NTSC Members to Take Part in the Ted Mullin Hour of Power, Honoring New Trier Grad

It's not every day that the New Trier Swim Club can help save lives during their practice — but the Ted Mullin Hour of Power is an exception. 

The Ted Mullins Hour of Power was established in 2006 by Carleton College's Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving Teams to honor Ted Mullin, a student who died of a rare form of cancer called sarcoma in 2006. The team wanted to do something to raise funds and awareness for the cancer, as well as establish an event to preserve Mullin's memory. 

"It was Ted's favorite practice," Mary Henry, Ted's mother, explained. "You have to work very hard for an hour. While it's called a relay, it's a cooperative relay." 

The goal of the Hour of Power is that every lane is filled with swimmers going roughly the same speed — the swimmers start at the same time and every lane ends at the same time an hour later. 

"It's hard to do, you really have to think about it," she said. "People thought the quality of the workout reminded them of Ted — hardwork, teamwork, all-out effort."

Ted moved with his family to Winnetka from California when he was in third grade, and was a 2002 graduate of New Trier High School. 

"He got interested in swimming kind of late by today's standards," Henry explained. "He started swimming the summer after 7th grade and ... he swam in high school. He enjoyed the team aspect of swimming, and was the captain of the team senior year."

She noted that he was a distance swimmer, swimming long distance free style in high school, and adding the mile swim in college. 

"He was a distance swimmer and that really fit his personality," Henry said. "Hard work and lots of time in the pool." 

Ted was a history major at Carleton College in Minnesota where there is now a prize — the Ted Mullins Endowed Prize in History — available for rising juniors in the major. He was also active in the campus radio station and Relay for Life, and was twice elected captain of the swim team. 

"Ted served as a volunteer summer swim coach at Old Willow Swim Club in Glenview, IL for eight years, and also coached at swim clubs in Evanston and Winnetka, even while he was being treated for cancer," a biography on the Ted Mullin Fund website states. 

The Ted Mullin Hour of Power has been successful from the first year, with 15 teams — mostly from the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) and the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) participating in 2006 (Ted's younger brother swam for Colby College, which is a part of the NESCAC). The groups raised $11,000 for the Ted Mullins fund to support sarcoma research in the first year alone. 

New Trier Swim Club has been participating in the event since it's second year.

There are 171 teams participating in the 2012-13 year, the event's seventh year, with over 8,300 athletes swimming in the Hour of Power. There are also other athletes in a variety of sports participating, including baseball teams, football teams and soccer teams.

While the event has successfully raised over $400,000 in the past seven years, fundraising isn't the only goal of the Hour of Power. 

"Fundraising is really important, but it's not the only goal of the event," Henry said. "We also want to raise awareness."

She noted that sarcoma is a very rare cancer, affecting less than 1% of people. 

"Fifty-five percent of those cases occur in adolecense and young adults," she said. "It's a young person's cancer. Not a lot is known about it. There's not a lot of research money — we think that participation is a goal and through participation we raise awareness."

While the event does have a national date — the second Tuesday in November — teams can participate on whatever date works for them. 

"We'll have teams swimming early in August — like girl's high school swimming — and guy's high schools swimming over winter break. A lot of Division One teams swim in spring and that's a great time for it," Henry said. "We basically have it all year — August through April."

Henry noted that Ted's family is very grateful for the event, both as a way to raise money and also to commemorate the talented young man. 

"We're just really grateful to all of the teams who do this to remember Ted," she said. "It's great for our family. It's wonderful for [us] to know that he is being remembered in this way. To know that something good is happening in his name, to know that people are doing this to support research and raise money so that young people that have this awful misfortune to have this type of cancer have better treatment, we're just very, very grateful."

The New Trier Swim Club Hour of Power will be held at the New Trier Northfield campus pool on Saturday, April 27: Session I will run from 8:00 am-10:00 am, and Session II run from 9:15 am-11:15 am, with a mid-session party and talks.

If you're intersted in learning more about the Ted Mullin Fund or to donate to the cause, visit the Fund's website here.