Swim Team History
CHEROKEE SWIM TEAM HISTORY
Before there was golf or tennis at Cherokee, there was a pool and a really good swim team! When the Cherokee pool opened in the summer of 1957, the golf course was still being built and tennis had just started, many of the new Cherokee members shared the same vision as founding member Pat William did: to have a place for children to swim.
Charlie Gaddis piloted the Cherokee program for some 20 years. His Cherokee teams dominated Georgia swimming at the Inter-Club, State, and AAU levels. The team traveled from the Golden Isles to Canton to Athens to Birmingham and even to Tampa and Havana, Cuba for meets, usually dominating the competition. The young people of Buckhead at the time needed an outlet to thrive and they found it in the Cherokee Swim Team. His teams won 12 Inter-Club championships: 1958, 1959, 1960, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, and 1976.
From the late 1970s into the new century, Pete Higgins continued the aquatic tradition of excellence at Cherokee, training a new generation of competitive swimmers and winning Inter-Club Championships in 1982 and 1986. Mr. Higgins coached at The Westminster Schools from 1960 to 2016 and was the first coach from Georgia inducted into the National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association of America Hall of Fame.
For more than 60 years, the swim team has been an integral part of our Club. Generations of families have watched and participated in this important legacy; today, more than 220 children swim on the Cherokee team each year. We remain focused on continuing our tradition of excellence by providing our children expert coaching in a fun and competitive environment. With every stroke, we get closer to winning our 15th Inter-Club Championship.
Swim Team records and memorabilia on display near the fitness desk at the Town Club.
