Special to the American
Nine prominent members of the St. Louis swim community were inducted into the 2008 Ozark Swimming Hall of Fame during the recent Ozark Short Course Swim Championship Meet. The 2008 Inductees are Vallianti Al Taylor Jr., Jeff Commings, Al Ackerman, Dee Brown, Gussie Crawford, Steve Crocker, Leo Letendre, Terry Varney Freerks and Tracey (Metz) Webb.
A native of the Show Me State, Vallianti “Val” Taylor is aquatic director for the Mathews-Dickey Boys’ & Girls’ Club. At an early age, Taylor was stricken with polio in his left leg, and swimming was recommended as therapy. The therapeutic experience made him physically strong and boosted his morale. This helped him motivate others to choose swimming as a positive alternative to any challenges they may face in life.
Taylor attended Turner Elementary and graduated from Charles Sumner High School in 1951. He earned a bachelor’s degree in education and physical education from West Virginia State in 1957 and master’s in education from Washington University in 1958. As a member of the West Virginia State University swim team, he won championships in the 500, 1650 and 200 yard free style.
The summer of 1982 brought Taylor closer to accomplishing his youth service mission. While driving down Kingshighway, he saw an excavation under way at Mathews-Dickey for a new swimming pool. He asked about a position for an aquatic director and was hired by Club CEO and Co-founder Martin L. Mathews, once the pool opened. Taylor is stroking on 25 years later.
Throughout the years, Taylor has shared his love for swimming in other aquatic positions, including lifeguard, cabin leader and counselor at Camp Rivercliff in Bourbon, Mo. He also taught water safety and life-saving classes at the American Red Cross, and was aquatic director at Herbert Hoover Boys & Girls Club. His favorite swimming stroke is the backstroke.
In his 68 years involved with the sport, Taylor has received numerous awards for his achievements: the Black History Swim Meet Hall of Fame award in Washington, D.C., “I Dare You” Award by the Danforth Foundation and Key to the City of St. Louis for being an outstanding coach in the Public High School League.
A dedicated family man, Taylor is married to the former Eleanor Williams. The couple have two daughters, Darlene Cooper and Cecilia Whitley, and four grandchildren. As a surrogate father, Taylor has mentored hundreds of young men and women at elementary, high school and college levels. He has had the pleasure of watching his protégés grow from child to adulthood, including: Jeffrey Commings, Diane Jones, John Pitts, Brandon Taylor, Phalen Thomas, Steven Whitfield and Lubbie Yaber. These youth have become successful Olympic medalists, dentists, educators, pharmacists and corporate leaders throughout America.
One of Taylor’s protégés, Jeff Commings, started swimming at the age of 4 at the Herbert Hoover Boys’ Club as a butter flyer. By the age of 10, his breaststroke abilities were becoming clear, and he began to find success in that stroke at age 12, when he set his first Ozark swimming records.
At age 14, he qualified for his first Junior National Championships and placed second in the 100m breast at age 15 in the 1989 meet. He made the championship final in the 100y breast at his first senior nationals in 1990 and would place in the top four in the event for the next three years. As a student at Saint Louis University High School, Jeff won the state title in the 200 IM his senior year and won the 100 breast twice. The state record of 54.78 that he set in 1991 still stands.
His best performance on the international stage was a bronze medal in the 100m breast at the 1991 Pan-American Games. At the University of Texas at Austin, Jeff was named All-American nine times in the breaststroke and relays. He won four consecutive conference titles in the 100 breast and still ranks among the top 10 in that event at Texas. Jeff competed at the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Trials and was a member of the USA Swimming National Team from 1989 to 1995.
He currently competes in Masters Competitions and has 3 world records and 11 national records. He works as an associate producer for Swimming World TV in Phoenix.