In October 1968, Tacoma only had eyes for Kaye.

The 17-year-old Wilson High School senior stroked her way to three medals – two gold, one bronze – at the 19th Olympiad in Mexico City.

To the world, she was Kaye Hall, the young woman who bested longtime rival Elaine Tanner of Vancouver, B.C., in the 100-meter backstroke.

To Tacoma, she was “Our Kaye,” the high school girl who set a world record in that race, then erupted in sobs.

If you looked at photos of her contorted face, you might have concluded she’d lost.

We cried with her. But they were tears of elation.

The Omega timekeeper showed 1:06.2, one minute, six seconds of superb swimming.

The backstroke she feverishly practiced and perfected in the Titlow and Wilson pools under the tutelage of Dick Hannula paid off.

By the time the closing ceremonies were concluded, “Our Kaye” had – in the words of then-News Tribune writer Earl Luebker – “panned” gold.

In addition to the individual championship she won in the 100-meter backstroke, she grabbed a gold medal as one-quarter of the U.S. women’s 4x100 medley relay team, which also set a world record.

And she earned an individual bronze medal in the 200-meter backstroke.

People in other parts of the nation marveled at Bob Beamon’s monstrous leap into the long jump record books; effervesced over Dick Fosbury’s unorthodox gold medal-winning flop in the high jump; and disagreed over the propriety of the Black Power salute, the medal-stand civil rights statement that got American sprinters Tommie Smith and Juan Carlos banned from future games.

But in Tacoma, it was all about Kaye.

She’d been the city’s darling for years. The News Tribune called her a “Teen-aged Mermaid” and “Tacoma Miss” in 1964 stories detailing the dreams of the slender, then 5-foot-7-inch Tacoma Swim Club sensation.

“Tacoma’s Kaye Hall Has Sights Set On U.S. Olympic Swim Team in ’68,” a News Tribune headline trumpeted on Dec. 27, 1964.

‘A WORLD CHAMP COMES HOME’

Less than four years later – on Oct. 28, 1968 – the once little mermaid came home as a gold medal goddess.

Tacoma City Councilman Hal Murtland flew to Los Angeles to help her through customs and prepare her for the celebration, The News Tribune reported in coverage that swamped the front page the next day.

Members of the Wilson High School marching band greeted her with music at Sea-Tac Airport. Two U.S. Navy helicopters ferried Kaye, her family and her entourage to Cheney Stadium, where thousands waited to give her a heroine’s welcome.

“A World Champ Comes Home to Tacoma,” a bond banner headline screamed across the top of the Oct. 29, 1968, News Tribune. A photo showing her and a crowd of admirers stretched all the way across the page.

Another headline, “Kaye Hall ‘Drops In’ On Wilson Classmates,” was juxtaposed with a photo of the city’s golden girl stepping off her chopper-chariot.

Don Tewkesbury’s story, written 40 years ago this week, began like this: “Everything was A-O-Kaye Monday at Cheney Stadium. Olympic swimming champion and 100-meter backstroke world record holder Kaye Hall received a tumultuous welcome from more than 2,000 Tacomans who gathered in the baseball park here to greet the pride of Wilson High School.”

Tacoma School Board member Frank Gillihan presented Kaye and her family with lifetime passes to the district’s sporting events. Mayor A.L. Rasmussen gave her the key to the city and promised a Kaye Hall Day after the upcoming presidential election.

Kaye Hall Greff, a now-57-year-old wife, mother and art teacher at Explorer Middle School in Everett, didn’t expect the huge party.

“I was worried no one would be there” when she got off the plane at Sea-Tac, she recalled in an interview last week.

When a City Councilman showed up in Los Angeles to escort her home, she knew something was up. What followed was a sure sign of the love affair between a swimmer and her “sports town.” The celebration continued for weeks.

She shared the spotlight with Veterans Day, but it was Kaye people turned out to see during a Nov. 11 parade.

“Water and Kaye Hall go together, and Monday was no exception for the Olympics gold medal swimmer,” The News Tribune’s Jonathan Nesvig wrote on Nov. 12. “It rained most of ‘Kaye Hall Day’ …” his story continued. “Miss Hall didn’t seem to mind a bit when the rain let up just before the start of the 2 p.m. Veterans Day Parade, over which she reigned as queen.”

SEATTLE’S ‘MAN OF THE YEAR’

And she wasn’t just Tacoma’s Kaye. In December, she was named Seattle’s “Man of the Year” in sports at an annual banquet sponsored by The Post-Intelligencer.

Those honors not withstanding, she did the work and won the medals because she loved the sport, she said.

And for an athlete in 1968, especially a female athlete, there were no big endorsements, no huge payoff.

“You do it because you love it, not because of what you think you might get out of it,” she said.

“I believed in my coach, Dick Hannula, and trusted him,” she added.

And she was elated, she said, that she could share her moment in history with her hometown.

“Everybody owns a positive piece of the experience,” she said. People she knew well, acquaintances, neighbors, the postman who brought her letters from fans, total strangers parked themselves in front of their television sets to see her swim.

People “want that connection,” she said. “A person they ‘know’ helps connect them to the event.”

Tacoma’s a great sports town full of teams and parks, family events and opportunities for kids who want to play – and maybe excel, she said. She’s proud she grew up here, where residents across the city and students and staff members at Wilson High all became family in support of their Kaye and her dreams.

And Kaye Hall, the kid who jumped in a pool around age 7 and just kept on swimming, spun golden memories for them all.

Kris Sherman: 253-597-8659