Urban legend?
Nope. We were required to swim nude in college, back in the 50's. Had to pass swimming test in order to graduate.
No urban legend. The YMCA in my small town in the 50’s and 60’s required nude swimming, and according to my dad, in the 40’s as well. The YWCA on the other hand did not. The YMCA used the flimsy excuse that bathing suit lint clogged up the filters, even though the girls wore much larger bathing suits. As a little kid, I figured the YWCA had some kind of an advanced super filter. When I grew up I remembered all the older and middle aged naked men who always hung around the pool and on the balcony when it was the night for the Boy Scouts to swim. Now I realize they were a bunch of pedophiles. I was never a member of the YMCA but was made to go there for swimming lessons and later when the scouts went there. It seemed as though my fathers generation didn’t seem to find anything wrong with it.
Remember watching Heaven Help Us, growing up in NYC, parochial school.
Probably. I started swimming when Eisenhower was president and never heard of anyone being required to swim nude, at least in California. Maybe this was a custom in other regions.
“Urban legend?”
That’s my guess.
I swam in the ‘60s in school and we all wore swimsuits. In fact I got a new speedo every year.
No, was true.