2010 Induction Ceremony
As the saying goes, everything happens for a reason. Craig Van Tatenhove came to Gettysburg with the intent to play football, and he left campus as a record-breaking member of the swim team.
At 6-1, 195 pounds, Van Tatenhove was perfectly suited to break the grasp of would-be tacklers as a halfback in the Bullets’ backfield. However, a back injury during his freshman year ended his football career, but the football team’s loss was the swimming team’s gain.
The North Caldwell, New Jersey, native joined Gettysburg’s swimming program and began swimming competitively in January 1963. After finding his “sea” legs in the first weeks of the season, “Tate” won his first event against Temple, touching the wall first in the 500 free as part of the Bullets’ first win of the season. In the very next meet, Van Tatenhove set a new school record in the event, a mark he would best twice more during the season en route to pool records.
As a junior, Tate led the swim team to seven victories – its highest total in over a decade. He won the 500 free five times – all in team victories – and he was a catalyst in the 400 free relay’s school record-breaking fourth-place finish at the Middle Atlantic Conference Championships.
Tabbed a team captain alongside classmates Pete Wilson and Rudy Socey, Tate and the Bullets posted record-breaking performance after record-breaking performance in 1964-65. In less than a week at the start of the season, Van Tatenhove set school records in the 100 free, 200 free, 500 free, and the 400 free relay. He posted the team’s only individual victory against powerhouse Bucknell, winning the 100 free in record time. Twice during the course of the season Tate proved to be the difference in victories. Against Lehigh in mid-January, he took home first-place finishes in both the 100 and 200 freestyle events. With his team trailing 46-42, Tate anchored the victorious 400 free relay to a win as Gettysburg beat Lehigh for the first time in program history. Tate turned the trick again in defeating Lafayette later in the year, winning the 200 and 500 freestyle before anchoring the 400 free relay in a 49-46 win.
Van Tatenhove finished fifth in the 200 free at the MAC Championships and he also helped the 400 free relay to another school-record time and fourth-place finish at the event. He closed his collegiate career by competing at the NCAA Small College Championships.
Van Tatenhove earned a degree in business administration from Gettysburg in 1965.
