Word: russ
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Squat Russell Tongay could hardly wait to make a swimmer out of his first-born son. As a high-school boy in St. Louis, barrel-chested Russ was a sprint swimmer himself, and earned letters in almost every other sport. But fame & fortune eluded him. He became a coach at municipal pools and summer camps, was anonymously enduring World War II as a Coast Guard pharmacist's mate at Miami when Russell Jr. was born...
Misfortune halted Russ's plans for Russ Jr. almost before they had begun: the baby died from multiple brain hemorrhages at 18 months. An Army doctor testified at the inquest that he had heard an ugly little story from Russ's blonde wife that Tongay had been trying to teach the baby to float in the bathtub and had slapped him on the head because he did not obey. But Russ's wife testified that the baby was bruised in a fall down the stairs, and no charges were filed...
...Shower. Mrs. Tongay eventually presented Russ with two more babies-another Russell Jr., who was nicknamed "Bubba," and, 18 months later, a girl whom they named Kathy. Russ began training them to swim before they could walk. He sprinkled water in their faces from the time of their first baths, turned showers on them at six months to teach them proper aquatic breathing. Kathy swam 20 feet under water when she was only ten months old. At 17 months the Tongay children paddled a quarter of a mile a day; at two years each did five miles...
...infield had Russ Johnson at first, Wak Greeley at second, Ed Krinsky at short, and Tim Wise at third, with Dick Clasby going all the way behind the plate...
...Russ Johnson will open at first, Walt Greeley at second, Ed Krinsky at short, Tim Wise at third, Dick Clasby behind the plate, and Don Butters in right field...