Jeff Rouse’s YMCA journey, from youth swimmer to president

Jeff Rouse is the new chairman of the Rappahannock Area YMCA.

JEFF ROUSE grew up in local competitive swimming.

His fans, family and friends back home in Stafford County were thrilled when the soft-spoken but determined swimmer medaled twice in the 1992 Olympics, earning gold as part of a team relay and silver in the backstroke.

Barney Reiley, chief executive officer of the Rappahannock YMCA, believes Rouse is the perfect person for the job because of his business and financial acumen.

I was involved in the first fundraising drive that got the Massad YMCA built on Butler Road in Stafford in 1982, and tried with mixed success to get friends to contribute.

I caught up with Reiley and Rouse recently at the Stafford Y branch, that spot where my good friend Kevin Curtis and key organizational figures such as Don Newlin and Dr.

“But that’s been true of so many, as I truly stand on the shoulders of those who came before me and made this all possible,” he said.

He is the first person to grow up using the the Massad Family YMCA and it’s pool, sometimes training for the Olympics, then becoming the chairman of the regional board.

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