Dave Anderson

Dave Anderson started swimming at the Minneapolis Athletic club when he was 10 years old. His first coach said, "You're so bad you need some help". Somehow that reeled Dave into the pool. In a time before lane lines, Dave couldn't swim straight so the second coach made a special lane rope for him with sharp wooden buoys on it. Problem solved.

Dave attended Marshall High School right on the edge of Dinkytown (part of Minneapolis next to the University of MN). Starting in eighth grade, he’d walk to Cooke Hall and worked out with the University of Minnesota men's team. He competed in the Minnesota State High School Swim Meet starting in 9th grade. Dave won both the 220 Free and the 100 Free in his senior year. His 220 time came in less than a second from breaking the state record. Minnesota still swam 220 yard swims, but other states had started switching to a 200 yard swim. A special meet was held so Dave could swim the 200-yard freestyle. His time of 2:02.2 brought home a national record! One week later, Buddy Wallin beat Dave’s time. 

Dave competed for the U of MN in college. At that time, Freshman didn’t compete. Dave competed for the University of Minnesota for three years. A distance swimmer, Dave swam the 220, 440 and placed 5th in the 1500 in the NCAA swim meet. Dave attended dental school at the University of Minnesota. He worked hard, raised a family and he kept on swimming. After college, some high caliber swimmers recruited Dave to swim a relay. It was a short relay, just 32 miles in Lake Ontario. The training consisted of lengths of Lake Calhoun. Dave’s four man relay finished 2nd amongst the four teams. Each man took home $1450, a lot of money in the early 1950’s. It was a professional swim race with a cash prize. 

Dave started in Masters Swimming about 1980. He swam on his own at the Calhoun Beach Club. After several years, Dave moved to Edina Masters where a coach and a team helped move Dave’s swimming along. Dave has numerous Minnesota State Records and 95 Top Ten USMS times over a span on twenty-one years. Dave was a freestyler and all his Top Ten placements were in freestyle. In 1995, and in 2002, and again in 2007, Dave landed on the Top Ten lists eight times. When asked what drove him to Masters swimming, Dave said: swimming feels good, it is something I knew I could do, it is good exercise, the people you meet in the sport are great and I wanted to prove that the competitive spirit doesn’t die.