GREATER JOLIET AREA YMCA

This weekend, the JETS Swim Team will host its annual Summer Classic Swim Meet at Lake Central High School in St. John, Indiana. In honor of the 50th Anniversary of this beloved event—formerly known as the Dr. Pepper Super Swim Meet—we’ll be sharing stories and memories from JETS swimmers, volunteers, coaches, and families.

Today, we shine the spotlight on Lee Rakoski. Lee, a former JETS parent, longtime Friends of Swimming volunteer, and YMCA supporter, says his connection to the program dates back to 1977 when his oldest daughter started swimming.

“My wife and I were newbies. There were other parents whose kids had been swimming for some time. But my daughter took to water like a fish to the sea so we wanted to make sure we had her back the whole time,” he said. 

Lee first got involved with Friends of Swimming, a volunteer group responsible for transporting and operating the electronic timing system used at meets, because of a fortuitous set of skills. 

“I taught with electronics so I felt comfortable making any fixes if needed. Every once in a while, I’d get the alert ‘Hey we heard a bad beep’ or ‘We didn’t get a touch on that pad’ and I was the repairman for it,” he said. 

Lee said serving as a parent volunteer at events like the Summer Classic was sometimes hard, but always rewarding.

“I jokingly say misery loves company. It would get extremely hot at Inwood on that Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in June. But everybody worked together. Any time you needed help you could find a volunteer. The parents weren’t afraid to help out to make the meet run smoothly,” he said. 

Lee also said the meet didn’t pass up on any opportunities to make an impression. 

“First of all, you have to have teams willing to come. And in order to have teams willing to come, the coaches have to have respect for everything in the operation. We always said the quickest way to a coach’s heart was through their stomach. The parents were always good about putting on a hospitality room with food. We were never short on teams,” he said. 

And fun JETS experiences weren’t limited to the Summer Classic.

“There are so many good memories. Everything sticks with you. It’s not just a hit or miss thing. But I do remember when the team went down to Y nationals in Ft. Lauderdale. My daughters won a couple events and there was another swimmer that was seeded something like 60th in an event and she ended up winning it,” he said. 

Lee credits the teamwork displayed from all leaders in the program for the continued success of the JETS.

“We had a great relationship with the coaches. We recognized how good they were and they always recognized the help they were getting,” he said. 

The Y would like to thank Lee for all his contributions to the JETS program and wish the best of luck to all the swimmers and families getting ready for this weekend’s 50th Anniversary Meet!

Click below to read more JETS stories from our #TimeLaps series.

Sunday, June 8 – Mark Broucek

Monday, June 9 – Jeff Rubocki

This weekend, the JETS Swim Team will host its annual Summer Classic Swim Meet at Lake Central High School in St. John, Indiana. In honor of the 50th Anniversary of this beloved event—formerly known as the Dr. Pepper Super Swim Meet—we’ll be sharing stories and memories from JETS swimmers, volunteers, coaches, and families.

Today, we’re proud to spotlight Jeff Rubocki—a former JETS parent and a standout alum. Jeff recalls some of his earliest childhood memories being connected to his time with the program.

“I started swimming with the JETS when I was five years old at the downtown Joliet YMCA and I continued all the way through college. It was a great experience for me and I made a lot of friends. My family made friends as well,” he said. 

Jeff said swimming with the JETS gave him a positive outlet for competition, with the Summer Classic at the forefront of many of his best moments in the pool. 

“When I was very young, the meet was at Inwood and outside. It was the biggest meet for the JETS to put on, and I remember the huge number of swimmers that would come in from around the area to compete,” he said. “If you won your heat, you’d win a six pack of Dr. Pepper and the trophies would have little cans of Dr. Pepper with a swimmer on top. For a young kid, it was a great incentive to go out and compete.”

Jeff said his parents also served as volunteers for the meet, and that he gained further appreciation for all the work that goes into making the event possible when he started volunteering while his own children competed with the JETS. 

“I remember my mom putting together the physical heat and lane cards on paper. It was a ton of work. Even as the meet has progressed with modern technology, there’s still a lot to be done. It’s not until you go through that experience yourself that you realize how many sacrifices are made,” Jeff said. “It’s a lot of work but it’s worth it all. You take a lot of pride in it. You want to keep it going.”

Beyond volunteering, Jeff and his wife Cheri have played a role in the lasting impact of the JETS as donors to the YMCA Mission Strong Fund, which helps to ensure nobody is turned away from Y programs due to the inability to pay. 

“As you grow older and gain perspective on things, you realize how important it is to give back if you’re able to. That’s why my wife and I support the Y,” he said. “I think the Y has a great reputation of giving kids opportunities that they wouldn’t otherwise have and we see what it does for kids in the community. You want them to be involved in things that help them develop critical skills like communicating with others, feeling part of a team, and that’s what Y programs like the JETS do.”

As he reflects on the future of the JETS and the Summer Classic, Jeff believes that the sense of community continues to make the difference. 

“The longevity of the event speaks for itself. It’s helped out so many kids and families in different ways that folks who remain around the area understand they can play a role in helping it continue to develop,” he said. 

The Y would like to thank Jeff for all his contributions to the YMCA and the JETS program, and wish the best of luck to all the swimmers and families getting ready for this weekend’s 50th Anniversary Meet!  

Click below to read more JETS stories from our #TimeLaps series.

Sunday, June 8 – Mark Broucek

This weekend, the JETS Swim Team will host its annual Summer Classic Swim Meet at Lake Central High School in St. John, Indiana. In honor of the 50th Anniversary of this beloved event—formerly known as the Dr. Pepper Super Swim Meet—we’ll be sharing stories and memories from JETS swimmers, volunteers, coaches, and families.

Today, we shine the spotlight on Mark Broucek. Mark, a JETS alum and former JETS coach and parent, has been involved with the program since the earliest days of the Summer Classic.  

“My family moved to Joliet in 1968 when my dad became the city manager. He also served as the president of the Joliet Community Swim Association. At that time, he knew that if the swim team was going to go forward, they had to raise money. So he wanted to host a new meet. After a couple of years, they realized they needed a sponsor to make it sustainable,” Mark said. 

Mark said he remembers the day he was alongside his father for a fateful ‘driveway meeting’ with the family who ran the Joyce Bottling Company.

“My dad knew that in some capacity the Joyce family was involved with the development of 7-Up, so maybe we could get that as the title sponsor of the meet. It would have been the ‘7Up Invitational.’ Mr. Joyce said ‘We don’t need any publicity for 7-Up, but Dr. Pepper is this regional brand in the south that doesn’t have as good of a foothold in the Midwest. How about if Dr. Pepper ‘hosts’ the meet?’ That’s where the idea to give away the Dr. Pepper six packs and trophies came from,” Mark said.

As the years went by, Mark said the incentive to win Dr. Pepper was always in the minds of each competitor at the annual summertime meet. 

“You only got a six-pack if you won your heat,” he said. “Kids wanted to get those six-packs, even if you had to wait to go home and drink it because the cans had been sitting in the sun all day at the meet.”

Mark would go on to swim competitively for Arizona State University and competed in the 1980 Olympic Trials before returning to serve as a JETS coach from 1987-92.

“When I became a coach, my first job was with the JETS. It was so cool to see the meet still going on,” he said. “It typically ran the week before the state championships for the older kids and every single JET still wanted to swim in the meet. Maybe not always in their best event, because they wanted to be ready for state, but no kid would want to skip Dr. Pepper.”

Mark parlayed his experiences with the JETS into a coaching career spanning more than three decades, and he later served as a parent volunteer while his own kids swam on the team. 

“We always said before the Dr. Pepper meet, you were just a swim parent. After going through one Dr. Pepper meet, you become a JETS parent,” he said. “When you have a kid on a baseball or softball team, you drop them off and then you sit out your lawn chair and you watch the game. When you have a kid on a swim team, you may be asked to keep time, help with the lane ropes, or do something you may have never thought about doing before. And because of that, you become a part of the team.” 

The Y would like to thank Mark for all his contributions to the JETS program and wish the best of luck to all the swimmers and families getting ready for this weekend’s 50th Anniversary Meet!