St. Al’s Bern Ebersole swims race of his life in honor of big brother

[11/7/04]The longest day of Bern Ebersole’s young life started with a nightmare around 5 a.m.

In a few hours, he was supposed to climb onto the starting blocks and jump into a pool in Biloxi. He would try to follow in the footsteps of his brother, Alan, and win a state championship in the 100-meter breaststroke.

But now, before the sun even came up, he was in shock. The same brother he adored, the one he would try to emulate later that morning, was gone. Alan Ebersole had drowned the night before while swimming off the coast of Florida.

“I heard the guy knock on the door and say there was a family emergency in Florida. So I thought it might be Alan had done something or gotten arrested or something funny like that,” Bern Ebersole said. “Then my parents came out of the room about 15 minutes later and told me. It was awful.

“It was the worst thing I’ve ever heard in my whole life.”

Once the news settled in, Bern Ebersole faced a tough decision. His family including younger brother and St. Aloysius teammate Jase, as well as father Bruce, St. Al’s coach was leaving immediately for Florida. Bern could go with them, or stay for the rest of the meet and try to win a state title for Alan.

He stayed.

“He just said he was the captain and needed to be there,” Bruce Ebersole said. “I don’t know how he did it. I don’t think I could have.”

Once Bern got to the pool, it was impossible to block out the tragedy. The swimming community in Mississippi is tight-knit, and word of Alan’s death had spread quickly. Just two years before, Alan had won his state title for St. Al in the 100 breast, and he had gone on to swim at Princeton. Nearly everyone at the state meet knew the Ebersoles and offered their emotional support at every opportunity.

“They really were amazing. I walked in, and it took me 30 minutes to walk the length of the pool,” Bern said. “Everybody was saying how sorry they were, and that we were in their prayers. It was just great.”

The 100 breaststroke was dedicated to Alan’s memory, and Bern honored it in the best way possible. He dominated the field, winning with a personal-best time of 1:02.35.

As the race went on, swimmers from around the state crowded the sides of the pool to cheer Bern on. They ignored officials’ pleas to back away.

“I was just glad to get it over with,” Bern said. “I was glad I could go out in that bad a condition and perform my best. I did my best times in both my races.”

Bern added a state championship in the 200-meter individual medley with another personal-best time of 2:00.69 four seconds ahead of Tupelo’s Austin Huffman. Bern eventually left, after collecting his medals and helping his teammates get through the meet.

As last week wore on, Bern and the Ebersole family got some help dealing with their grief from some other teammates Alan’s swim team at Princeton.

The entire Tigers’ squad flew in from New Jersey for the funeral and stayed in Vicksburg for a few days.

“It definitely helped me, because I got to see a new side of Alan,” Bern said. “What he was like up there, and hearing stories about him. It’s just more memories to keep of him.”