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From 1928 to 1936, Otto H. Schell was the swimming
coach at Sandusky High School. Mr. Schell can be seen the far left of the top
row in the picture above of the SHS swimming team from the 1930 Fram. Besides coaching the Sandusky High
School swim teams during the school year, Coach Schell supervised public
playgrounds and beaches during the summer months. He sponsored swimming and
diving championships at Battery Park in the 1930s.
In August of 1934, Otto H. Schell coached swimmer
Florence Brushaber as she attempted to swim from Ontario, Canada to Cedar
Point, Ohio, a distance of 32 miles. Florence stopped swimming after covering
14 miles, and was taken aboard a Coast Guard cutter. She had become numb and
sick from the tossing waves. In July of 1934, Florence swam from Kelleys Island
to Cedar Point, covering a distance of nine miles in a little over five hours.
An
article in the July 14, 1936 issue of the Sandusky
Register highlighted Mr. Schell’s accomplishments while in Sandusky. The
article read in part: “Coach Otto H. Schell, Sandusky High School swimming
instructor, who has done much to promote public aquatic events over a period of
eight years here, and recognized as one of Ohio’s foremost authorities on water
sports and Red Cross Life Saving, will not return here this fall, it was
announced Monday.” Coach Schell had met with almost immediate success when he
became the swimming coach at Sandusky High School. During dual meets, Coach
Schell’s teams won 21 of 37 contests. He was engaged in competitive
swimming for many years before coming to Sandusky. Below is a medal that he earned at the Cleveland Swimming Carnival in 1922.
From 1938 until 1948, Otto H. Schell served as the
superintendent of the Erie County Children’s Home in Sandusky. He retired from that
position due to ill health. He died in 1952 and was buried at the Oak Hill Burial Park in Lakeland, Florida. His descendants donated several photographs and news clippings about Mr. Schell’s many
years of participation in water sports. To see these items, inquire at the
Reference Services desk at the Sandusky Library.
