Shouts From the Stands: Tim Welsh Puts Perfect Pen to Peter Daland Passing

Notre Dame coach Tim Welsh, currently the interim head coach of the Notre Dame women’s swim team (and with some 50-odd years of coaching experience, one of the few remaining peers of Peter Daland in the sport) wrote the below note to commemorate his thoughts of the passing of the legendary USC coach on Monday. Welsh is a father-figure to all of swimming, and one of the truly, universally-revered figures left in our sport, and we can think of no better words to describe the life of the great Daland than those written by Welsh below.

Peter Daland has passed away.   The rest of us, without being wiser (Peter was wise) are older now.

       In the real world, we are sometimes told that a part of us is still a child as long as at least one of our parents is alive.  It makes sense.  Mom is always Mom, and Dad is always Dad.

        In the world of swimming coaches, Peter Daland was at-least a father-figure, and in many cases, including mine, much more than a father-figure to and for many of us.  Peter’s passing means that we all have to grow up now. Just like that and just that quickly and all together on this one day, we have to grow up.  Our father-figure is gone. It is now our time, and now our turn, to take on the responsibility and the accountability that comes from losing yet another of our great older and wiser leaders.  As of today, we can no longer be Peter’s disciples. As of today, we have to be Peter’s successors.

       Peter would want it that way, of course. He spent at least the last half of his life teaching, and preparing, and leading us — constantly pointing out the way and the path that he thought we ought to be walking.  And like all good fathers, he was right more often than not.  Peter had an ear and a passion for the “big issues;”  and he had an unusually clear sense, earned from years and years of hard experience, for the “right direction” to follow in “tackling” them. (“tackling” being  a word chosen carefully to reflect Peter’s passion for college football, which often led to his watching three or more football games on a single Saturday).

        Thank you, Peter.  Thank you for the years of training, and the passion with which you trained us.  Rooming with Peter on the road was like job-shadowing the Master.  So thorough and so constant was his instruction that it was not unusual for Peter to be speaking on a topic as he fell asleep, and to wake up in the morning picking up where he left off the night before. It was that way for me on several occasions.

        Thank you, Peter, for teaching and  training all of us, whether we knew you or not and at whatever our level of coaching.  You made us more professional.
You checked on our dress code, wearing a coat and tie yourself into your 80’s,
and remarking when you saw us whether we passed dress code inspection that day. Why? Because it make us more professional.  Thank you. 

        You made us value being prompt and punctual and on time (“tickey tockey goes the clockey”  is reported to be what you said to your swimmers to remind them to be on time).  And punctual you were at every event we can remember.  In fact, if you were ever late for anything, I hope you were late for St. Peter.  We needed every day with you that we had.

 You made us more prepared. In the paper and ink era, you filled our Swimming Worlds and Junior Swimmer magazines (which you helped to start and keep going) with the data of names, and times, and events…and… your remembered them too, as  your history of Olympic Swimming shows.  You kept us focused on the big picture…not only in USA Swimming, but also and always with World Swimming.  You taught us before it became obvious that the swimming world is a flat world, world wide…. 

You advocated for coach leadership and coach representation and a coach voice at every level of world swimming from local LSCs  to FINA…and you led the first FINA Coaches’ Commission, not to mention being the first coach of the World Swimming Coaches Assn.  Every coach in the world thanks  you for that.

 On the issues of drugs and “suits” and every other major issue at home and around the world, you taught us that every decision is a political decision and that we needed to learn and be in a position to “do” politics if we wanted to speak up for the “right” issues and to influence decisions regarding them.

Going on and on would be easy.  In recent years, you seldom mentioned your on-deck coaching successes… but we all know how long the list of those accomplishments is…and we know too how much you valued and thought of yourself and called yourself a coach.  In remembering you, we will want to celebrate and emulate your on-deck coaching achievements.  We have so much to thank you for, Peter.

When our parents pass away, we “step up” as adults into the shoes they have prepared us to fill.  Such is our job and our challenge now in the swimming world.  Our lasting tribute to you will be to upgrade our coaching, to upgrade our professionalism, and to upgrade our involvement and our commitment to the issues that make our sport better throughout the US and around the world.

Thank you, Peter.  May you Rest in Peace.  You have earned it.

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Dana Abbott
9 years ago

I just heard about this and while not shocked because I knew his age, am still saddened by the loss. I started swimming competitively when he was finishing that first run of NCAA titles and agree with an earlier comment linking Coach Daland, Doc Counsilman, Don Gambril, and George Haines as the “Mt. Rushmore” faces of our sport. I never had a sit-down with Coach Daland, and he certainly didn’t know me from Adam, but whenever I (or anyone else) would see him through the years at NCAAs or ASCA or Central States, and said hello or greeted him, out of respect and admiration, he replied with a friendly comment and looked everyone in the eye. He was very professional… Read more »

Katy
9 years ago

Thank you Coach Tim Welsh for such beautiful words!! I love the way Tim always encourages all of us to grow…. such a great person and role model. God Bless Peter Daland and all the lives he touched.

Brad Flood
9 years ago

Excellent eulogy Tim. Spot on, on so many counts and creatively catching the full impact of Coach Daland’s Life & Passing on our sport and all of us as individuals. Thank You

Durham
9 years ago

that opening line is….awesome.

CoachGB
9 years ago

A terrific piece Tim on a great Coach and the contribution in so many ways he gave to the sport. He was one of my Mt Rushmore four with “Doc” Counsilman, George Haines and Don Gambril. I was lucky to have been coached by one and getting into coaching to get to know the others along will a multitude other fine coaches.
I always enjoyed seeing him were he always greeted me with. The man who got the most out of his swimming with “no talent”. That started over 50 yrs ago and last in Ft Laurderdalefor in May 2013. I always enjoyed the compliment every time which was countless. His knowledge of the history was always fascinating.
… Read more »

9 years ago

Smash

T Hill
9 years ago

Well said. He was great teacher & leader who was always learning & sharing. Thanks for being a great role model for so many. God bless.

About Braden Keith

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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