Swimmer’s Return Will Make Splash

It started out rather small, with just a banner placed none too discreetly across one of Placentia’s main thoroughfares.

“Good Luck 1988 Olympian Janet Evans,” it blared, hanging over the intersection of Kraemer and Yorba Linda boulevards.

Oh, and before that there was a plaque, a nice plaque to be sure, that Paul and Barbara Evans accepted from the Placentia City Council on behalf of their 17-year-old daughter, who was en route to Seoul at the time.

But now that swimmer Janet Evans has won America’s first gold medal at the Summer Olympics--not to mention setting a U.S. record with her time of 4:37.76 in the 400-meter individual medley--well, now the good people of Placentia are cooking up plans for some serious celebration.

“We were waiting for her to win a gold medal because we didn’t want to jinx her,” explained Placentia City Administrator Robert D’Amato.

So with that formality behind--although, who knows, there could be more gold in Evans’ future--the City Council has decided that a Janet Evans Day is a must.

“We don’t know the date yet, but it will have to be sometime in October, to give her time to rest up,” D’Amato said.

Other details, too, are pending. Maybe the day’s celebrations will be planned in conjunction with El Dorado High School, where Evans, a senior, passes some of her time on land. (The rest of her days are usually spent at Independence Park Pool in Fullerton, where she works out with Coach Bud McAllister of the Fullerton Aquatics Sports Team.)

“We haven’t planned a thing yet,” said El Dorado Principal Richard Bernier, “But I’m sure we’ll be doing something for her on campus. I’ve never gone through anything like this, but I’m sure she is going to be in demand.”

Bernier, who has been on the job only two weeks, said he was a bit surprised when Monday’s impromptu assembly at the school, complete with a borrowed Olympic banner and a paper torch, turned into a media event. He said he counted four television crews roaming the halls in search of friends of Evans to interview.

“I guess we should have anticipated it,” Bernier said. “It’s safe to say she is our most famous student.”

There is also the matter of Placentia’s annual Heritage Parade, to be held Oct. 8. This year, City Administrator D’Amato said, Janet Evans will be the grand marshal, “or one of the grand marshals.”

That, too, has yet to be worked out.

“We’re just as proud of Janet as everybody else is,” D’Amato said.

Gladys Moore, Evans’ grandmother, said that, beyond buying “an extra present,” she had no immediate plans for her granddaughter’s big homecoming. Moore said she stayed behind, rather than going to Seoul, to care for Evans’ dog, Ming Toy.

“You don’t plan these things in advance because you don’t know if she is going to win,” she said of the upcoming celebration.

But surely she had a clue?

“Oh, I knew she had a real good chance,” Moore said.

And as for the big deal that Placentia planned to make of its local Olympian, Moore was definitely impressed.

“Oh, isn’t that going to be something for a 17-year-old, little wisp of a girl?” she said. “I think she’ll be sort of flabbergasted, although she may not show it as much as I would. She’s getting used to (the attention). But I’m not. I don’t even know how to talk.”