Friends who had not seen each other for decades organized a reunion at the Charleston Swim Club Friday to celebrate their time together and reconnect.
The event drew people from California, Washington State, Indiana, Florida and even England. Organizers Steve Thomas and Keith Murakami began planning the reunion last August, collaborating with swim club board member Eric Kish.
“Last August sometime, Steve brought up the suggestion that we maybe try to hold a reunion, and we basically said, well, we’re not getting any younger, so if we’re going to do it we’re going to do it,” Murakami recalled.
Murakami spent 11 years as a pool employee, mowing the lawn, lifeguarding and eventually becoming an assistant manager. He thinks back on that time fondly and noted how the reunion group would spend every day of summer there.
“The pool was a swim team, it was pig roasts in the summer, it was pool volleyball, which is unusual,” Murakami added. “We played volleyball within the pool. It was the Fourth of July celebration and a lot of times that involved a talent show put on by members of the club.
“Most of the time it was just hanging out with our friends. It was just a good time.”
When Thomas approached Kish with the idea for a reunion, the latter was ecstatic.
“As I saw the planning really get off the ground and I saw some of them come to the club and do cleanups and things like that, I would see them walk in and they’re in their 60s and 70s,” Kish recounted. “You could see a change in their eyes. You could see them light up, and really, they were children again in their adult bodies.
“ … I think what’s bringing them back years later still exists,” he added. “I think there’s something very special about the summer swim community in general, but maybe especially about our club because we’re the smallest in Cherry Hill, and therefore it provides a sort of level of intimacy and connection among the kids that you might not get at the larger clubs.”
The club will host its first Cherry Bowl swim meet next month. While it has collaborated with other clubs to hold the event, this year marks the first time all 12 teams will gather to compete at the Charleston Swim Club.
“We’ve been working since last year to prepare for this,” Kish explained. “And I think coming through it and pulling it off, where it really is a very underdog kind of thing …
“I think that’s what I”m looking forward to the most: Being able to say, ‘We did it.’”
To volunteer or learn more about this year’s Cherry Bowl, visit https://cherrybowl2023.com/.
