These friends keep each other afloat through good and bad times

Like many people, Dave Noble and Richard Baldwin have built their long-term friendship on shared interests and common ground. However, for these avid athletes, that common ground happens to under under several feet of water at a swimming pool.

Since meeting in 2007, Noble, 75, and Baldwin, 67, have share parallel lanes five mornings a week at the Lee’s Summit R7 Aquatic Center. As buddies and competitors, they have traveled thousands of miles in pools together. They’ve cheered each other on during gold-medal winning competitions and lifted each other up through a life-altering illness.

Both Noble, from Raymore, and Baldwin, from Lee’s Summit, were competitive swimmers in their childhood and teenage years.

With the encouragement and support of his father, who was a swimming coach, Noble also swam his way to All-American status in college. But after college, he turned away from his passion for the sport.

“I stopped swimming in 1968,” said Noble, a retired special education teacher and entrepreneur. “Back then, everyone believed once you reached your twenties, you would never be much of a swimmer, so I didn’t swim for decades.”

Twelve years ago, Noble found his way back to the pool and his love for swimming. Shortly afterward, he met Baldwin, who had remained an active swimmer throughout his life. Their friendship, along with a daily training routine and some friendly competition, developed immediately.

While Noble viewed Baldwin as an “all-out” swimmer when they met, Baldwin perceived Noble as “hyper-competitive.”

“When we first started swimming, Richard would do 80 laps in the same time I would do 60,” Noble said. “He’s like a race horse. He has one speed and it’s ‘all out.’ For five or six years, I couldn’t do laps as fast as he could, so I put fins on to keep up with him.”

As they trained together during the next several years, a mutual respect developed between these “swimming brothers” for the unique skills and perspective each brought to the table.

“We learned we could help each other when we swim,” Baldwin said. “When we train together, we swim faster because we push each other. We also listen to each other.

“You don’t have as much motivation alone as you do when you have somebody swimming with you. You’re accountable to that person to be there and it helps you improve.”

As the two worked together, their commitment and persistence paid off, and they consistently brought home gold from regional and national swim meets.

Then, eight years ago, the tide turned. While Noble was surpassing his personal goals in the pool and developing innovative techniques for senior swimmers, Baldwin began noticing changes in his own body and routine.

“In 2011, I started having some symptoms and realized something was wrong,” said Baldwin, who retired from an accounting career in 2016. “I saw so many doctors that year and was finally diagnosed with Parkinson’s.”

Under the advice of his medical team, Baldwin continued swimming and competing. He believes there are two key reasons this choice has helped his fight against Parkinson’s.

‘First, every doctor has said swimming slows the progression of the disease, in particular because I’ve done it for so many years,” Baldwin said. “The second reason is Dave. We’ve gone through some tough times. The first summer I started feeling something was wrong, he was there. He was somebody to talk to, somebody to relate with.

“He’s done a very good job finding out information about Parkinson’s. Though there’s no way to know how it will ultimately develop, there’s always something for us to talk about.”

While the future holds many unknowns, the friends have maintained a positive outlook. Nobel says that as his friend’s condition worsens, he’ll change his strokes.

“We swim five days a week,” Noble said. “I know this is why Richard does so well. By the way, most people who don’t have Parkinson’s aren’t as fast as he is. Last year, he won eight gold medals at the state games for seniors.

“I’m going to keep swimming as long as Richard can swim, and we’re going to be here for each other.”