County adds Gary Swensen’s name to park

The first property Gary Swensen helped buy for Salt Lake County became a 90-acre park surrounding four softball diamonds in Taylorsville.

From now on, the complex at 5100 S. 2700 West will be known as Gary C. Swensen Valley Regional Park in honor of the one-time superintendent of the county parks and recreation department.

"More than any human being, Gary is most responsible for the growth and success of Salt Lake County's parks and recreation programs and facilities," said Bart Barker, a former county commissioner in Swensen's era and now senior policy adviser to Council Chairman Richard Snelgrove. "He's a fine man. He has set an example for many people."

And Swensen did it in many ways, further justifying the linkage of his name to the park, said Brent Overson, like Barker a former commissioner and leader of the recognition campaign.

"Gary's done so much for so many people," Overson said when he first floated the idea, citing Swensen's lengthy membership on the Granite School District board and his involvement with LDS Church athletics in the Taylorsville area, including coaching a team to the All-Church Volleyball championship.

"Many young men coached by Gary went on to prominent positions in the community," Overson said. "Everybody who knows about this [naming] idea says that if you knew Gary, you'd know this is the right thing to do."

One of Swensen's former volleyball players, Kelly Maxfield, went on to become a vice president at Questar — as well as a longtime fastpitch softball player at another county facility Swensen upgraded, the Cottonwood Complex at 4400 S. 1300 East.

"I'm here on behalf of the men Gary coached," Maxfield told the council. "What stands out is not so much that we won [the volleyball title], but that Gary always taught us the value of hard work. He taught us that being honest and having integrity and being fair were more important than winning. … We think there's no one more deserving of this honor."

Swensen also received accolades from Richard Bay of the Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District and Mike Peterson, current chairman of the county's parks and recreation advisory board.

"He established standards we've followed for decades in Salt Lake County," Peterson said.

In declining health with heart problems and diabetes, the 77-year-old Swensen did not know about the honor until after the council confirmed it with a unanimous vote Tuesday.

"My wife didn't even tell me," he laughed.

Swensen said he was particularly pleased to have stayed scandal-free in his two decades as superintendent, a position he rose to after joining the county as a land-acquisition coordinator in 1963, shortly after graduating from the University of Utah.

He said he did that by surrounding himself with good people who promoted the development of recreational programs and facilities at a time when many county residents had more time for play than in previous generations.

"They needed something to do with their leisure time," Swensen said. "My theme as superintendent was to provide the citizenry of the Salt Lake Valley with wholesome recreational activities — and we did that."

He did that by working closely with the Granite, Jordan, Murray and Salt Lake City school districts to jointly use facilities, citing "60 to 80 summer playground programs we had at public elementary schools."

He also worked to broaden the variety of recreational opportunities available to county residents, counting the acquisition of land for the equestrian park in South Jordan as a prime coup.

To have a park named after him now, he said, is "a humbling honor. I had no idea it would ever happen."

mikeg@sltrib.com