William “Bill” Boomer, the longtime men’s swimming coach at the University of Rochester that went on to become one of the sport’s leading innovators in technique, died on Sunday, January 9. He was in his 85th year.
Boomer was hired as the head coach at Rochester in 1962, and having no prior experience in swimming, he approached the sport with a unique perspective which helped him develop techniques that would be adapted by some of the best swimmers in the world.
The summer after he took the job at Rochester, he said he felt he needed to have a “relationship with water” in order to communicate with his swimmers on how to best move through it. So he spent time floating and swimming in a 16-yard pool, and eventually said “I felt the oneness with myself in the water that I’d always felt on land.”
Boomer held his position at Rochester for 28 years, up until 1990, and also worked as the men’s soccer coach (1964-69) and the assistant men’s track and field coach (1962-69) during his time with the Yellowjackets.
Here’s one of his former swimmer’s recollections of Boomer and how he taught and encouraged his athletes on the road to improvement.
After amassing a 168-107 dual meet record at Rochester while winning four straight New York State Championships (1984-87), also leading 57 of his swimmers to NCAA D3 All-American honors, Boomer went on to work as an assistant coach and technical consultant at Stanford University in the 1990s, and in 2000 he was an assistant coach on the U.S. Olympic swimming team. He was also a technical advisor on the 1996 and 2004 Olympic teams.
In 2000, Boomer and fellow coach Milt Nelms filmed a five-part video series on swimming technique entitled the Boomer Chronicles.
Boomer consulted with many of the world’s best on technique over the course of his career, and is credited for helping develop the modern-day track start and the top-arm backstroke breakout, among other things. He’s also the man that first coined the phrase “posture, line and balance,” that Stanford coach Richard Quick came to quote time and time again.
Boomer worked as a volunteer assistant later in his career at Princeton and Tennessee, joining the Vols in 2012 (which is where he helped develop the top-arm breakout). He also released a “Swimming Re-Imagined” video series along with Tennessee head coach Matt Kredich.
In 2007, Boomer was inducted into the Rochester Athletics Hall of Fame.
He earned his Bachelor’s Degree from Springfield College in 1961 and then completed his Master’s in education from the Margaret Warner Graduate School of Education and Human Development in 1963.
Boomer is survived by his wife, Sally Fischbeck, along with his sister, two children, two grandchildren and several nieces and nephews.
RB Boomer 1967 story and RIP
Coach Boomer was a unique person who captured the little-known invisible power of swimming. I first met him my freshman year, hopeful that the University of Rochester would have a good swim coach and promising future. I was disappointed, initially, as Coach Boomer had no prior swim coaching experience, having just been assigned the job only one month before I met him. Apprehensive, I recruited many new team members, focusing on those that did not know swimming but wanted a new college sport. I advertised swim try-outs on signs posted to the reverse side of every male dormitory toilet – a captivated audience! Unexpectedly, many got the message and came to try out, and… Read more »
Coach Boomer was a unique person who captured the little-known invisible power of swimming. I first met him my freshman year, hopeful that the University of Rochester would have a good swim coach and promising future. I was disappointed, initially, as Coach Boomer had no prior swim coaching experience, having just been assigned the job only one month before I met him. Apprehensive, I recruited many new team members, focusing on those that did not know swimming but wanted a new college sport. I advertised swim try-outs on signs posted to the reverse side of every male dormitory toilet – a captivated audience! Unexpectedly, many got the message and came to try out, and those that did not know how… Read more »
On April 13th at 3 PM EDT there will be a virtual celebration to honor Boomer’s contributions to swimming. Please register in advance at SwimmingwithBoomer.eventbrite.com. All are welcome!
Boomer was my swim coach in the 1980’s at the University of Rochester. I will never forget the faith he placed in each and every one of his swimmers. After a grueling workout, with the sets being so complicated that you not only had to engage your body fully, but also your mind to not screw up, Boomer would then surprise us with another set that, on paper, was beyond our capabilities. His one comment in response to the groans and the fear he could read in our eyes, the fear of failure and of disappointing Boomer, was “Find a way to do it!” That was music to my ears. Every one of us would rise to the occasion, every… Read more »
I swam for Milt in the early 90s and met Bill when he did a weekend clinic with our team. The things I learned from Bill changed the way I swam and contributed to my successes in the sport well into my late 40s.
I’ll forever remember the times I got to sit on deck and talk to him in Knoxville before or after coaching masters and age group.
RIP BOOMER. #harmonicsforever
What was the cause of death?
Bill’s influence is in every one of my practices today. Rest in peace.