Elmer Engman a prominent author and dive shop owner from Duluth, Minnesota lists the Owatonna Diving Club as the oldest dive clubs in Minnesota and we consider ourselves to be one of the largest in the Midwest. For those of you who don’t know where Owatonna is, it is about 65 miles south of Minneapolis on interstate 35. It is a small town of about 20,000 People. Diving was introduced to Owatonna in 1961 by a High School Teacher, who had done some diving in Florida in the summer. And by a toy store owner who had done a little work diving in the Mississippi River. He set up a little dive shop in the back of his toy store. They were both self taught. The two of them got together and with the Adult Education Program at the high school offered a scuba diving class. Many of the students of the first classes were Fireman, Civil Defense personal, or from Law Enforcement. Only a few of us were in it for sport. They taught it as Adult Education only, in 1961 and 1962. In the spring of 1963 eight or ten of us got together and formed the Dive Club. In order for us to get our tanks filled, we had to drive at least 40 miles to the nearest compressor. The clubs main goal was to purchase our own compressor. In order to get enough money for a compressor we had raffles. Our first air compressor was a small Air Force Surplus Corneilus 2.5 cubic feet a minute compressor. If you figure that out, it takes about ½ hour to fill a 72 Cubic feet tank. But we were happy to not have to drive 40 miles to get air. We have gone through a few compressors since then. We currently have an I.R. 15.5 CFM with a five bottle cascade set up and a Mako 8 CFM potable. Once we had a compressor we started teaching scuba. Our classes were offered before any of the Certifying agencies were formed so we had to set up our own class work and pool exercises. We have always taught our classes as a club, not as a dive shop. All of our members are equal, no one is paid, it’s all just for the benefit of the club. In the early 60’s to 1968 we did our class teaching in a near by town, 14 miles away. We had to load all the gear and drive. When you finished our class, you received a little card that said you were taught scuba diving by the Owatonna Diving Club. In 1968 we paid the expense for one diver to become a certified instructor through PADI and also we were able to move our classes to a new pool in Owatonna. This Instructor taught from 1968 through 1986. All together he gave out about 1300 certificates of all different levels of training. In 1986 we paid to have two more Instructors certified under YMCA. One of the instructors was Leon Ellis who instructed until Fred Bury came. Fred Bury was a scuba instructor in Michigan and transferred to Owatonna in the fall of 1996 joined the club and helped out with classes until Leon retired in March of 1998. Fred taught under the NSDS certification until fall of 1999 when NASDS merged with SSI and now teaches under SSI.

We grew from that 8 or 10 charter members to a high of about 130 Families in the mid 70’s. Currently we have about 80 to 90 families. Some families have 2 or 3 divers in them. Our club enjoys the good company of families from all walks of life. I personally feel that the club tries very hard to make everyone feel welcome and included.

In the 60’s we had a 3 phase electric compressor in a business downtown. And for dive classes and tank inspection we had equipment all over town, in member’s basements and garages. We needed a place to rent to house all this equipment that we were accumulating. In the early 70’s we raised money many different ways, one of them was to sell shares to members. We came up with enough money to buy two lots in down town Owatonna and where able to get a loan from the bank to build a new building. Most of the building was put up by club members, with only a little of it being hired out. The building has a meeting room in the basement a garage area for our compressor and all of our equipment, the upstairs we rent out to a Food Coop. We also became Incorporated and got a state Non Profit Organization Statues.

One of the most unique things about our Club is that just about all of our diving is done in local lakes, Lake Superior and a few lakes up north. We have taken trips to Grand Cayman, Roatan, Florida Key’s and others down south. But the one thing that keeps the club active is diving locally. We do have members that only dive warm water, but cold water divers out number them.

We start out the year with a New Year’s Day dive which started out on New Year’s Day 1963 when someone told a member to go jump in a lake. After the dive we have a big family get together for supper. In February we VIP most of the tank that members have. This is done on Thursday night when we fill tanks. In April we have an Annual Spring Banquet. We have a Guest Speaker speak at the Banquet on a topic of interest to diving. We give out awards for new divers, and for a diver who has done a lot of work for the Club over the past year. We give away a lot of Door prizes which we have gathered from Dive Shops and Local Owatonna Business. In May, the weekend before Memorial Day Weekend, we have our open water check out. This is a family camp out weekend to get everyone going again. In July, we take 3 to 4 of our own boats out to Isle Royal, 20 miles out from Grand Portage on Lake Superior through the weekend starting the day after the 4th of July. We stay in the shelters on one of the islands. In October we spend a weekend diving along the North Shore of Lake Superior. Depending on if campgrounds are still open at that time of the year or not some of us camp and others stay in a motel near by. Through the year tanks are filled on Thursday night and many of the club dives are planed tank night.

Another very important project that has helped keep the club going and active is our teaching scuba lessons. We start our classes in November and run them into April. It keeps our members busy and active all winter plus it helps to bring in new members. We try to be very personal with our Dive Classes by have club members help students with gear and answer questions pool side.