End of an era in downtown Macon

After more than 100 years, the Macon Health Club in downtown is not in good enough shape to stay open.

Thousands of youngsters learned to swim there. Businessmen used to play pickup basketball games there during lunch breaks. Folks went there to work out in the weight room, run on the overhead track or play racquetball or handball on courts downstairs.

Navicent Health, which owns the building that opened in 1908 at the corner of First and Cherry streets as a YMCA, has decided to shut down the Macon Health Club on Dec. 31, according to a news release.

It intends “to transition its fitness services solely to the Wellness Center, Navicent Health, located at 3797 Northside Drive,” the release said.

During the transition, current members of the club will be offered a one-month free membership at the Wellness Center, which is 6 miles away from the Macon Health Club, it said.

“We invite our Health Club members to take ownership of Wellness Center, Navicent Health, its larger facility and its expanded services,” Navicent Health President/CEO Ninfa M. Saunders, said in the release.

Some of the amenities at the Wellness Center include extended hours, free childcare, indoor swimming pool, larger indoor walking/jogging track, lower monthly fees, massage therapy, group fitness classes, sauna and towel service.

A welcome reception for Health Club members and open to the public, will be held at 6 p.m. Nov. 3, to provide tours and an overview of the facility.

The Health Club has a rich history, “however, the time is right to do what is best for our members by offering them the upgraded amenities that remain true to the caliber of care that Navicent Health is committed to offering our community,” Tim Slocum, vice president of system support services for Navicent Health, said in the release.

History includes famous stars and sports figures

Heavyweight boxer W.L. “Young” Stribling once trained there. Pete Rose, major league baseball’s all-time hits leader, lived in an adjoining dormitory when he played for the Macon Peaches. Bob Hope and Doris Day paid visits. Godfrey “Goot” Steiner, the legendary former Lanier and Central High football coach, died of a heart attack while playing handball downstairs.

It was known as a cross-section of rich and poor, black and white.

Among the notables who once frequented the place was Oscar Bradley, who worked out six days a week and was once written up in “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not” for his ability to walk on his fingers. He once high-jumped 27 inches pushing off the floor with his hands. He finished every workout by throwing exactly 428 punches while shadow boxing.

The swimming pool, once fed by the chilly waters from the underground spring at nearby Spring Street, was later heated.

The Health Club has a history, too, of struggling to remain open.

The City Club, a private, white-table cloth dining club on the top floor, closed for good in 2008 after efforts to raise money to reopen it failed. At that time the City Club had no assets and it had debt of more than $1 million.

In late 2008, The Medical Center of Central Georgia, later renamed Medical Center, Navicent Health, announced plans to close the Macon Health Club in spring 2009. The hospital said then that the club was operating at a $100,000 loss. But the club remained open after the Health Club board and NewTown Macon helped raise funds for capital improvements there.

A plan was put in place that was expected to enable the club to break even the next year by reducing expenses, increasing membership, increasing dues and improving equipment and facilities. For example, the club stopped supplying members with free towels, a savings of $40,000 annually.

In its heyday, the Health Club had 1,000 members, but by 2010, it had about 475 members, taking a big hit after Mercer University opened its new University Center. Its membership had catered to downtown businessmen and members who had been coming there since they were kids. In 2010, its membership ratio was about 6 to 1, male to female, while the Wellness Center was 6 to 4, female to male.

This story was originally published October 26, 2016 at 7:11 PM with the headline "End of an era in downtown Macon."