 90’s there were several changes in the League. Computerized systems were being developed and computers started to come on the scene to streamline things a bit. The Turner Club reorganized to become Hamilton Club, Calhoun Grundy County joined the league, The Jewish Community Center dropped out along with North River YMCA. Carpet Capital Aquatic Center joined along with Colonial Shores and Ringgold. Hurricane Creek joined and left the league at this time as well. In the early 2000’s Mosby Park joined the League in Cleveland and Ooltewah joined in 2009 bringing the number of participating clubs to 17. The number of swimmers and divers seems to run around 1500 these days and potential new teams are always inquiring about joining the League.
