"Back In The Day", by Steve Hotchkiss

Recently, we received some great photos from veteran LACo Recurrent, Steve Hotchkiss, who has the distinction of having swam for Johnny Joseph at SMC "back in the day", not to mention spending several summers on schedule on Santa Monica South in the mid to late 80's. Many Thanks to Steve for sharing these great photos and for his story telling efforts.

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We begin with a couple of Classic group photos of the Santa Monica South Crews from the Summers of 1985 and 1987. These are absolutely Classic! Have a gander and you are sure to see some of your friends and colleagues when they were alot younger than they are now. Go ahead and smile and laugh. We did and still are. Enjoy!





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And here are three photos from Steve's time at SMC swimming for JJ (x-ref: JJ I SWAM FOR JJ):


Above, SMC 4 x 100 Free Relay Team, SMC vs. Ventura Dual Meet, 1983
Left to Right:
Matt Cardenes-Don't know where he went
Danny Kleiser-LA County lifeguard recurrent (Ret.), now with LA City Fire as an AO.
Fernando Boiteux -LA County Lifeguard Northern Section Chief
Steve Hotchkiss- LA County Lifeguard recurrent, Landscape Contractor

From: Steve Hotchkiss
Subject: Re: 1983 SMC vs. Ventura
Date: November 22, 2011
To: Will Maguire

"Hello Will,

This photo is from the 1983 SMC vs. Ventura dual meet. Coach Joseph (JJ) had gone undefeated in dual meets for something like 13 years, or at least this is what it seemed like since as you know JJ is a God. As a result of this winning record each dual meet had more and more pressure on it to keep winning. We didn't want to break the chain, or let JJ down. The meet came down to the final event which was the mens 4x100 relay. I was fortunate enough to be chosen to swim this event with the other 3 swimmers. Matt Cardenes (left) was our fastest 100 free guy on the team. However, I think Danny Kleiser had the best time that day and Fernando as always was solid. Our relay ended up 1st, we won the meet by 1 point, and held on to the winning record.

As a surprise for JJ at this meet we all brought dress clothes to change into after the meet. He was very surprised to see us all walking out of the locker rooms dressed far above our normal standard of orange team sweats. We went to a steak house for dinner and all had a great time.

It meant a a lot to me to be part of that day and having JJ feel I was worthy to be on that relay team. I don't know if this day stands out to other people on the team since many of them had been swimming for 10+ years and for all I know it was just another meet to them. However, I'm sure many of them still remember the day. I'm not living in the past, but here I am over 25 years later with that day etched in my memory. I am very thankful to have been a part of the team and to have been coached by JJ.

Steve Hotchkiss

SMC Womens team 1983 at Ventura meet, below



1983 SMC swim team at Ventura meet, below


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Until next time.....


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