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Former war veteran and college swimmer enters hall of fame
Richard “Mel” Ivonen — Athlete/Coach The late Mel Ivonen entered Ely High School as a freshman in 1939. On the swimming team in his sophomore year, he unofficially broke the state record in his 1st 100-yard breaststroke competition and finished third in the event at the state meet.
As a junior and senior, he won the breaststroke at the state meet each year, achieving All-American honors. Also as a senior, he set a state record time in the event that remained unsurpassed for Eleven years and a national record for Twenty yard pools that stood for 2 years. He also swam on both state meet relays for 3 years, helping Ely to become one of the top teams in the state. Ivonen saw action in combat aboard the U.S.S. Wisconsin in the Pacific. After the war he completed his college education at the University of Minnesota, set a national collegiate freshman record in the Two-hundred yard breaststroke, and attained both his B.S. and masters in education degrees in less than 4 years. He began his 52-year teaching and coaching career at Chisholm High School in 1950. Ivonen graduated from Ely High in 1943 at age Eighteen. The country was at war and he joined the Navy. While at Camp Hill, Idaho for his initial training, he set a record in the One-hundred yard breaststroke in a camp championship swimming meet. At Chisholm he coached swimming, football, track and wrestling. In 1955 he became head swimming coach, training squads that were often among the top teams in the state. He coached 2 individual state champions, as well as his 3 sons, one of whom followed in his footsteps and became a swimming coach. |
Coach Ivonen has inspired nearly Twenty of his former swimmers to become coaches and contributed his time and knowledge to officiating at swimming events and serving on Minnesota State High School League committees through the years
He is an honored member of the Minnesota Swimming Hall of Fame. He has received much recognition, and 1 very special plaque made from a plank removed from the deck of the U.S.S. Wisconsin during the ship’s reactivation in the 1980s.
An Ely High School graduate, Ivonen earned his B.S. and his masters in education at the University of Minnesota.
This article is in 9 parts.
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