By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Spa Health Club, Town & Country Racquet Club, or Club 1 Fitness. Before personal fitness was a trend, Martin Casey had a vision that it should be. In 1974, he purchased the girls' high school located adjacent to Dominican Sisters of Peace on Broadway in Great Bend. Fifty years later, his daughter, Caron Zager, still owns the business.
"This is our community," she said. "I wouldn't want a franchise to come in and ever take this over. I like the family feel, the community. My dad, that's how he felt about Great Bend, that it was the most wonderful place. We consider everyone our family here. It's not just you're a member or a number. We like to think of you as family and take good care of you."
Much has changed from those first days in 1974. After purchasing the facility, Casey immediately covered the old wood floor with red carpet and filled the building with shiny chrome equipment. Then named Spa Health Club, he added columns and statues to enhance the pool area.
"In the pool area, there was a Greek god that stood by the whirlpool and there were some that stood by the columns," Zager said. "There was a statue under each one. It was supposed to be serene and that kind of an atmosphere."
For the first four years, the Spa had just one locker room. That meant men and women had access to the facility on different days. Aerobics classes were conducted out in the open. Personal fitness had not yet entered the American lexicon 50 years ago.
"We struggled in the 70s," Zager said. "There was an old lounge area with machines and games and you could smoke in there. They'd be in there smoking, then they'd come out and get on a treadmill. We had beer. Fitness was not big until the 1980s, then it started coming around."
All the while, Casey was corresponding with a fitness buff named "Mr. Atlas," asking questions that were answered via letters the family found years later. Casey had immigrated to the United States from Ireland with his brother at the age of 21. In 1977, the duo came up with ideas for an expansion.
"His brother that came over from Ireland with him lived back east and tennis and racquetball were really big," said Zager, "so in 1977, dad added the racquetball and tennis courts and that's when he changed the name to Town & Country Racquet Club."
The unique skylights in the tennis area provided natural lighting and reduced energy costs. The bodybuilding area in the back of the facility was first a viewing area for the tennis courts. That changed to a weightlifting room as bodybuilding gained steam in the 1980s. The dumbbell now sitting near the tennis courts and the old back massagers are the final remnants of the original 1974 facility.
Changes naturally came. The aerobics room was built around 1995 using wood flooring first installed under the tennis courts. Casey also turned the reigns over to his son, Kevin.
Now, the changes come more frequently. Gone are the old chrome machines, replaced with sleek machines that maximize what they are designed to do.
"There's a machine for every body part now," said Chris Berger, general manager at Club 1 Fitness. "Then, it was like one of those jungle gyms you put in your basement. That's where everything has grown as far as equipment. We're lucky enough to have enough room for that kind of stuff."
Nutrition has also changed. Expensive and difficult-to-digest proteins have been replaced by food and drink for all to enjoy.
"We have the whole Refuel Zone up front, so that's always been booming," said Berger. "We've added energy teas now, which are a big thing. A lot of people come in and get that because they want the caffeine. Pre-workouts, post-workouts, supplements have always been a big part of this."
The facility went through a big renovation in 2008, and another in 2012. Staff recently changed the color scheme and did some rebranding in 2022.
The business survived the COVID-19 pandemic, a time that shut down gyms across the country and kickstarted a new wave of home workouts. Part of that survival is adapting to an ever-changing fitness landscape.
"It changes about every six months, so there's always something new coming out," Berger said. "There's a new machine, or new this or that. There's always someone wanting a new machine because they saw something in a magazine."
The facility used to offer separate memberships for different features of the building. Now, everything is included in one price. Fitness options include weights, cycling, Yoga, Zoomba, step aerobics, TRX classes, aquacise classes, TKO boxing, and a weight-loss competition called Battle of the Bulge. The tennis courts double as pickleball courts.
The business is even expanding outside of fitness. Club 1 Fitness is getting ready to host its third annual car show to benefit Kans for Kids. The show has grown quickly and Berger is looking for another venue to fit all the cars.