Issue link: http://www.wacmagazine.com/i/450770
36 | Washington Athletic Club Magazine | FEBRUARY / MARCH 2015 Only weeks after steam shovels began excavating the Clubhouse building site, early members threw their support behind Seattle athletes preparing for the pending Los Angeles Olympics. Those 1932 Games would go on to feature WAC swimmer Helene Madison, who won three gold medals and held every single women's freestyle world record simultaneously—a feat unmatched before or since. "Her performance in 1932 places her permanently in WAC lore," says Wayne Milner, WAC Senior Vice President Athletics, Special Projects & Community Partners. "You hear about her as often as you do because she still stands as the Club's preeminent athlete." I T WAS A SEEMINGLY normal Seattle winter day in December 1930 when the WAC pushed open its doors for the first time. The temperature stood in the mid-40s, soft rain fell for a while, and around the growing city men in hats and women in long pleated skirts dodged construction sites and an ever-growing number of automobiles. The WAC's current cornerstone was not yet in place, but it would lay out the Club's guiding principle: This building is dedicated to the advancement of the amateur athletic and social activities of Seattle and the Pacific Northwest. As the first members entered their newly minted Clubhouse, then Seattle's third-tallest building, they shook off the cold and smiled at the grandeur before them. They were part of something with- out equal. Soon, a local newspaper was calling the city's newest architectural gem "the skyscraper of sports." The Club has always been about more than athletics, of course, but 85 years later that middle initial still stands strong. "The WAC has recognized the importance of athletics to our members and our community since its inception," President & CEO Chuck Nelson says. "From supporting full teams and individual athletes in their Olympic and national team quests, through helping all members with their fitness and well-being, the WAC is dedicated to excellence and achievement at every level." As our 85th year progresses, Club members can watch our past unfold in new displays soon appearing around the Clubhouse. When you do, you'll witness bygone eras come to thriving life, and you'll see some of the biggest sporting moments in WAC history. "e WAC is dedicated to excellence and achievement at every level." The 1936 U.S. crew team won Olympic gold and gathered in the Club's original grand lobby.