Andrew J. Creager

EDITOR’S NOTE: Below is the biography of Andrew J. Creager, one of 11 inductees in the Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame’s Class of 2022.

Other inductees are George L. Barone Jr., Sarah M. (Bogardus) Burnett, Christina M. Kebort, Michael A. Sirianni, Lewis G. Mack, Marc T. Tramuta, Randall G. Anderson, Harry G. Carlson, Larry E. Rodgers and Richard P. Shearman.

These eleven individuals will be formally inducted at the CSHOF’s 40th annual Induction Banquet on Monday, Feb. 21 at the Lakewood Rod & Gun Club.

Tickets are now available at the CSHOF (15 W. Third St., Jamestown), by calling Chip Johnson, banquet chairman, at 716-485-6991 or online at https://www.chautauquasportshalloffame.org/about.php#banquet.

Andrew J. Creager is joining his swimming mentors, Tony LeVoie and Bill Rollinger, as an inductee of the Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame.

A native of Bemus Point, born in 1967, Creager began his swimming career at the Jamestown Boys Club at the age of 2. He and his siblings were plunged into swimming lessons by their mother, who never forgot nearly drowning in a public pool as a child. Under the guidance of LeVoie, he learned the fundamentals of swimming and was introduced to competitive swimming at the age of 5. During this early period, Creager gained proficiency and started to excel.

At the age of 14, he won his first New York state championship in the 100-yard backstroke at the NYS YMCA Championship Meet.

See CREAGER, Page B2

This would prove to be a seminal event in his development as a competitive swimmer. He would go on to break many YMCA age group records and to this day still holds YMCA 13-14 age group marks in the 100-yard freestyle and 100-yard backstroke.

In 1983, entering his freshman year of high school, Creager’s parents paid tuition for him to attend Jamestown High School because his school district had no pool and offered no swimming program. At JHS, under the instruction of Rollinger, his swimming talents were further developed. During his sophomore and junior years, he would rewrite the record book at JHS breaking 20 school and pool records in six events.

At JHS, he was an ECIC All-Star, five-time individual ECIC champion, multiple-time ECIC relay team champion and was a member of the 1985 ECIC title winning team. He was named the Post-Journal Swimmer of the Week nine times over a two-year stretch.

In Section VI championships, he was a four-time finalist who qualified for the state championship meet. He finished third in the 100-yard freestyle at the state meet as a sophomore and would final in two events the following year. He won a state title as a member of the 1985 Section VI team in 1985.

During his junior year, Creager was recruited by one of the nation’s top high school swimming programs, Pine Crest School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. After considerable deliberation, Creager transferred from JHS to Pine Crest.

While at Pine Crest he would earn All-American status in three events: the 50-yard freestyle, the 100-yard freestyle, and as the anchor of the fastest high school 200-yard medley relay team in the United States in 1986. At the Florida state championships, he finished first in one event and second in two others as his Pine Crest team won the state championship. He was inducted into the Pine Crest School Athletic Hall of Fame in 1993.

Creager was actively recruited by colleges and ultimately accepted an athletic scholarship at Division 1 swimming powerhouse North Carolina State. He was a four-year varsity letterman at NC State where he was a finalist in Atlantic Coast Conference championships in both individual and relay events. He earned Academic All-American status in 1990 while studying pre-medical curriculum.

He received a medical degree from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in 1995. Dr. Creager is currently President of Pathology Associates of Erie Inc. and makes his home in Fairview, Pennsylvania.