Ronn Jenkins broke barriers in the pool at York High. Now, he mentors young athletes at college
Growing up in York, Ronn Jenkins was always looking to try something new. His friends played sports like basketball and baseball. But for the young African American boy, he wanted to try a different sport.
At age 9, Jenkins drew an interest to swimming. “We were given swimming lessons by the YMCA for the whole York City School District,” he said.
It was a difficult task for Jenkins to say the least.
“I could never learn the concept of swimming,” Jenkins said. “I always tried to swim on top of the water and never in the water.”
At that moment, Jenkins had a decision to make. Was he going to quit and try something else, or was he going to work hard and learn how to swim?
He decided to go to the old York Boys’ Club pool — where the Graham Aquatic Center now sits — and practice swimming. A year later he joined the York YMCA.
That choice he made as a young boy proved to be one of the best decisions of his life.
Jenkins has had a successful diving career: he earned a PSAC individual diving title, captured a Mid-Atlantic Conference diving championship, was named the Middle Atlantic Conference’s most outstanding athlete in 1964 during his time at West Chester University, and earned two Junior Olympic national titles in the early 1960s.
As a coach and mentor, he's helped young minorities break into a sport that does not see many people of color participating in it.
In October, Jenkins received a special honor at West Chester, where he is the swim team's diving coach.
During homecoming weekend, the university officially named the pool the “Ronn Jenkins Diving & Aquatics Center.” Jenkins, who was a member of the West Chester diving team, is the first African American head coach of the university’s men’s and women’s diving teams.
“It was an honor to have the school do that for me, it really meant a lot,” Jenkins said.
The West Chester alum was joined by the University’s President Christopher Fiorentino, other school leaders, family, friends, and the swimming and diving teams.
“Dr. Jenkins has set a positive example for us to follow, including the next generation of student-athletes,” Fiorentino said. “He is always willing to make a difference in the students’ lives.”
Jenkins was also presented with a special citation in honor of his dedication and service to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and to West Chester University.
“If you were to tell me years ago that I would be where I am today and have accomplished so much and impacted so many lives, I would have looked at you crazy,” Jenkins said with a smile on his face. “But I am thankful to have touched so many people I have come across over the years.”
Jenkins has been a volunteer diving coach at West Chester since 1972. A 1961 graduate of York High, he is a member of the West Chester University and Pennsylvania Swimming Hall of Fame. He was appointed the coordinator of diving officials at the 1996 Olympic Games held in Atlanta, Ga.
Ronn Jenkins’ swimming journey
From a boy swimming at the YMCA to a coach having a pool named after him, Jenkins has made a name for himself.
Jenkins grew up in the 1950s and 1960s, a time when racial discrimination was enduring.
But Jenkins did not let the color of his skin stop him from pursuing his newfound passion.
Jenkins never questioned if the YMCA had a race policy. “I noticed that there weren’t too many people of color at the Y, but I just wanted a membership, so I got one,” he said.
After joining the YMCA, Jenkins noticed more people of color joining as well. “My next-door neighbors, who were black, followed suit and joined the Y not too long after me,” he said.
Bill Barber, whose family moved next door to Jenkins’, was amazed at how well Jenkins was at diving.
“He was one of the best out there, he was an All-American level type of diver,” Barber said.
When Barber joined the YMCA, he saw how respected Jenkins was from his peers.
“Ronn was someone I looked up to and he was someone who the black and white kids spoke highly of,” Barber said.
Jenkins and Barber developed a tight bond that remains strong till this day.
“We talk pretty regularly,” Barber said. “It’s good to hear from him and see how he’s doing.”
Jenkins would dive for the YMCA up until his sophomore year of high school. Surprisingly, he did not make the high school swim team. He attended William Penn Senior High School from 1958-1961.
“I was not mature enough for high school,” Jenkins said. “I was sensitive and was always the one that was excluded.”
But that did not stop him from wanting to make the team.
The next year, Jenkins found himself on the diving team. He was the only black member on the team during that time.
Standing 5-foot-2 as a junior, Jenkins found himself competing against the best. “I would always qualify for districts, but never made it to states,” he said.
Outside of school, Jenkins faced racial tension and it affected his ability to compete.
“I always thought about what would happen if I ever won and how people would react to seeing a person of color win,” he said.
After high school, Jenkins wondered if he was good enough to compete at the collegiate level. That’s when West Chester came into the picture.
“No other school asked me to dive, and West Chester was the only one,” Jenkins said.
In college, Jenkins did not experience much racism as a diver. But there were times where officials would come up to him and ask questions.
“How come you can dive so well?” Jenkins said they would ask. “It’s like they felt an obligation to apologize to me for not giving me a higher score, but I did not let that affect my performance."
Jenkins had a successful career at West Chester, but said he did it because he enjoyed diving.
“I was never in it to win it, I just wanted to have fun and see what was out there and go places I would have never gone to if it wasn’t for diving,” he said.
Mike Lau, college teammate of Jenkins, had a special relationship with him before they got to college.
The two first met each other at the YMCA when they were kids and that friendship continues to this day.
“Ronn is a genuine guy and quite intelligent,” Lau said of his good friend. “He has been that way since we were kids.”
Lau, who is white, never looked at Jenkins as a young black man who was on the diving team, he just saw another teammate.
“You know I didn’t see him as someone who was different than everyone else, he was another diver out there competing and performing at a high level,” he said.
Jenkins is thankful for the friendships that he made through the sport of swimming and diving.
“This sport has allowed me to meet some great people who I still keep in contact with today,” he said.
A teacher and a coach
Jenkins graduated from West Chester at the age of 21 and taught at York Suburban High School. During his time at York Suburban, he received a teaching fellowship at Bucknell University where he volunteered to coach the diving team.
Not long after, West Chester contacted him and wanted Jenkins to be the Assistant Dean. He would go back to where he dove in college and also volunteered to coach the diving team.
“Through all my years of coaching, I have done it all voluntarily,” Jenkins said. “I’m not in it for the money, I’m in it to make these young people better in the pool and outside of the pool.”
Jenkins’ divers have benefited from having him as their coach.
Jose Rivera, a freshman diver for West Chester, chose the school because of Jenkins.
“Coach Ronn was a main reason why I wanted to attend West Chester,” Rivera said. “He is an outgoing person and he has really helped me improve my skills.”
Rivera knows he can come to Jenkins for any and everything without hesitation. “Being a diver of color, he understands me and we have established a really strong bond since I started here,” he said.
Special night for Jenkins
When Jenkins initially heard of the idea that the school was going to name the pool after him, he was a little skeptical.
“My first thought was, nice gesture but I wasn’t sure if they would actually pull it off,” he said.
A year and a half later he found out that it’s actually going to happen.
October 26, 2019, will be a day that Jenkins will always remember.
“I was such an amazing experience,” he said. “I was ecstatic to have my family and close friends make it to the ceremony.”
Barber, the neighbor who swam at the YMCA with Jenkins in their youth, was filled with emotions when he heard about the ceremony for Jenkins.
“It made me really appreciate West Chester, that they value him and recognize all he has done,” Barber said. “West Chester benefits from having Ronn Jenkins in their community and on the swimming and diving program.”
Lau, was in attendance for the ceremony and he enjoyed seeing his good friend receive such an honor.
“He definitely deserved it and to see that pool named after him is truly an honor,” Lau said.
Leaving a legacy
In 2017, USA swimming found that 64 percent of African American children have low or no swimming ability.
But in recent years, there have been people of color who have had success in the sport.
In 2016, the world saw the first female African American swimmer win a gold medal in Simone Manuel.
Reece Whitley, a Pennsylvania native, is one of the top swimmers in the country and helped the University of California Berkeley team to its first NCAA team title in five years.
Jenkins believes that swimming and diving is a sport that African Americans can excel in.
“I’ve had four divers of color, one female and three males, all of them did really well in the sport,” he said. “There are divers of color on the Olympic level and I think it’s a matter of time before they break through.”
Jenkins understands that he can help bring an increase in the number of African American swimmers and divers out there.
“I am in a position now where I can pull others along and can increase the awareness of this sport to people of color,” he said. “I still have a passion to give back to the youth and provide lessons to those who want to learn how to dive.”
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