Nathan Stooke

Seahawk Swim Team By 1993 at 16, Nathan was competing for the Seahawk Swim Team of Belleville, Illinois, coached by Karen Kaiser. Coach Kaiser noted that the team's practices were often more challenging than those of a college swimmer. Stooke attended O'Fallon High School, graduating in 1994. He often woke up at 4:30 to begin swimming at 5:30, completing the program's demanding two hour practices and swimming as much as eleven months a year. Unlike most of the team, as one of the older and fastest swimmers, as a high school swimmer he would put in a practice both before and after school, completing as much as 8000 yards in a day, a challenging workout for a college-age competitor.

High School He would attend and graduate O'Fallon High School in 1994, where he was a member of the band, National Honor Society, math team, a Junior Achievement Business teacher, a Student Council representative, and was a member of the Illinois High School All-State Swim Team. He was a recipient of the Belleville News-Democrat's Academic Excellence Awards for graduating Seniors.

At a college meet for Southern Illinois in November 1996, Stooke took third in the 100 backstroke, and showing a proclivity for distance swimming, took third in the 500 Freestyle with a competitive time of 4:50.82. For 1995, around his Sophomore year, Stooke achieved academic honors for maintaining a 4.0 grade point average at Southern Illinois as part of an All-academic first team for college swimmers.

1997 Pan Pacific 25 Km bronze As a college Senior, swimming as part of the U.S. National Team, on August 10, 1997, at the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships held in the Sea of Japan in Fukuoka, Japan, Nathan took third, winning a bronze medal in the 25 km Open Water Competition. He had a great time of 4:57:37.92. A considerable accomplishment, Stooke became the first American since 1991 to complete the distance in under five hours. The bronze medal set his place at the time as the third fastest 25 km swimmer in the world. Stooke had to contend with salt water in his eyes and stings from jelly fish on his face and nose.

1998 World Aquatics Championship, team bronze On January 11, 1998, he represented America at the 1998 World Aquatics Championships in Perth, Western Australia, taking 13th place in the individual (25 km) with a time of 5:32:21, and taking a bronze in the team competitions with the American team. As previously noted, Nathan swam as part of the mixed 25 km (15.5 Miles) Open water competition. The four member American team of Chuck Wiley, Tobey Smith, Karen Burton, and Nathan (one swimmer may have been a back-up) took a bronze, having a combined time of 16:46:13.30, which placed them 35:55 minutes behind the winning Italian team.

On April 18, 1998, his University, Southern Illinois took first place team honors at the 25 km Open Water Event at the US National Championships at Melbourne, Florida.

In early June 1999, Stooke took fifth place at the USA 25 km Open Water Swim in Honolulu, Hawaii, with a good time of 4:42:57, qualifying him to swim in the USA Open Water National Championships in Honolulu in November 1999.

In August 2015, he took sixth place in the 35-39 age groups in the 3 km Open Water Swim at the 16th FINA World Masters Championships in Russia's Kazan River.

Supporting swimming In 2023 he served as an assistant coach and president of the Belleville, Illinois Seahawks Swim Club. He has competed in local triathlon and placed well.

Wisper Internet founder and CEO He has served as the chief executive officer of Wisper Internet, a residential internet provider which also services businesses, which he founded around 2003, initially funded to a large extent with his own credit cards. Wisper initially headquartered in Shiloh, and then Mascoutah, Illinois but much of its work is in Missouri with six offices in the state. The Internet provider received sizable FCC subsidies in 2018 to help assist in their growth and their ability to service more customers. Stooke is particularly skilled in wireless communications and internet. He remains an advocate for dyslexia, and competed as a professional swimmer. Wisper had rapid early growth, and was initially based in Shiloh, Missouri, 150 miles West of St. Louis. The company aims to provide high speed internet connectivity to homes and businesses in rural areas. To extend service to rural areas, the company builds their own towers, or leases space on the antennas of existing internet providers. A progressive CEO in tune with his workers, by 2011 Stooke had arranged for many of his employees, who complained of personal and student loan debt, to take courses in managing their personal finances as part of their company training. Completion of the training could earn employees a bonus or raise if the company reached set financial growth goals. A small, but successful company, Wisper as of September 2023 had 48 employees, but had over 100 in 2021.