Rebecca & Todd Tolson

I started attending CSU when I was 18 in 1988.  I was awarded a swimming scholarship, and I planned to study and swim.  I never knew I would find the love of my life shortly after I started on the pool deck of Busbey Natatorium.

In addition to school and training, I also had a lifeguarding job at the pool.  Here is where I met and started to build a relationship with Becky Thiel.  We quickly found that we had many things in common and the time at the pool always passed by quickly when we worked together.

We started “officially” dating in late December of 1988. Becky graduated in 1991 with a degree in Education and moved to Akron for her first job.  We no longer could see each other every day, but we still talked daily.  We had started talking about marriage, but we always said it would have to wait until after I finished school. So on the day I took my last exam in 1992, I drove to Akron and proposed.

We tied the knot on April 3, 1993, with many of our CSU teammates by our side. We are nearing our 23rd anniversary, and we are more in love today then ever before.  Also, we do have 2 children, Robert (21) and Sarah (18).  Robert is our next generation Viking swimmer, as he is a Junior at CSU and also on a swimming scholarship.  We’ve already warned him to watch out, he too may have a Viking Vow story to tell one day.

– Todd