On Aug. 17, 1924, Professor C.S. Leaf, swimming coach at Provo High, and Cloyd Booth, one of his students, became the first known people to swim the width of Utah Lake. ut they have not been the only swimmers to make the attempt.

At least two other trans-lake swims have been documented by local newspapers. While other swimmers may have accomplished the feat, their exploits have apparently gone unheralded.

Kelly became acquainted with Reed Francis, Harold Whiting, Milo Madsen, Paul Spencer and other Utah Valley youths. The boy from New Jersey and his friends spent chunks of leisure time together, and while riding horses and participating in other outdoor activities, the boys got to know each other pretty well.

Crossing on a dare

Kelly, according to Harold Whiting, was a young man who "was quick to take a dare," and in June 1940, Kelly -- who was proud of his athletic ability -- bragged he had enough stamina and swimming prowess to swim across Utah Lake. His friends wagered he could not. Kelly took up the gauntlet and plans for a swimming marathon began.

Milo Madsen and Paul Spencer made arrangements to borrow a motorboat and a rowboat. Then the boys waited for the next good weekend.

Saturday afternoon, June 15 looked promising, and the boys drove to the mouth of Provo River where they boarded a motorboat. Madsen and Spencer drove the boat and towed the rowboat to their destination -- Pelican Point on the west side of Utah Lake.

When the boats arrived at Pelican Point, four of the boys swam and rode on aqua boards while Kelly prepared for his swim by rubbing oil on his body. After Kelly began his marathon swim toward the east shore, Spencer and Madsen took the motorboat back to its mooring at the river's mouth.

Francis and Whiting, both of whom currently live in Mapleton and still remember the adventure, rowed the boat near Kelly in case he experienced difficulties.

According to Francis, rowing across Utah Lake proved to be a long, difficult chore. He recalls Kelly swimming to the boat several times for a drink of water or a candy bar.

As the tedious afternoon slowly blended into evening, a wind began to blow across the lake toward the mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon, causing large waves to lap against the side of the boat and forcing the craft off course.

When the billows got higher and the troughs got deeper, the young men began to worry. As Whiting recently recalled, "The lake had a little bit of a notorious reputation for getting rough in a hurry." They'd all "heard many stories about people capsizing," he said. Whiting remembered that as long as the lake was calm, Kelly showed little concern for his safety, but when the water got choppy, the swimmer got "a little anxious toward the end."

Compounding the problem, evening began stretching its gray fingers across the lake, making it harder for the boys to distinguish the mouth of Provo River.

These difficulties convinced Whiting it would be foolhardy for Kelly to continue the swim, and he told the swimmer so. Though they were a mile or less from the beach, Kelly agreed with Whiting and climbed aboard the boat at about 7:10 p.m. after swimming nearly eight miles in just under four hours. The three boys then steered for some lights and reached shore south of Provo River -- the future site of the Provo Boat Harbor.

Whiting tried to console his friend by telling him he had likely swum far enough to make shore if they had been able to maintain a straight course.

Kelly mentioned the possibility of trying the trans-lake swim again in conjunction with the summer boat races on June 30, but apparently he did not attempt it that day. The lake was rough and the race boats found it difficult to finish the course set out for them.

Two more attempts

In the 1960s, two other young Springville residents, David Lynn and Chris Thorn, prepared themselves to cross Utah Lake. According to Lynn, when he and Thorn were young boys the two practically lived at the Park Ro-She swimming pool. They rode their bikes north on State Street to the park almost every morning and returned in the afternoon.

Lynn and Thorn did not lose their love of swimming when they became teenagers.

Although there was not a high school swimming team until 1969, the two joined the Springville Seals and the BYU Dolphins and competed in summer leagues.

Thorn had a reputation for doing crazy things, and one day in 1968, after the summer swimming leagues were over, he walked up to Lynn and said, "Let's swim across Utah Lake." Lynn thought he might be joking and impulsively replied, "OK." The two could talk each other into doing almost anything.

The two mentioned their contemplated trans-lake swim to a few high school friends, and once the word got out there was no turning back. Pride and peer pressure prevented them from reneging.

Even so, time went by and Lynn says he had just about forgotten about it. But Calvin Robertson, a classmate whose family owned Robertson Marine in Springville, told his father. Lynn got a phone call from the shop asking if the boys wanted a support boat.

His said his reply was, "Support boat for what?" When he heard the words, "Swimming across Utah Lake," he realized that he and Thorn had to go through with their proposal.

The boys -- Lynn was 17, Thorn was 16 -- notified Utah County Sheriff Dick Chapple of their upcoming swim, and he recommended having a support boat for each swimmer. Jack Robertson agreed to furnish both boats.

A low-key affair

The boys set Aug. 1 as the date for their swim. They planned to swim from east to west, beginning at the boat harbor and ending at the shore near today's Saratoga Springs. Lynn kept the affair low-key. He did not say anything to his parents until zero hour arrived. Early on the morning of the swim, he popped his head into his parents' bedroom and said, "Goodbye, Mom, I'm going to swim across Utah Lake."

Reva Lynn, David's mother, still lives in Springville. She remembers the news did not have much impact on her sleep. She thought, "Yeah, sure," and remained in her comfortable bed. A few moments later, David's father, Lawrence, said, "I think he means it, Reva. Let's go."

They hurriedly dressed. Mrs. Lynn did not bother to pick up a camera as they left the house because she did not think her son would be able to make it across the lake.

Lynn confesses that when the group neared Robertson's support boat at the Provo Boat Harbor, he too was a little worried about his chances. However, he and Thorn tried to look confident during last-minute preparations.

Thorn had heard that when people attempted to swim the English Channel, they covered themselves with grease to insulate themselves against the cold. The boys did not think the lake would be very cold, but they smeared themselves with Vaseline just in case.

At 8:30 on that clear August morning, Lynn and Thorn entered the water. Terrance L. Day, correspondent for the Daily Herald, saw them off. Mr. and Mrs. Lynn, David's brother Steven, his nephew Christopher Slack, Jack Robertson and Mr. and Mrs. Don Robertson rode in the two boats.

David later recalled that the boys alternated their swimming strokes because different strokes use different muscles, and they wanted to avoid using the same muscles for the whole trip. They swam the breast stroke for about 200 yards, changed to the crawl for 200 yards, did the backstroke for 100 yards, and used various other strokes before starting the cycle over again.

After swimming for what he thought was a long time, David glanced back at the shore and saw that it was still surprisingly near. At that moment, he worried that he might not be able to reach the west shore and realized he would have to get serious if he planned to make the entire trip. This realization strengthened his resolve.

To minimize the distance they would have to swim, the boys tried to stay on a straight course.

Since it is more efficient to swim with head down, this was difficult to accomplish. Each time they looked up, they would lock their sights on a large tree on the west shore and steered toward it. According to Lynn, they did not stray much.

The swimmers experienced two other minor problems: waves and cold. According to The Daily Herald, a breeze began blowing after the boys left the harbor and they encountered 18-inch waves for about an hour. During this time, the boys swam in a zig-zag pattern which lengthened the distance but made it somewhat easier to negotiate the waves. Then the breeze calmed and the lake flattened out.

Shocking moments

Cold water provided a few shocking moments; it also caused raised concerns in the support boats. Reva Lynn kept a close watch on the boys. At one point, David leisurely swam the backstroke then suddenly switched to the breaststroke and swam at a rapid rate. This abrupt change alarmed Mrs. Lynn and she yelled at her son to see if anything was wrong. Two words came back loud and clear: "Cold current!"

Lynn recollects swimming through warm and cool pockets. After being in a cold current for a while, he was always relieved and much more comfortable upon entering another warm pocket.

About halfway across the lake, the swimmers briefly hung onto the boat and gulped a mixed drink orange juice spiked with honey and dextrose. This cocktail rejuvenated their strength and replenished their bodies' liquid supply. Lynn took only one drink, but Thorn bellied up to the boat on two more occasions.

According to Lynn (who says he would like to be reincarnated as a freshwater dolphin because saltwater hurts the eyes), being in the water gives him comfort.

He found trans-lake swim to be soothing and peaceful. The silence when his head was underwater encouraged meditation, and his mind drifted to all sorts of things that were going on in his life. He even sang a song or two inside his head to amuse himself.

After being in the water several hours, the swimmers were definitely ready to be done. It seemed to take extra long to travel that final leg of their watery journey. Shortly after completing the swim, Lynn told a Daily Herald reporter: "The last mile and a half the shore just seemed to be going away from us."

Denizens of the not-so-deep encouraged the boys to end their feat in style. As it turned out, style may be a matter of opinion. As Lynn neared shore a school of fish began to bump against him and he stood up and sprinted for the boat waiting in shallow water. When he raised himself to a vertical position and attempted to climb in, he became dizzy and fell back into the water. He had been in a horizontal position too long. He succeeded on his second try.

Once he got into the boat, Lynn looked back for Thorn, who was about 15 minutes behind. He was surprised to see his partner sprinting for the boat at full speed. He had encountered the fish a little further out from shore. This spooked him, and he worried that the finny tribe was attacking. He finished his swim on two feet, exclaiming, "The fish were hitting me!"

Thorn was not the only one who was alarmed at the end of the swim. Lake algae stuck to the Vaseline on the boys' bodies, and when they left the water, they appeared to be small reincarnations of the Jolly Green Giant. Their sickly appearance momentarily traumatized Lynn's mother.

Lynn finished the seven-mile swim in four hours and four minutes. Thorn reached the boat 15 minutes later. When the boys first entered the water that morning, they felt some apprehension about being able to swim to the opposite shore. They needn't have worried. When it was over, they found they had strength in reserve.

The party headed back to the Provo Boat Harbor in the support boats, and the Lynns treated everyone to a steak dinner in a local restaurant. That evening the boys reported as usual for their part-time jobs --- Thorn at the Park Ro-She swimming pool and Lynn at a local water softener service.

Chris Thorn, who was known for his athletic prowess, later became one of the first hot dog skiers. He worked as a journeyman plumber before being killed in an automobile accident while on his way to a job in Vernal. His daughter Erin played basketball for BYU, and she now plays professionally.

David Lynn currently operates his own glass business, Glass Images & Creations Inc., which creates decorative glass artworks. His company repaired the stained glass windows in the historic Provo Tabernacle, and his artisans have created windows for several LDS temples.

When recently complimented on his 1968 swimming accomplishment, Lynn modestly replied, "I'm sure there are many other swimmers who could swim it if they just went out and tried it." Does he ever contemplate swimming the lake again? "Yeah, for about a minute."

Lynn tells an interesting story about how the magnitude of his feat has grown through the years. When he met an old high school friend and his wife about 20 years later after swimming the lake's width, the friend introduced him as the man who had swum the length of the lake and back again.

Lynn ended a recent interview with this statement, which anybody over 40 will consider to be a universal truth: "You get better as you get older. At least the stories get better."