Robert Trotman, one of the most prominent minority-serving swim coaches in the history of the sport, died of a heart attack last month at the age of 82.
Growing up in Harlem, Trotman was the first Black swim team captain at DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx during the 1950s. He went on to serve in the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, giving swim lessons to officers’ wives and kids at Fort Bragg, before attending Queens College for two years. At the same time, he operated his Nu-Finmen Swim Team that he co-founded with his friend, Charles Simmons, producing NCAA All-Americans, Junior Olympic champions, and all-state swimmers over the next several decades.
In 1973, Trotman spoke to The New York Times about the barriers faced by Black swimmers.
“There’s never been a great Black competitive swimmer, not because they can’t swim but because they don’t have easy access to pools, camps, trainers,” Trotman said, 15 years before Anthony Nesty became the first Black swimmer to win Olympic gold. “Basically, it’s a sport for the wealthy. Every kid plays basketball, but a swimmer needs devotion and self-denial.”
Trotman started the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Invitational Swim Meet back in the 1980s, a tradition that brings hundreds of swimmers to Eisenhower Park on Long Island. His contributions to underserved communities were recognized by USA Swimming in 2014 when he was honored with the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Award. According to the Nu-Finmen’s team website, he was also the first minority coach to train age group swimmers at the Olympic Training Center as part of its outreach program in Colorado Springs.
“I started with USA Swimming 50 years ago when they asked me to come work with minority kids,” Trotman said. “My thing has always been that I will give you what you need and you work for what you want.”
From 2002-16, Trotman worked as an assistant coach at York College, where his daughter, Jennifer, was head coach at the time. Both of his children, Jennifer and Todd, swam at William Patterson University.
“During my time swimming at York College, Robert Trotman was an amazing coach who made me really understand the potential I had when I put hard work and time into practice,” said Paulana Lamonier, who graduated in 2013 and now serves as co-head coach of the men’s and women’s teams at York. “However, it was my years post-York that I realized his impact. There’s no Black People Will Swim and Paulana, the coach, without Trotman and Nu-Finmen and I’m sure many can say the same. My sincerest condolences to the Trotman family. May his legacy continue to live on. I’ll make sure that’s the case through this program.”
RIP!
Rip sir!