Hall of Fame
David Shrum, a 1968 graduate of Fort Lewis College with a bachelor’s degree in History and Elementary Education, was a four-year letterwinner in gymnastics from 1963-67. During those four years, he was FLC’s leading all-around competitor. He ranked eighth in the parallel bars and 11th all-around following the 1967 NAIA national championships, earning team MVP honors along the way.
An active student leader, Shrum served as student body vice president, chaired the Clubs & Activities Council, served on the Governor’s Budget Council as a college student representative, and was a member of the committee that chose FLC’s new school colors and mascot following its change from a junior college to a four-year school. He was listed in Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities and was a charter member and officer of Phi Alpha Theta, FLC’s first academic fraternity.
“As Fort Lewis’ only nationally-ranked gymnast, he is deserving of this honor,” said former classmate David Robertson, who now serves as vice president of the FLC Alumni Association. “Not only did David excel in gymnastics, but while attending Fort Lewis College, he and the rest of the team helped bring the sport of gymnastics to the entire Four Corners area at the high school level.”
Shrum’s family moved to Durango from Denver after he graduated from Lincoln High School. While at Lincoln, he competed in swimming and gymnastics.
“I was delighted to find that Fort Lewis had just recently started a gymnastics team,” he said. “My arrival brought the team up to a total of four gymnasts. Not only was it a young team, but a small team. As small as the team was, we competed against schools such as New Mexico, Brigham Young, Colorado, Colorado State, Denver, and Fort Hays State, and other large schools with much larger teams. Because gymnastics was so new to the Four Corners area, we were very well received by all the town folks as well as the students. This made the competition a real delight because the people were so receptive to not only our team, but those we competed against as well.”
Upon graduation, Shrum was accepted to go to Kenya Africa with the Peace Corps, received an assistantship at the University of Omaha, and a teaching and coaching job at Farmington High School in New Mexico.
“As it was with the times, I was told I was about to get drafted into the Army. I decided that I would only end up in Vietnam, so I joined the U.S. Navy to stay away from the war,” Shrum said. “Out of my four years in the Navy, three of them were spent in Vietnam. I ended up serving as a diver in the ‘Brown Water Navy.’”
Following his discharge, Shrum ran a scuba shop and did other assorted jobs on Oahu. He moved back to Durango in 1977 and worked in construction, eventually started his own home repair service, ShrumCo. A work-related injury led to an early retirement.
He moved to such locales as Antigua, Florida and St. George, Utah, but often returned to Colorado. Most recently, he has lived in Grand Junction for the past five years.
Shrum has been involved in theatre and dance for most of his life, including work with the Durango Dance Academy. He has also helped start a local underwater search and recovery organization and teamed with three other veterans to form VEVA, a local Vietnam era veteran’s organization.
