High school swimming: Emotions run deep for Lyons Township's Walker family

Lyons Township boys swimming coach Scott Walker had to fight back tears when he draped a state championship medal around the neck of his son, Spencer, on Feb. 25.

Spencer Walker became the first individual state champion in Lions history when he captured the 100-yard backstroke at the state meet.

That wasn’t the only reason his father was emotional. Scott nearly wasn’t there to see it.

Seven years ago, Scott developed a racing heartbeat, a potentially fatal condition called ventricular tachycardia. Doctors in the emergency room shocked his heart with a defibrillator while he was still conscious before later implanting a defibrillator in his chest.

“[Spencer] kind of saved my life because I was home when it happened,” Scott said. “My heart rate was 280 for about 45 minutes and I was kind of blowing it off and he’s the one that overrode me and called my wife.

“We went to the hospital, they took me into the ER and ripped open my shirt. I didn’t know what was going on at the time until the doctor pulled out the paddles. I heard the ‘5-4-3-2 clear,’ so I got the paddles while I was still conscious.”

Scott’s survival was miraculous because such out-of-control heartbeats are usually fatal.

“That was kind of a story for a while when I was in the hospital because that was something that doesn’t usually happen,” he said. “Your heart explodes.”

Spencer, 17, is as stoical as he is talented. He was scared at the time but has put the incident in the past.

“I was a kid so I obviously was going to think it was scary,” Spencer said. “I’m not going to think about it [now].

“That [would be] like saying someone that’s 100 percent healthy and has the potential to have a lot of friends but is too scared to go and get hurt from stubbing his toe or walking outside and having something happen to him. You can’t go around your life being afraid of things because that’s just going to put a downer on everything else you do.”

Scott had another scare last summer when the device kicked in twice.

“I saw the doctor and said, ‘What just happened,’” Scott said. “He said, ‘It was your time [to die], that’s why we had that [defibrillator] in you.’ It kind of puts life in perspective.”

Spencer has a remarkable ability to keep his individual success, which sparked interest from numerous Division I colleges and led to his recent commitment to Alabama, and that of his team, which has won the last two state titles, in perspective.

“He tends to go about certain situations in a very calm manner,” Scott said. “It’s kind of the way he is.”

That includes the moment he received his historic medal from his dad.

“I guess in some cases it makes it more special, but it doesn’t really feel any different because it’s my dad since he’s always been there,” Spencer said. “It doesn’t feel that spectacular because there’s always going to be something after [achieving] your main goal.”

Spencer is used to having his relatives on the deck. His dad coaches him during high school, while his mother, Melanie, guides him during club season.

“On the basis of swimming, he’s trying and he does learn the new things that work, but he also uses the old- school technology,” Spencer said of his father. “Parenting-wise, he knows when to say it and how to say it. He knows how he should act in all different kind of environments and how swimmers feel.”

Scott had difficulty reining in his emotions after Spencer’s win, which was one of the key moments in the Lions’ successful quest for a second straight state title.

“For me personally as a coach I was already teetering on emotions because we spent most of the day not knowing if it was a bad dream,” Scott said. “His [win] turned the meet around.

“Then it hit me a little bit more. To watch your own kid win an individual state championship, whether you’re on deck or up in the stands, is special. I probably would have bawled if I was up in the balcony, but we still had a lot more work to do [in the meet].”

And he was glad to be there to do it.