Bowling Green State University Athletics
Hank Reest: BGSU Hall Of Fame Inductee
September 08, 2003 | General
Sept. 8, 2003
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University Athletic Hall of Fame will welcome five new members on Friday (Sept. 12), BGSU Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Paul Krebs has announced. The 2003 class will be inducted during a formal dinner on the BGSU campus.
The class of 2003 will include coach and administrator Fred Beyerman, men's swimmer Hank Reest '61, football standouts Mark Szlachcic '93 and Erik White '93 and hockey coach Jerry York.
The official induction ceremony will take place Friday (Sept. 12) in the grand ballroom of BGSU's Bowen-Thompson Student Union. The social hour begins at 6:00 p.m. with dinner served at 7:00 p.m. and the program starting shortly thereafter.
In addition, the class will be introduced at halftime of Saturday's (Sept. 13) BGSU-Liberty football game at Doyt Perry Stadium. The game begins at 6:00 p.m. and is designated as Varsity BG & Hall of Fame Night.
Tickets for Friday's dinner are $35 and advance reservations are required. Tickets can be reserved by calling the Falcon Club office at (419) 372-7063. Football game tickets can be purchased through the ticket office at 1-877-BGSUTICKET or 372-0000.
The following is the second in a series of articles profiling each of the 2003 inductees:
Hank Reest, a native of Lincoln Park, Mich., was a multiple All-American for the Falcons, earning such honors in both 1959 and 1960. He stepped into the starting lineup as a sophomore, and promptly earned All-America honors in the 220 freestyle that year. Reest was the first sophomore in school history to be named an All-American in swimming.
The next year (1959-60), Reest was a part of the league champion 440 freestyle relay team, helping the Brown and Orange to a fifth consecutive MAC meet championship.
Additionally, that 440 free relay foursome went undefeated during the regular season and finished sixth nationally, comprising the school's first-ever All-America relay team. Reest co-captained the Falcons as both a junior and a senior.
During his tenure, Reest set school records in the 220 and 440 freestyle events, winning MAC titles in each. He also set a school record in the 100-yard butterfly event, and, as mentioned, was a part of the 440 free relay record-holding quartet.
Reest won a pair of MAC individual titles in the 220 free, and picked up one crown in the 440 free. His senior year of 1960-61, Reest finished second at the MAC meet in three freestyle events - the 220, 440 and 1,500. The Falcons finished second, trailing Ohio by just two points.
Reest left BGSU holding the pool record for the 440 freestyle, and was part of the pool record-holding 400 medley relay team. Upon the conclusion of Reest's career, at the 1960-61 Winter Sports Banquet, Falcon coach Sam Cooper announced the inception of the Henry Reest Swimathon Trophy.
