Ruth Rogers and her sisters grew up in the small North Carolina mountain community of Fines Creek in Haywood County. When they went off to college, they rode the train to Greensboro to attend then Women’s College of the University of North Carolina, now UNCG. Ruth majored in Physical Education, later doing further study at the University of North Carolina and Johns Hopkins University. One of her early positions was at the YWCA in Baltimore. While working in that area she met Jim Magher, a young FBI agent from Nebraska, and later married him. His assignments took them to Oklahoma and later to Charlotte where they raised their two daughters, Gail and Tena. While working at the Charlotte YWCA, Ruth got a request from the head of the Queens Physical Education Department, Mavis Mitchell, to teach a swimming class the Trade Street YWCA pool where the Queens classes met. There was no facility on campus at the time. About three years later Ovens Gymnasium and the Queens Student Pool were built and became Ruth’s home away from home, and the place where she used her extraordinary creative talents to produce the Dolphin Club shows, and establish herself as a regionally famous synchronized swimming choreographer and producer. (Use titles here) She had a talent for not only conceiving a theme, but getting other groups on campus involved in the process. Her most famous narrator was Charles Kuralt, then a student at Central High School (now Garinger) narrating “Little Red Swimming Hood” and our own Charles Hadley, famous in his own right.
Along the way she continued her work with the National Red Cross Aquatic, Small craft and First Aid schools, volunteering each summer as a faculty member for fifty eight schools that were held in the North Carolina Mountains. As a Water Safety specialist, she served on the Advisory Committee to re-write the Canadian Red Cross text books and teaching manuals. For the American Red Cross, she reviewed and co-wrote advanced lifesaving texts and teaching manuals, plus the adapted aquatic texts. In l973 she was asked to represent the US at an international Swimathon sponsored by the Canadian and American Red Cross. She presented “Swimming Techniques That Work.”
She was inducted into the Commodore Longfellow Society, Order of the Golden Whale and its Lifesaving Hall of Fame. Additionally, in an unprecedented move, the American Red Cross TWICE awarded Ruth their highest honor: The Clara Barton Award, awarded for service to humanity.
When Rose and Ethel Kennedy spearheaded efforts to address the needs of special populations, Ruth was drafted to the Education Committee, and co-wrote “A Practical Guide for Teaching the Mentally Retarded to Swim.” The film, “Focus on Ability,” to which Ruth contributed, was produced in conjunction with that project, and won a Blue Ribbon for excellence; Special Olympics was born.
In 1978, The North Carolina Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance presented her with the Honor Award, the most prestigious award given by that professional organization.
Because of her excellent work in synchronized swimming, The Amateur Athletic Union Committee asked her to assist in the development of a training film for AAU Synchronized Swimming judges. All of that was put to use when Queens and UNC- Charlotte co-hosted the AAU Synchronized Swimming Finals. Four hundred synchronized swimmers came from California, Texas, South Africa, Canada, etc. to compete. Competition was held at UNC-C’s new pool, and Queens hosted a judging seminar conducted by the well-known international synchronized swimming judge, Teresa Anderson. Queens President, Dr. John Smylie, offered a beautiful and appropriate blessing at the Awards Banquet. The entire project was huge for the Charlotte area and for the two institutions and received rave reviews by the teams. The AAU later named Ruth to the AAU Helms Hall of Fame.
So many awards and accolades. . . .but her best memories are of the Dolphin Club members and all the days and nights of rehearsals, resulting in productions eagerly anticipated by the campus and the Charlotte community. She stays in touch with many of those swimmers, following their careers and their families and still cares deeply for them.
