The Mermen of Whiting High School

Anthony Borgo September 2024

The School City of Whiting underwent a massive construction project in 1922.  By February 1923, the new Junior High School was completed. It was equipped with twenty-six classrooms, offices, storerooms, lockers, shower facilities, a large gymnasium, large auditorium, with a well-appointed stage, and a swimming pool. 

With the completion of the new swimming pool great interest was generated for this new sport.  Coach L. B. Hart issued a call for all swimmers among the Whiting High School boys. Over forty boys responded to the call.  They were put under the supervision of Assistant Coach Lint who began to train the Oiler Tankmen.  The following athletes survived the initial try-outs: George Dewey, George McCoy, Joe Kopcha, Wilbur Case, Ernest Richardson, Charles Fogli, and Harry Walker.

The Oiler Mermen made their debut in Lake County on April 4, 1924.  The swimming meet was held at Whiting High School.  The Whiting tankers did especially well for their first year of competition, placing third overall in the meet.  Emmerson took first place, while Hammond finished second.  The Oiler swimmers worth noting were Harry Walker and Charles Fogli, which the Reflector reported that, “they were the class of the county.”

Four years later the Whiting mermen were starting to become a serious contender in Indiana High School swimming.  That year the Oilers finished first at the Lake County meet, second at the Northern Indiana meet and third at the State Championship meet.  This was the second consecutive year that Whiting was victorious at the county competition.  The 1928 Reflector stated that Whiting now has “established themselves as the premier group of watermen in this part of the state.”

The leader of the team was Captain Joe Brock.  Brock was a rising star in Whiting’s swim ranks.  Brock started as a freshman where he began to rack up points at the meets.  During the 1927-28 season he captured an individual state tile in the 220 yard freestyle event.  This was the first year that Indiana offered a state championship in swimming, Rounding out the squad was Nick Gordon, Frank Walsko and Bill Manchak.

With Joe Brock returning for his senior season, big things were expected for the Whiting mermen.  And boy did they deliver! The team consisted of  Joe Brock, Bill Manchak, Nick Gordon, John Sopko, Merrill Campbell, Andrew Knish, Joe Joroscak, and Stanley Olszewski.  After easily handling local competitions, Brock and company traveled down south to compete in only the second state swimming championship in Indiana high school history.  The Oilers only loss in 1929 came against South Bend by a narrow margin of two points.

The State Championship meet was held in Columbus, Indiana.  The event which was held on May 3, 1929, saw the Whiting Oilers battle Indianapolis Shortridge.  Indianapolis Shortridge, originally known as Indianapolis High School, is the oldest free public high school in the state of Indiana.  When all was said and done, the Oilers nosed out the Blue Devils 26 points to 24 earning Whiting High School’s first ever state championship in any sport.  

The final event, the 160 yard relay decided the championship.  Both schools were tied leading up to the last race of the day.  However, Joe Brock proved too much for Shortridge, taking the W and securing Whiting’s place in athletic history.    Brock won individual state titles in the 40 yard freestyle, 100 yard freestyle, and 220 yard freestyle.  Today, the IHSAA rules no longer allow an individual to compete in more than 2 individual events.  The 1929 State Championship marked the only instance in Indiana history where a swimmer had won more than two state titles in a single year.  

From 1928 through 1930 the boys’ swimming state finals were not sponsored by the IHSAA and were by invitation only.  Columbus High School hosted these three meets, which were won by Shortridge, Whiting, and East Chicago Washington respectively.  But, Whiting was about to change all of that in just four years.

In the 1933 swimming season, the Whiting Oilers only blemish came to Thornton Fractional during a preseason invitational.  The mermen of Whiting quickly dispatched all foes on their path to the state finals.  The 1933 meet was held at the Whiting Community Center, which had a 60-foot swimming pool. The Whiting tankmen were set to face South Bend Central, the defending state champs, Hammond High School, Columbus High School, and Horace Mann.

The Oilers were simply dominant in the pool on this day.  Whiting High school swimmers broke four state prep records in their rout to win the school’s first ever IHSAA sanctioned state championship.  In addition, two of the previous state records were lowered. The Whiting mermen were as follows:  Albert Ehlers, Roy Green, Jr., Clarence Goerg, Charles Horvat, Frank Wilson,Vincent Oliver, Weldon Love, John Nagy, and Lyle Schwarzentruber. The Oilers were coached by Oliver Parmenter.

The Whiting relay team consisting of Love, Nagy, Oliver and Schwarentruber swam the 160 yards event in 1:22.7.  The old record in the event was 1:24.8 set by South Bend Central in 1932.  Roy Green, Jr. established a new state record in the 100 yard breast-stroke 1:14.8 against the old record 1:18.3 held by Anderson of Washington.  Albert Ehlers set a new record in the 100 yard backstroke, 1:08.9  smashing his old record of 1:12.2.  The medley relay team of Ehlers, Green and Oliver broke its own record of 1:15.3 in the 120 yard swim.  The new record was set at 1:12.4.

The Oilers secured the state championship by taking six out of eight first place events, two seconds, and a third place, piling up a total of 44 points in the process.  South Bend Central finished second with 27 points, Hammond was third with 20 points, Columbus fourth with 10 points and Horace Mann finished fifth with just 5 points.

Whiting never won another swimming state championship.  Over the years the results began to decline.  The last year that Whiting fielded a swim team was in 1970.  That year the Whiting tankmen did not win a single meet.  Fifteen years later Whiting High school underwent another major renovation.  However, this time the swimming pool was removed. 

Although swimming in Whiting High School has long been forgotten, you can never take away the fact that the Mermen of Whiting secured the school’s first ever state championship. It took another fifteen years until the Oilers achieved another state championship.