Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California. Nowadays, top swimmers are invited to race by event directors via email or mobile devices. But in the previous century, snail mail delivered the good news to athletes. In a letter dated September 16th 1926, Shier Mendelson was personally invited to the 1927 Wrigley Ocean Marathon which read in part,
Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California. George Young was recently inducted in the International Swimming Hall of Fame as an Honor Open Water Swimmer. Young burst upon the international scene when he won the January 15th 1927 Wrigley Ocean Marathon across the Catalina Channel, but he was a fast and accomplished swimmer throughout his teenage
When Shier Mendelson assisted fellow Canadian George Young across the Catalina Channel in January 1927, he was at the advanced age of 36. The older swimmer clearly recognized the talent of the teenager when Young had beaten Mendelson in open water swims in their native Toronto. After the pair returned to Toronto after Young's victorious swim in the
Shier Mendelson was born around 1895 though the exact historical details are unclear as his family was in transit from Romania to Canada during that time. Mendelson won the 1.5-mile 'Toronto Across the Bay" competition in Ontario, Canada for the first time in 1913. The Toronto Across the Bay swim started at the Harbor Commission wharf and finished at the
