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Meet Nan Bohl
With the way Nan Bohl has been setting national and world swimming records, you’d think she could beat her competition in the water with her boots on. In truth, the connection between Nan, who took eight first place medals and the overall gold for women in the 80-84 years class at the World Senior Games last month, and leather footwear isn’t far-fetched. Sitting in the cozy kitchen of the Olathe home in which she was born, Nan proudly shows a tiny, beautifully handmade cowboy boot. “My grandfather made this for me when I was born,” she says. “See the pointed toe and the high heel?” In 1875 a cowboy riding off the nearby Santa Fe Trail dismounted and walked into a small Olathe shoemaking shop owned by her grandfather, Charles H. Hyer. The cowpoke complained that his feet hurt and was having trouble keeping his feet in the stirrups with the flat-toed, low-heeled workman’s boots that all his mates wore. Could Mr. Hyer make a pair of good boots? Hyer, the son of an immigrant German shoemaker, assured the guy that he could, and would. He designed and handcrafted the prototype of what became the classical cowboy boot. And with it the Hyer Boot Company that became the largest manufacturer of handmade boots in America. (See the Kansas Historical Society’s website for more on the Hyer Boot Co.) Hard work and success are Hyer family trademarks. But the path to Nan’s athletic triumphs wasn’t by any means a straight one. “I learned to swim as a baby when my mother took me to the nearest pool in Paola,” recalls Nan. “I was a tomboy and I loved the water. Then later the WPA built a pool in Olathe. But I really never learned the strokes until a I went to a weeklong Red Cross life-saving course in Oklahoma after I graduated from high school.” Nan went to the University of Kansas but had to swim competitively at the intramural level because KU had no varsity sports for women. Deciding that she had a God-given talent, she joined the only competitive club for women, the Kansas City Athletic Club with a pool on the 7th floor of the downtown Continental Hotel. She met Ford Bohl during a college skiing trip to Aspen, Colo., in the spring of 1949. They were married that November. Ford got an engineering job with Pittsburg Plate Glass in Crystal City, Mo. He was recalled for Navy service during the Korean War. After a short time in California the couple, with a daughter, returned to Olathe in the early 1950s. Nan taught private swimming lessons in the Olathe Public Pool until Ford, who was now making a successful career designing pools and recreational water parks, built one for his growing family in the back yard. The pool is still there in heavy use without a dent or crack. Nan and Ford organized swimming programs and pools and she taught swimming in the Olathe area for the next 30 years but it wasn’t until 1988 when the Shaklee Corporation, where Nan worked as a supervisor, asked her to swim competitively again, this time for the World Corporate Games in Concord, Calif. It was the first time she swam in a competition since college. She won a second place medal, three thirds and a fourth. The following year she got four firsts and three seconds. She didn’t swim again until 1995. Now she is practicing regularly, using weight machines and setting national Masters’ swimming records. The Federation of International Athletics has listed her as one of the top ten swimmers in the world for her age bracket. Nan keeps getting better with age and, besides keeping in shape, she can’t tell you why. “Just keep going,” she smiles. “Like that bunny battery!” Swimming at many Masters meets throughout the country, playing tennis, alpine skiing and grandchildren fill Nan’s life. At 80, is there still a competitive itch? “You bet. Some women get to this age bracket and they don’t feel they need to win their races. I do.” And what pushes her? “Ford is my greatest fan and supporter. It makes it more fun when we both enjoy my swimming. My husband has encouraged me every step of the way. I just figured out that God gave me this talent so I should pursue it.” And (like many Episcopalians?) she takes comfort in familiarity. The Kansas School for the Deaf, where her grandfather got his start in Olathe teaching shoemaking, is a block away. She lives in the house in which she was born. She and Ford have been members of the St. Peter’s family for 30 years.
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