Editor’s note: This is part 3 in a three-part series, as the Waynesboro Area High School celebrates gymnastics’ 50th anniversary. Article 1 can be read here. Article 2 can be read here.
WAYNESBORO – The soul and essence of any sports program – in this instance, gymnastics – one that transcends one generation, are the gymnasts.
And, in the third and final installment of stories on the Waynesboro Area Senior High School gymnastics program, the focus is on those who ensured the continuity and very survival of the teams.
The first year of high school gymnastics was 1975. According to the first coach, Rob Beaumont, “We started with basic leotards, and we had to use hand-me-down warm-ups from the track team.”
Waynesboro had only four meets in the first season. And Toya Kline McCleary was on that inaugural squad.
“We won two and lost two meets,” McCleary said. “I kept a scrapbook for my first three years on the gymnastics team. In my book is the practice schedule for 1975-76, the itineraries for the meets, and newspaper articles in The Record Herald before the meets and after the meets.”
Waynesboro went 5-2 in the second season, competing against teams like Cedar Cliff, Chambersburg and its rival, Carlisle. The team had 22 gymnasts and two managers. Bonnie Wolfe was the assistant coach.
“We worked hard and had some fun,” McCleary recalled. “We had a fun meet just for the team. It was called ‘slug fest.’ We dressed up in funny outfits. We did our worst routines.”
The team was 5-1 in McCleary’s senior season, during which McCleary was a team captain.
“Back in the ’70s and ’80s, we had to qualify at the Tri-County Championships to compete at the District 3 meets, then had to place in the top three to move on to state.”
McCleary, who would later serve as Beaumont’s assistant coach, remembers the future gymnasts “bugged” Beaumont during health class (Beaumont was a health and physical education instructor). Little did she and every future team member realize just how special the experiences would be.
Years later, McCleary’s daughter, Hannah, also competed in gymnastics at Waynesboro High, making them the first time a mother and daughter did so.
The good, the bad, and the ugly.
“My biggest memory is cutting my forehead above my right eye the night before a big meet against our rivals, Carlisle,” she said. “I was putting a cart from out under the wrestling mat, and it slipped out of my hand and cut my head open. I needed 10 stitches. I did compete the next day. I was told not to do my front tuck on floor, but I did it anyway.
“I am so glad I kept a scrapbook from the first three years of the high school team. I have kept this book for 50 years.”
Like McCleary, Desirae Wolfe also competed for four years on the team.
Sherree Bartemus was on the team for three years. She said she remembers the bond she made with her teammates, Coach Beaumont and assistant coach Bonnie Wolff.
“We had to practice after the wrestling team,” Bartemus said. “I remember doing my homework, eating dinner and then going to practice in the dark.”
Bartemus remembers the confidence Wolff had in her abilities.
“She always had more faith in me than I did in myself and would say, ‘This is what is in your beam routine this year!’” Bartemus said. “New tricks that I had to learn and never say, ‘I can’t.’
“I learned that I am capable of more than I think I can, and I have many friends who were on the team with me. As a team, we stuck together and supported one another always.”
Valerie McBride competed on the team for two years. She remembers the friendships she made with teammates and the laughter they shared. She recalled that the atmosphere was fun and relaxed and that her favorite routine was the floor routine.
Kim Cline Stephey competed on the gymnastics team all four years (1975 to 1978).
“Mr. Beaumont made it so much fun, even though we were not that good, except for a couple of standouts,” said Stephey. “I remember Alison Margin was always a star. Jean Bumbaugh worked so hard on bars that her hands often bled.
“Gymnastics tricks are unbelievable. I was happy if I could do a cartwheel on the beam. We just always had fun. Like all sports now, it is very competitive. We were just learning. It was just fun to be a part of a team and hang with a great group of girls.”
Into the 1990s we go, and Sarah Wise Ochs was a contemporary of Amy Dennis. She competed on the team from 1992 to 1995 and said the main thing she remembers is the friendships.
“Floor was always a favorite,” she said. “It was a way to show off talent while having a good time performing to your favorite music.”
The main thing she learned from gymnastics? “Work hard, play hard, share in success.”
Valerie Zimmerman, who competed from 1988 to 1990, recalled that the gymnasts used the same mats used for wrestling – “not very springy,” she said.
“So much attention was always given to football; we had to raise our own money for things. But all the girls were pretty close,” Zimmerman said.
Zimmerman also remembers “having to be quiet while others were competing and getting scolded for giggling too loud and being so angry that you do the best floor exercise of your life.”
The final question in Toya McCleary’s questionnaire to former gymnasts was: What did being part of the team mean to you personally – in high school and beyond? Zimmerman’s response was, “Always having someone there to push you harder, help you see your blind spots, and knowing that someone always has your back.”
Pam Hovis competed on the squad in 1978. She also remembers the friendships gained from the experience and calls Beaumont “a terrific coach.”
“We had a very talented team, and we supported one another,” Hovis said. “We all became family.”
It was also Beaumont who, Hovis said, inspired and supported her, “and not necessarily just in gymnastics but gym class.” She also noted that Art Sanders at Summitview Elementary School was a light in her life.
Being a part of the team meant “being involved, helping teammates, being a friend. Waynesboro all the way.”
