Aw, shucks….
So…. Apparently, Diana Nyad is not the only one claiming the crown of World’s Most Insensitive Oaf (a title known in Germany, Austria, and parts of Switzerland and Argentina as the Überarschloch Krone).
A miscreant from Ohio beat her to the punch over 35 years ago, or so it seems, if his widow is to be believed.
And — nauseatingly — those reporting on this challenge to Nyad’s crown openly drool over the presence of “president” Fidel Castro at that earlier event.
Oy, Gevalt!
Widow Of Columbus Man Says He Completed Cuba To Florida Swim First
COLUMBUS, Ohio –
While the world celebrates marathon swimmer Diana Nyad’s historic swim from Cuba to Key West, Florida, a Central Ohio woman said her husband completed the same journey nearly 35 years ago.Faye Poenisch, widow of Walter Poenisch, said her husband completed the same swim at the age of 68. Walter Poenisch began marathon swimming at the age of 49. A baker and rodeo man by trade, Walter bet a restaurant owner in Jamestown, New York, that he could beat him.
“Walter didn’t know it, but the gentleman who actually took up the wager was a former Olympic swimmer,” remembers Faye. ” He defeated Walter by a body length and said, ‘For a cowboy, you’re a hell of a swimmer.'”
It was the first of Walter’s many open water swims in Michigan, Ohio, and Florida. But it was his swim from Cuba to The Little Duck Key, Florida, that was his crowning achievement.
“From 1963 to 1978, everything Walter Poenisch did in the way of swimming was predicated on the day he would get the approval to make the Cuba to Florida swim,” said Faye.
It was a momentous occasion made even more special by the presence of Cuban President Fidel Castro. Walter set out from Havana on July 11, 1978. He completed the 128.8 mile swim in 34 hours and 15 minutes. He used a shark cage and took breaks while fighting multiple jellyfish stings.
Much more HERE.
Funny. Walter looks like Nyad, only less mannish.