Butch Arnold
Butch Arnold is an American swimmer who swam across the Chesapeake Bay as a charity swim in 1978.
Story in "The Free State Lance", Fredericksburg, Virgina, Saturday, September 2, 1978 "Chesapeake Bay is no match for blind swimmer - BALTIMORE (AP) - Butch Arnold says his blindness has never kept him from doing as he pleases. And swimming across the Chesapeake Bay was no exception. The 25-year-ld man, who has been blind since birth, says he felt some fear of swimming the four miles across the bay from his starting point at Sandy Point State Park. But it was the fear of letting his supporters down that got to him. "I knew I had a lot at stake," he said. "There were about 75 people at Sandy Park rooting for me, and I couldn't let them down." But he didn't disappoint anyone. Four hours and 10 minutes after he left the park, he walked ashore on Kent Island at Matapeake to greet his backers, who had pledged from 50 cents to $50 that he's make the distance. He decided to swim across the bay to raise money for a tournament of the Southeastern Blind Bowlers' Association, scheduled for November in Towson, Md."
