Alex Kotowske will attempt to swim across the bay in honor of his friend

PESHTIGO — Alex Kotowske loves to swim. He also loved his lifelong friend, Keith Shaha, who died three years ago from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

In honor of his skateboarding buddy from their days growing up in Peshtigo, Kotowske is going to attempt to swim across the bay of Green Bay Friday morning (today). He’s raising money for ALS in his friend’s name.

Kotowske, 35, who swam on the M&M YMCA Stingray swim team as a youngster, isn’t sure if he can swim the roughly nine miles across the bay. He trained recently by swimming about five miles out to Green Island.

“I had plenty of gas left in the tank, but we will see,” he said. “This is really just an attempt. I hope I make it. I might make it. If I don’t then I will consider it a training (exercise) and I might try again in the next couple of weeks.”

Kotowske said he will start at the mouth of the Peshtigo River and swim to Little Sturgeon, just south of Sturgeon Bay. He said others who have attempted to swim across the bay take a longer route.

“From what I was told, this route has not been done and I’m not sure why because it seems to be the shortest distance,” he said. “It seems people will usually swim from Marinette to Fish Creek or Sturgeon Bay, which is significantly farther.”

After doing some research, he believes only a handful of people have made the swim. As a serious long-distance bicyclist, Kotowske believes he has the makeup to join the select few.

Over the last six years, he has attempted to cycle long distance around the world — piece by piece.

“At this point I’ve cycled more than two-thirds around the world,” he said. “I just finished cycling across China this summer. I’ve cycled across North America, half of the Middle East, half of Europe, Iceland. I’m trying to put all the pieces together. I’m no stranger to long-distance exercising.”

He said swimming across the bay has always been somewhere in the back of his mind.

“This was something I dreamed about doing,” he said. “As a kid I used to go to Red Arrow Park or I used to go to Kleinke Park and stare out to Chambers Island or Green Island and I would think, I can swim there. As I got older I thought it would be fun to give that a try. Especially as I became aware that if I had any (athletic) abilities it was in endurance sports — it’s kind of my thing. And I love swimming. I love the water. It’s just something I always wanted to do and I was able to connect with the ALS Association.”

Kotowske said he will swim the breaststroke, while most people would swim freestyle.

“I feel more comfortable and also it helps my sighting — to see where I’m trying to go is a lot easier with the breaststroke. It is a more inefficient stroke for long distance swimming, but being that I’m not racing and it’s not a triathlon, I’m just going to do whatever stroke is most suited for my endurance abilities,” Kotowske said.

The weather forecast for Friday is sunny and calm with virtually no wind, which is perfect conditions, he said.

“It should be good, but the bay is very unpredictable,” he said.

Kotowske, a 2007 graduate of Peshtigo High School, grew up skateboarding with Shaha.

“He was an extremely talented skateboarder, the best in the region,” he said of his friend. “And he was admired by all for his fearlessness.”

He expanded on Shaha’s personality.

“He had a great sense of humor,” Kotowske said. “He loved to laugh and make others laugh. It was very rare to see Keith unhappy. He was optimistic and easygoing by nature,”

Kotowske called Shaha “spontaneous and free spirited” and someone who had a contagious love for life and new experiences.

“That combination brought him many friends and admirers,” he said. “Most importantly, Keith had a big heart. He was a good listener and problem solver. His close friends often sought his advice. He knew when to be tough, and when to be kind.”

Kotowske said he’s learned a lot about ALS, a neurological disorder that affects motor neurons, the nerve cells in the brain.

“I was not too familiar with the disease, other than I knew (physicist) Steven Hawking was suffering from it (he died in 2018),” he said. “Beyond that I didn’t really know what it was, but having experienced first hand watching my friend suffer from the disease, it definitely made an impact on me. It’s such a terrible illness to watch people suffer from because their muscles no longer synthesize protein and replenishing the muscle mass. Your whole body is muscles from your breathing to your heart to your tongue to your fingers. The body just sort of shrivels.”

Shaha was diagnosed with ALS in 2012 and died in 2021.

“Towards the end of his life we discussed many religious and philosophical topics,” Kotowske said. “He really enjoyed these conversations, and I think these talks brought him much peace and consolation.”

He said even though he’s gone, Shaha provides inspiration.

“Keith’s untamed spirit and boundless love of life inspires me to this day,” he said.