Hall of Fame swim coach Don Swartz died earlier this week while on vacation in Costa Rica from complications related to the flu. Word first reached California, where he was a coach with North Bay Aquatics, on Thursday.
Swartz was 79 years old.
The program’s head coach Max Byers posted a notice on the team website on Thursday that read, in part:
“I have few words right now as I attempt to process what has happened. After his family, Don’s greatest love in life was his swim team and the great culture that he helped create. He loved both the youth and Masters as if we too were part of his family.
There will certainly be more to say as Don’s passing becomes more real. Right now there is mainly sadness and shock.”
The team canceled practice on Saturday in wake of the news.
Byers elaborated on Swartz’s impact to SwimSwam on Saturday.
“The one word that I kept hearing yesterday was belief,” Byers said. “Don was so good at letting someone know he believed in them, no matter how big the goal. He had a strong affinity to fighters, people that finished strong, dug in when things got tough. The quickest way to Don’s heart was only taking one breath on the last lap of a race.“I know many wish they could have said goodbye, but I was reminded yesterday that Don never left things unsaid. He was earnest to a fault.“One of my favorite quotes of his was at the end of a lot of my emails to our team.‘Thank you for the support of our community, carefully disguised as a swim team.’”
Swartz was a 2013 inductee to the American Swimming Coaches Association Hall of Fame. He began his coaching career in 1967 at Ladera Oaks Aquatic Club in Northern California, and after a brief stop in Davis, became the head coach of the Marin Aquatic Club.
From 1970 to 1976, he built the team into a power, coaching several swimmers to Olympic and World Championship teams. That included coaching Rick DeMont when, in 1973, he became the first person to break the 4 minute barrier in the 400 meter free at the World Championships in Belgrade.
He was a coach on the 1975 World Championship staff among several other international trips with Team USA.
An early pioneer on the mental side of coaching, in 1977 he founded the Creative Performance Institute and worked with coaches and athletes on teaching the mental side of the sport, including goal setting, risk taking, visualization, and anxiety management.
He rejoined the coaching world in 2005 with North Bay Aquatics, where upon his death he was a coach of the senior group and Masters team.
Tributes to Swartz poured out from around the swimming community on Thursday as news spread. Vern Glenn, the sports director for the Bay Area’s CBS affiliate, said that Swartz was ‘everything’ to his sons Zack and Nicky.
“His wisdom, wit, insight and presence were all his super powers,” Glenn wrote on Instagram, sharing a video of an interview with Swartz.
David Marsh, a fellow ASCA Hall of Famer, posted of Swartz’s passing.
In “retirement” Don coached kids every day for his beloved team —North Bay Aquatics.
Don educated all of us on THE most important parts of the coaching profession. Who could forget his keynote speech American Swimming Coaches Association – “The Quantum Leap”: belief, the beginners mind, and impact on human beings. Praying for Don’s family, team and friends.
A recreation of that speech can be heard below on ASCA’s YouTube Channel:
Swartz, along with North Bay Aquatics coach Ken DeMont, maintained a blog on various coaching topics that serves as a legacy to Swartz’s career-long commitment to the ‘soft skills’ of the sport.
Very early on the job with USA Swimming, a club visit was scheduled with North Bay Aquatics. I spent a couple of days with the team, working with coaches and athletes alike. I was so nervous working with Don in the audience, I mean, it was like me presenting a physics lecture to Albert Einstein. Don welcomed me, and made me feel valued. What a huge loss for our swimming community.
Don has a special place in the heart of every youth and masters swimmer on North Bay Aquatics. Rest in peace to a legend
RIP My friend
My first encounter with Don was at a coaches clinic at Indian River Community College, which was arranged by Jim Montrella. Another presenter in the clinic was Jeff Goforth in partnership with Don. As a young coach, the topics they introduced were altogether new to me at the time. Those topics were specific to the mental game, emotional perspective and variety in practice planning. My next encounter with Don was to be in the audience for his Quantum Leap speech at the ASCA World Clinic in Las Vegas. I had a plan for the upcoming short course season for the team I was coaching. The speech motivated me to change the plan completely. The results were very well received by… Read more »
I recently met Don at a swim meet about two years ago. You could tell right away that he was also a kind human being. Always had a smile. And now listening to that video I can tell this is a major loss.
I met Don at the ASCA clinic in 2013, where they showed the Rick DeMont film. And then saw him at NCSA’s several times again.
Awesome person, his kids didn’t seem to blink when he spoke to them.
Prayers to his team and family.
Don was simply the best – the best coach, the best role model, the best that a man can be. He was an inspiration to me, my daughter, and everyone around him. He believed in developing the whole person, not just the athlete. I will always remember our conversations on the pool deck and will greatly miss not being able to have them in the future. So much love and prayers to his family and the entire NBA community. Rest in peace, Don. We all love you.
Don was the Yoda of swimming. For his swimmers and their parents. You never left a conversation with him without learning something about yourself. He will be missed beyond words. Loved him