Loyola Academy Hall of Famer, Former Illinois Swimmer Phil Andrew Joins Race for Congress

Phil Andrew, a former Illinois swimmer and member of the Loyola Academy Hall of Fame, has formally begun his campaign for Illinois’s 9th Congressional District, bringing a distinguished career in public safety and a deeply rooted story of resilience to the race.

The class of 1985 graduate of Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Illinois, Andrew was a standout on the school’s swim team and eventually earned a place in the Loyola Athletic Hall of Fame. From there, he went on to compete for both UIC and the University of Illinois, becoming team captain during his senior year and forming lifelong friendships in and out of the water.

“My entry point into the sport came from family,” Andrew told SwimSwam. “I was one of seven kids. My dad liked that we could all go to one drop-off and one pickup, and swimming just fit.”

Swimming wasn’t just a sport in the Andrew household; it was a lifestyle. His older brothers swam, his sister played professional basketball overseas, and Phil followed in their footsteps. He was placed on Loyola’s varsity squad as a freshman, surrounded by upperclassmen who became mentors and close friends.

But Andrew’s path through swimming wasn’t without setbacks. After winning the Catholic League title in the 200 free as a junior in 1984, his senior year of high school was derailed by mononucleosis. That knocked him out for eight weeks and off the radar of top college programs.

Resiliently, he came back to win the 200 free in 1985 and lead Loyola’s relays to victory, which helped the team win the league title. He went on to finish in the top 10 in the state competition, earn All-State recognition, and rank second in both the 100 and 200 freestyle at sectionals.

He began his college career at the University of Illinois, Chicago (UIC), then transferred to the University of Illinois. There, after swimming on two school record relays, he worked his way back through what he called a “comeback trail,” which was his own lesson in persistence.

That lesson would be tested in 1988, when a mass shooting shook the north suburban community of Winnetka. While home from college, Andrew was shot in an attempt to defuse an armed intruder during a hostage crisis in his family’s home, part of a nationally publicized series of events that began at a local elementary school. The bullet pierced both lungs, his esophagus, stomach, and pancreas, barely missing his heart.

“I had just been named team captain and was really looking forward to a clean runway into the next season,” he said. “And suddenly everything changed.”

Even with the severity of his injuries, Andrew never lost touch with the sport or the people it brought him. “It was my teammates, my coaches… they didn’t let what happened define me,” he said. “They just treated me like the swimmer I was.”

That team-first mindset continued long after his days in the water. Andrew would pursue a career spanning over two decades with the FBI, specializing in hostage negotiation and crisis response. He later founded the PAX Group, a global conflict and safety consultancy.

In July, Andrew announced his candidacy for Illinois’s 9th Congressional District.

For him, many of those skills he learned in the pool, he has carried with him into his campaign. “Swimming takes courage, but it also builds trust,” he said. “You show up, you put in the work, and you hold each other accountable. That’s what great teams do, and it’s what good governance should do too.”

Andrew has passed his love of the sport down to his children as well, with all four of them swimming for NCAA Division I programs. His oldest daughter, Olivia, swam at UCLA. His son Everet recently graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy, where he was a decorated member of the swim team. Lachlan, now a junior at Navy, took an extra year to train at the Bolles School in Jacksonville, Florida, before earning his appointment. Their youngest daughter, Georgia, is entering her first year at the Naval Academy after wrapping up her high school swim career at Loyola Academy.

Andrew remains active in the swimming world, helping to organize open water events near his home in Wilmette and mentoring young swimmers. He recently co-launched the Wilmette Open Water (WoW) swim with the founder of the Ouilmette Foundation, Holly Gilson, a one-mile race in Lake Michigan that draws hundreds of participants each year.

When asked what advice he’d give to student-athletes today, Andrew didn’t hesitate: “The skills you build in the pool—structure, focus, resilience—they’re what the world needs. They’re what organizations want. And they’re what will carry you wherever you go next.”