Over the weekend, The Philadelphia Phillies honored a fallen native, open water swimmer Fran Crippen, with a 3-minute video tribute prior to their game on Saturday night. The video below isn’t the best quality, but you can get the idea that they put some serious time and effort into honoring a great swimmer, a great man, and a great fan. Watching the old footage of him swimming reminds you of how powerful and knifing he was through the water.
They also gave the opportunity for Fran’s older sister Maddy, who has taken up the torch in fighting for open water safety along with the Fran Crippen Elevation Foundation, to throw out the honorary first pitch, which can be seen at the end of the video. Not a bad toss for an aquatic life-form!
It’s awesome to see that his impact on the sporting community is reaching beyond just the limited niche of open water swimming. He is establishing a legacy that, in addition to meeting his goal of achieving safety in open water swimming, will continue to benefit and advance the sporting interest. The current causes that are championed by the FCEF are the Athletic Protection Program, which increases the focus on safety in all athletic competitions, Aiding the Athlete to support passionate young athletes, and the Humanitarian Exchange Program that provides learning opportunities to swimmers and coaches around the world.
