Three Pirate Swimmers Grow Up in Military Background
December 02, 2014 | Swimming & Diving
Originally printed Nov. 22, 2014 in the First and Goal football game program
By Tyler Wallace,
ECU Media Relations Student Assistant
Everyday thousands of people watch their fathers, mothers, sons and daughters leave home to join the United States Armed Forces. The people they leave behind to serve in the military are impacted heavily by their absence, which was the case for ECU swimmers Isabelle Little, Jeffrey Mead and Bailie Monahan.
Each student-athlete grew up with at least one member of his or her family serving in the military and each had a variety of experiences that had shaped their lives.
Mead, a senior from Lexington, S.C., was six years old when both his mother and father finished their service in the U.S. Air Force. His father, Jeff, spent 10 years in the Air Force, while his mother, Becky Westfall, served for six years. Mead's brother also followed in the footsteps of his mother and father and is enlisted in the Navy. Becoming a Division I athlete was not an easy task for Mead but his parents pushed him towards swimming due to the discipline and hard work that comes with the sport.
"I think that is why they wanted me to swim," Mead said. "It's similar to the military. It has a lot to do with hard work," Mead said.
He believes that the work ethic which swimming has produced is why he was put into the sport and is enjoying a successful career at East Carolina. He notched a win and five third-place finishes in eight dual meet competitions last season.
Little's situation is much different from Mead. Her father served in two different branches of the military.
Joseph Little spent seven years in the military, serving five years in the Army and two years in the Navy. He also attended ECU between his time in the Army and Navy.
"Before he went into the Army he was in computer school," Little explained. "He went into the Army in 1969 and his service ended in '73, but because it was winding down from the Vietnam War there were extra soldiers. He got to attend school here from `72 to `76 and after that he went into the Navy for two years. In the Army he knew he was going to be drafted so he decided to just enlist himself in a non-infantry division."
The Richmond, Va. native loves talking about her father and the stories he tells her about his time served and she takes pride in what he has done as a service member.
"He knows a lot about the world and I feel like that is because he has had so much experience in the Army and the Navy," Little said. "I asked him the other day what he learned in the Navy because I am really interested in that and he told me he took a lot of intense courses about celestial navigation and like general seamanship."
She contributes a lot of her success as a swimmer at East Carolina to her father and the principles he taught her growing up.
"I think it has made me a better athlete because I remember that whenever I would really be struggling and complaining I would talk to my him and he would tell me about something that happened to him."
Monahan saw her dad constantly in and out of the house as a child. Dan Monahan was a member of the United States Marine Corps when she was growing up in Stafford, Va., and she took it hard at times.
"He is retired now, but when I was little he was deployed a lot which really affected me," Monahan explained. "I didn't really have that fatherly figure there, but when he was at home he was always like one of my biggest supporters at the pool. I have been swimming since I was five."
The junior is succeeding in the pool and out of the classroom, picking up the C-USA Academic Medal in the 2013-14 school year. She also posted 11 first-place finishes and five second-place finishes before being lost to injury at midseason. Monahan believes that her father being in the military as well as a Division I athlete has been a huge influence in her life, but it wasn't just her dad who has had success at college level.
"My dad played football and ran track at VMI. My brother runs track and my other brother swims, so I think growing up our parents wanted us to do sports coming from a military family and my dad being an athlete."
All three were passionate about speaking about the service members that protect the United States. Monahan, Mead and Little all feel they have a great appreciation for men and women in uniform. Monahan was quick to give thanks to those who serve.
"So many men and women leave their loved ones and families to fight for our country," said Monahan. "They are making so many sacrifices for us and our freedom."
Players Mentioned
