On a mid-July summer afternoon during an Olympic year, Tom Kealy of Council Bluffs in all likelihood would have been a volunteer had the US Olympic Team Swim Trials taken place again in Omaha. But this year, the event took place outside Omaha for the first time since 2004 when they moved to Indianapolis.
So with the summer temperatures soaring into the 90s, Kealy instead opened up the indoor pool at the YMCA Kirn in Council Bluffs one afternoon for a reporter. Inside, with stretched lane markers floating across the dimly lit 25-yard pool, the whirring sounds of the overhead fans hovered above the still waters.
“The lifeguards prefer working at the outside pools and working on their tans,” Kealy said with a laugh.
As if he owned the place, Kealy had the access key to the Kirn pool, however, he is quick to point out he neither desires to own nor manage the pool. Though a once-a-week lifeguard there, the 68-year-old retired salesman from the printing industry more frequently works out to swim competitively, routinely setting age records in masters meets for seniors.
Kealy first became involved in swimming as a kid at the Town and Country Aqua Club pool in Council Bluffs and later swam on the Abraham Lincoln High School and South Dakota State University teams. Long after earning his college degree and returning to his Omaha area roots after living in Texas a few years, Kealy was prodded by a childhood friend to jump back into the pool.
Pat Hensley is that friend and said he swayed Kealy 30 years ago. Kealy listened and has stayed diligent with swimming ever since—but there’s something more than just competing against others in meets.
“I still love it now as I did back then (in high school). When I was in college, I got a little burnt out,” Kealy shared. “But I was swimming there for different reasons. Just competition only. Now I’m doing it to stay in shape.”
If nothing else, Kealy hopes his inspirational message of staying in shape comes across most prominently.
“It doesn’t matter if you swim, play pickleball, jog, or walk. Get out and do something,” Kealy implored.
Hensley, also of Council Bluffs, spends more time around the golf course these days as co-owner of the Bent Tree Golf Club, but still regularly dips into the pool to swim laps.
“When he came back to town, he lost a little bit of his edge,” Hensley said. “We just talked about it a bit. We’re both pretty competitive. It’s like, ‘Come on, Tommy, let’s go!’”
And Kealy has been going places.
He’s a regular competitor at the Iowa and Nebraska Senior Games, which are athletic competitions among those 50 years of age and older. In 2022, Kealy was elected to the Iowa Senior Games Hall of Fame.
But despite all the senior records and honors in recent years, Kealy said his most memorable swim still dates back to his days with the Town and Country summer team, something he definitely planned to bring up when the 50th reunion of the team took place in late July at—where else?—Hensley’s banquet room at Bent Tree.
Kealy recalled a summer meet that came down to the meet’s final event in which all the Town and Country four-man relay entries featured Kealys.
“My two brothers and my cousin, we all had the same last name,” Kealy explained. “We had always beaten this other team, but they were pumped and ready to go.”
Kealy added, “We had the lead the whole way, but we got done, finished first, and won the championship. That is one I always remember.”
Between his own time in the pool, and working at what was called “deck control” at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials during the Omaha years, Kealy has packed plenty of memories around the water. The first year the swimming trials took place in 2008 at CHI Center when Kealy was still active in the printing business.
“I told work, ‘I’m going to go [to the] Olympic Trials. I’m volunteering. I’m going to be gone for three-and-a-half weeks. If you don’t like it, I’m going to retire today.’”
He didn’t retire then, but as a retired salesman these days, how long does Kealy plan to keep swimming?
“As long as I can. As long as I can drive to the pool,” he said.
For more information on the Senior Games, visit iowaseniorgames.org and nebraskaseniorgames.com.
This article originally appeared in the September 2024 issue of Omaha Magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
