Hall of Fame Swim Coach Don Lamont Dies

Don LaMont, a coach of 7 Olympic medalists, died on Wednesday, December 5th after suffering a ‘massive stroke’ in May.

A number of former coaches and athletes of Lamont took to social media to express their condolences for the loss.

A GoFundMe page to support his wife has been set up here.

The passing of coaching legend and friend Don LaMon T yesterday reinforces what is important in life. Don positively…

Posted by Rich Rogers on Thursday, December 6, 2018

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10156167238787753&set=a.10150141013237753&type=3

Lamont was inducted into the ASCA Hall of Fame in 2008 in recognition of a long career that spanned over 60 years. He made his name coaching for 25 years at USC alongside Peter Daland, where he earned a spot in the Los Angeles County Hall of Fame, as head coach at the Desert Storm Swim Club in Las Vegas, and at El Monte Swim Club, where a number of legendary swimmers of the 70s and 80s got their start. He coached a total of 17 All-Americans and 13 Olympians in his career, and served as a Team USA coach in New Zealand, Italy, France, Russia, West Germany, and Japan. Among the names that headline his long resume are swimming Hall of Famers Sandy Neilson-Bell, a 3-time Olympic gold medalist at the 1972 Games in Munich and eventual Masters Swimming legend; 8-time Olympic medalist Shirley Babashoff while at USC; Sippy Woodhead during her time at USC; and 4-time Olympic medalist Jill Sterkel.

Don’s son, Ken, is currently the associate head coach at Irvine Novaquatics.

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Trojan
5 years ago

I really liked Don. Sad to hear he’s gone

Bevo
5 years ago

An inspiration to coaches everywhere.

Larry Liebowitz
Reply to  Bevo
5 years ago

He was an inspiration to be around and a great friend. His smile and caring attitude will be missed by me and I am sure a lot of swimmers

Rick Paine
5 years ago

One of the really good guys

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Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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