Betty Russ

O*H*I*O Masters Swim Club is proud to present the 2019 Lifetime to Achievement Award to Betty Russ.

Betty started her love of swimming in grade school are enjoyed 8 years of swimming under the Amateur Athletics Union. She grabbed national press attention after winning a 3-mile lake swim in Camden, New Jersey in record time. Shortly after, Betty tried out for the Olympics. After not making the team, she got married, hanging up her suit for the nearly 30 years. After her husband passed, Betty jumped back into the dating pool—and the competition pool. She began dating Dick Marshall, and a friend of his asked her why she wasn’t swimming? And that question encouraged Betty to dive into masters swimming. She swam at her first masters meet in Canton, sweeping her events, and gaining the attention of other master’s swimmers, including Darlene Ferguson and Lilly Kron, who persuaded Betty to join O*H*I*O Masters swimming.

Betty spent the next 30 plus years traveling the country for masters meets with her teammates, such as Dexter Woodford and Luise Easton. They saw many pools and cities during their travels. Betty even brushed up with Hollywood celebrities while competing in California! During her Masters tenure, Betty claimed 823 individual USMS top ten awards, 54 relays top ten awards, 35 All-American awards, and six lifetime USMS national records, three of which are still held today (50 free, 100 fly, and 400 IM all in the 85-89 age group).

Betty’s favorite memory was swimming the 100 SCY fly at the National Senior Games in Minnesota in 2016, and at the age of 88. Swimmers line-up around the pool to cheer her on. Afterwards, they told her “I’ve never seen anything like that.”
When asked about advice she would give others, Betty says “Don’t be afraid. Say I own this pool. Say I am the best. I’m going to be beat you.” “You don’t want to be afraid,” says Betty. “You tighten up. You want to be happy, you want to be loose.”

If her various swimming accomplishments and Hall of fame memberships weren’t enough to convince you that Betty is a fierce competitor, those comments definitely are!

O*H*I*O Masters is proud to recognize Betty with the lifetime achievement award. And we thank her for the passion and competitiveness she’s brought to the pool for all these years.