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Rochester father, daughter both recognized for impact on Minnesota swimming and diving

pat ruff, post-bulletin, rochester, minn.
·5 min read

May 3—ROCHESTER — That was quite a representation by the Shaughnessy family on Friday at the Minnesota Swimming and Diving High School All-State Banquet.

Jenny (Shaughnessy) Ferris was inducted into the Swimming and Diving Hall of Fame while her father, Bill Shaughnessy, received the Jerry Simpson Distinguished Service Award in the ceremony at the Minneapolis Marriott.

Both recognitions were easy to see coming. Jenny Ferris is one of the best swimmers the state has ever witnessed. And her father, Bill, is one of its all-time swimming and diving volunteers, the Mayo Clinic doctor having donated vast amounts of time and expertise to the sport in Rochester.

"I would have been happy just seeing Jenny win her award on Friday," said the 67-year-old Bill. "But being there on the same night to receive our awards, there were tears."

Jenny turned in an iconic swimming career for John Marshall while a student at Lourdes. She was the Minnesota high school Swimmer of the Year as a senior in 2005 when she won the 100 freestyle and 200 individual medley state championships for the second straight year. She finished her high school days having won five state titles.

All of that was prior to landing at the University of Minnesota where she became one of the school's all-time best swimmers.

At Friday's Minnesota Swimming and Diving High School All-State Banquet, where Jenny was introduced by University of Minnesota women's swimming coach Kelly Kremer, he recalled recruiting Ferris as a high schooler and the scouting reports he kept getting from those who knew her best.

Yes, they were enamored with her swimming. But their awe went way deeper than that as they kept pointing out her intangibles, ones that would soon help change the culture of the Minnesota program.

"When I made calls about her, they didn't talk about her swimming," Kremer said. "Instead they kept talking about the type of person that Jenny was. They kept telling me that she was the hardest worker they'd seen, that you'd never find anyone more competitive and more committed. And then they'd say, 'Really, you'll never find another one like her.' "

Kremer spent the next four years discovering how right they were about Rochester's swimming sensation.

"She literally changed the culture of our program," Kremer said.

Ferris attributed her high school success to lots of helpers. One of the nods went to longtime John Marshall girls and boys swimming and diving coach Paul Bachman, who she said inspired "a great work ethic in me and all of my teammates."

But her No. 1 nod went to her parents, Bill and Heidi. Heidi died in 2018 at the age of 61 after a lengthy battle with cancer.

"My dad and mom were 100 percent supportive of everything I wanted to do in swimming," Ferris said. "They came to all of my high school meets and almost all of my swim meets in college."

Ferris watched her dad do so much more than just show up when it came to swimming and diving. In Rochester, he's been a constant force in making the sport all it can be. Besides helping run countless meets in Rochester, setting up for them and then often acting as a meet timer, Bill also played a large role in turning the Rochester Recreation Center pool into what it has become, one of two go-to places for the state's biggest events, the University of Minnesota's Aquatic Center the other.

The Milwaukee native was a swimmer himself and did his collegiate competing at St. Olaf College. That's where he met Heidi, who also swam there.

Bill brought those passions with him when he and Heidi moved to Rochester, where he's been an orthopedic surgeon since 1990.

He's been a part of countless efforts to advance swimming in Rochester, all of his time spent on a volunteer basis. The most significant project was the renovation that happened at the Rochester Recreation Center pool, Bill advocating for much of it. As it happened, Bill was in on the creation of Rochester Swimming Inc., a non-profit which besides promoting water safety, swimming instruction and competitive swimming and diving in Rochester, was formed to address the funding gap that remained to complete the Rochester Recreation pool project. Bill organized fundraisers to bridge that gap.

He was also involved in the creation of the new Rochester Century pool, the installation of a pool scoreboard at John Marshall, and a host of other Rochester pool projects.

Ever modest, Bill says he played just a small part in all of it. He says the Jerry Simpson Distinguished Service Award could easily have gone to any number of people who continue to advocate for swimming and diving in Rochester and around the state

"I am just one guy that is getting a lot of credit for what our team has done," Bill said.

Ferris knows as well as anyone just how much her father has put into building the sport in Rochester. She makes sure her young kids know it, too.

"Whenever we are getting set to call him, I always tell them that grandpa will either be at the pool or at work," Jenny said. "We're just so lucky for all of the support that he gives swimming."