Dave Hyde: A day for Diana Nyad, and a reunion of ‘two Fort Lauderdale girls’

**Diana Nyad Honored with Plaque at Fort Lauderdale Beach**

FORT LAUDERDALE — It was Diana Nyad’s day, her moment, and her stage as a plaque was unveiled honoring her life achievements at the very Fort Lauderdale beach where she played as a child.

Pointing up East Las Olas Boulevard to a bridge she’d walk over each day from her home on Desota Drive, Nyad, now 76, said, “This plaque is right where I’d come with my family from the time I was in second grade through high school.”

There was another girl who grew up just a few miles away — someone she met in Fort Lauderdale during the 1960s. They’d read about each other in the paper and often found themselves the only two girls at athletic awards banquets, so they would sit together.

“Chris, come in here for a picture,” Nyad called to Chris Evert, the tennis legend, as a photographer waited. The two friends have known each other for six decades, and now they smiled under the plaque that read, “Marathon Swimmer Diana Nyad.”

Nyad’s success is etched in history, from being the first to swim Lake Ontario north to south at age 24, to becoming the first person to swim from Cuba to Key West without a shark cage at age 64.

“I’m in absolute awe of her,” said Evert.

When told people say the same about her 18 Grand Slams, Evert responded, “I didn’t nearly die in those like she nearly did.”

Nyad nearly died after being stung by the highly venomous box jellyfish on one of her failed attempts to swim from Cuba. She failed three more times before finally succeeding. Those failures are all part of her achievement — the full journey that actresses Annette Bening and Jodie Foster brought to life in the 2023 movie, *Nyad*.

No one else who failed in attempting to cross the Florida Straits ever tried again — except Nyad.

It was that indomitable spirit that filled the ceremony with a few hundred family members, friends, politicians, and members of Nyad’s support team, who wore uniform T-shirts emblazoned with their motto: “Find A Way.”

Nyad continuously found her own way — from coming out as gay at 21 to swimming around Manhattan in a record seven hours and 58 minutes at age 26, a record for both men and women. She never felt hemmed in by what people thought — or later, by her age.

Swimming the 103 miles from Cuba to Key West in 52 hours, 54 minutes, and 11 seconds was impressive enough. But doing it at age 64? That was extraordinary.

“I faced challenges, but my challenges were within the line of the tennis court,” Evert said during a speech about Nyad. “You took on the ocean. The jellyfish. The sharks. The waves. The unpredictability of it all. And you did it with the belief that the human spirit can’t be held down at 64.”

Once role models for young Broward girls on how to excel as athletes, Nyad and Evert have gone on to be role models for how to age with courageous dignity — Nyad with that monumental swim, and Evert with her public battle against cancer in recent years.

Their story also highlights a broader issue. When Lynette Long conducted a study of Florida plaques in 2017, she found that just six of 950 honored women. Long has since pushed for ceremonies like Thursday’s honoring Nyad. Another ceremony is in the works for Evert.

“Two Fort Lauderdale girls,” said Evert, 70, at one point during the event.

Nyad attended Pine Crest School, while Evert went to St. Thomas Aquinas. Although Nyad was five years older, they forged a friendship in the way the best in any field do — occasionally crossing paths and supporting each other’s successes over the years.

Nyad visited Wimbledon twice and saw Evert there, even interviewing her for television after her final match in 1989. She also fondly remembers bumping into Evert at a Fort Lauderdale store years ago.

“Chris, Wimbledon!” Nyad exclaimed. “I saw your picture in the paper!”

Nyad punctuates the story by saying her picture was small compared to Evert’s larger headlines.

Evert laughs and admits she doesn’t remember the moment. But here they are, all these years later — two Fort Lauderdale girls standing under a plaque of achievement, getting their picture taken together.

“I love you,” Nyad said. “I’m so glad you came.”

“I wouldn’t have missed it,” Evert replied.
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/11/06/dave-hyde-a-day-for-diana-nyad-and-a-reunion-of-two-fort-lauderdale-girls/