The swim meet started with more emotion than most. The starter group, three young girls with green swim caps, waited on their blocks. Coaches, lane judges, and lifeguards stood along the pool side, waiting and listening.
Rod and Sandy Jaeger had been invited by the Cochrane Piranhas to give the opening remarks to a swim meet that now bore their son’s name. A year had passed since last April when their son Cam, a former Piranha swimmer, wildlands firefighter, geologist, and resident of Crowsnest Pass, was killed in a hit-and-run by a drunk driver as he returned home from a mountain biking trip in Montana.
It had been decades since Jaeger last swam for the Piranhas, but the swim meet dedication spoke to the lasting legacy he had on the coaches and Cochrane swim community.
“As a family we’re so incredibly honoured by the Piranhas,” Sandy Jaeger said. “Cam loved swimming, it gave him direction and purpose.”
Cam Jaeger was only 36 when he died. He had lived in places like Kananaskis Country, Lac La Biche, Cochrane and Calgary. He was an avid outdoorsman, fisherman, cross-country skier, and a varsity swimmer for the University of Calgary. He was a wildland firefighter for six years and fought fires in Alberta, B.C., Ontario, Quebec, Montana, and Idaho.
Flanked by their extended family, Sandy and Rod spoke of their son’s enduring character and love of swimming, his unique attitude on life, and his passion for the communities he called home. They expressed the honour and gratitude they felt towards the swim community and the Piranhas for dedicating their home meet to Cam. Then the first set of swimmers took their mark and dove head first into the water.
The Jaeger’s had battled through emotions to deliver their remarks. Afterwards, with the meet underway, they said seeing the swimmers out on the deck brought back a lot of positive memories.
When the Piranhas approached the Jaeger’s about dedicating their meet to Cam, Rod said the thought of any dedication never occurred to him. “It just kind of clicked,” he said. “It was the most perfect way to honour Cam. He became the person he was because of swimming.”
Piranhas club president Tracy MacPherson said naming the home meet after Jaeger was more than appropriate. “The true spirit of him lives in our club,” she said.
“When you lose a son you lose a part of yourself, and this kind of helps,” Rod said in the lobby of the SLS Centre, after the meet officially started. “When you lose a son, the worst thing you could do is forget him and we didn’t want that.”
Races were starting and finishing. Swimmers waiting for their heats dashed back and forth from the pool deck to the curling rink dry pad, which had been converted into a home base of sorts for the participating swim teams.
As Sandy recalled memories of Cam, memories of him competing in his own swim meets, tears started to form in her eyes. She recalled a memory from one meet in Edmonton where Cam, honouring a part of his Scottish heritage, wore a kilt around the pool as he patrolled the pool deck.
“Cam just had a lot of fun,” she said. “He wasn’t afraid to be himself.”
