Jim Babb came to Charlotte, North Carolina from New York in the 1930s, when he was just a boy. He learned to swim at the Central YMCA when he was about 6 years old, and went regularly after that, traveling from his home in the Dilworth neighborhood. He rejoined the YMCA in the 1950s, when he returned to Charlotte after college and the Army, and started an illustrious career in broadcasting that would make him one of Charlotte's most prominent community leaders. He was chairman of the YMCA board in 1976 when the Central (now Dowd) Y admitted its first female member, Mildred Gwinn. The interview covers many different aspects of his experiences, including the discussions that surrounded Gwinn's membership application, his memories of the Central YMCA's first African American member, Dr. Reginald Hawkins, and descriptions of social and religious aspects of activities at the YMCA.