Swim Coach Doc Counsilman, 2 Swimmers Among 2025 USOPC Hall of Fame Finalists

The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Hall of Fame has announced the finalists for its 2025 induction class, which includes two swimmers and a swim coach.

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Of over 100 original nominations, the finalists have been whittled down to:

• 15 Olympians (5 can be chosen)
• 9 Paralympians (3 can be chosen)
• 3 Olympic Teams (1 can be chosen)
• 3 coaches (1 can be chosen)
• 3 ‘legends’ (1 can be chosen)
• 3 special contributors (1 can be chosen)

Both swimmers are in the Paralympic category: Cortney Jordan and multi-sport athlete Sharon Hedrick.

Jordan, 33, swam for the U.S. in the first of her three Paralympic Games in 2008 when she was only 17 years old. There she won three medals, including the lone Paralympic gold of her career in the S7 50 freestyle.

In total, she has 12 Paralympic medals (1 gold, 8 silver, and 3 bronze) and 19 World Championship medals (6 gold, 4 silver, 9 bronze).

Hedrick, 68, is a Paralympic legend, having competed in swimming, wheelchair basketball, and wheelchair racing. She won 1 Paralympic silver medal in her career as part of an American 200 free relay at the 1976 Games. Among 10 career Paralympic medals, she won five Paralympic gold medals in her career in wheelchair basketball and wheelchair racing at distance from 60 meters to 1500 meters.

Hedrick was paralyzed from the waist down when she was unintentionally shot at the age of nine by a 12-year-old boy playing with a loaded gun.

The one nominated swim coach is James “Doc” Counsilman, who served as the head coach of the 1964 and 1976 Olympic Games.

Counsilman swam collegiately at Ohio State, setting World Records in the 50 yard and 300 yard breaststrokes (events in which World Records are no longer recognized by the international governing body). He started his coaching career at Cortland State, where he coached George Breen, who went on to break World Records and represent the U.S. at the Olympic Games.

Breen and Counsilman together joined the Indiana University program in 1957, where Counsilman would lead the program for 33 years. His teams won six consecutive NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships from 1968 through 1973 and 20 consecutive Big Ten titles from 1961 through 1980. At Indiana, he coached over 60 Olympic swimmers, including one of the most decorated ever: Mark Spitz. Other names who trained under him include Jim Montgomery, Gary Hall Sr., John Kinsella, Mike Troy, and Charlie Hickcox.

Counsilman remained active and in 1979 became the oldest person to cross the English Channel at 58 years old.

He is nominated alongside wheelchair basketball coach Ron Lykins and basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski. The former finished his career as the United States’ winningest wheelchair basketball coach with a 98-9 record, including 12 gold medals in international competition. He is the only coach in Paralympic history to lead both men’s and women’s wheelchair basketball teams to gold medals, coaching the men in 2021 and the women to back-to-back titles in 2004 and 2008.

The latter is better-known for his contributions as the head coach of Duke University, but was an assistant on the original “Dream Team” in 1992 and the head coach of the gold medal winning 2008, 2012, and 2016 U.S. men’s Olympic basketball teams.

No swimmers were nominated in the Olympian category, which includes a loaded list of athletes who should all eventually be inducted.

The Hall of Fame was established in 1979 and the first members were inducted in 1983. Between 1992 and 2003, no new classes were inducted, but in 2004 inductions resumed. Classes are not inducted every year, and the most recent one came in 2022 – which included swimmer Michael Phelps.

There are currently 22 Olympic swimmers and 2 Paralympic swimmers in the Hall of Fame:

• Shirley Babashoff
• Matt Biondi
• Tracy Caulkins
• Natalie Coughlin
• Charles Daniels
• Janet Evans
• Rowdy Gaines
• Gary Hall, Jr.
• Duke Kahanamoku
• Helen Madison
• Mary T. Meagher
• Debbie Meyer
• John Morgan
• John Naber
• Michael Phelps
• Don Schollander
• Mark Spitz
• Jenny Thompson
• Dara Torres
• Amy Van Dyken
• Johnny Weismuller
• Trischa Zorn-Hudson
• Donna de Varona

The 1976 US women’s 400 free relay team has also been inducted.

Through the 2022 class, the Hall of Fame includes 119 athletes, 11 teams, 5 coaches, 10 veterans, 19 contributors, and two Olive Branch award inductees.